Customer Reviews

The Iron Marshal: A Novel

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This book brings out the marshal in all of us. The love of the land and the wild frontier is in it's glory. When Tom jumps that train to get away from a street fight he ends up in a constant fight of life. This fight seemes to make him a better man. This was the first book buy L'Amour I ever read and I have not put one down sense. (8yrs.) Any one that wishes they were born a hundred years earlier like me will love this book. Mr. L'Amour wil be sorley missed, he was a great author and an even greater gentleman.

This is a fine afternoon book, short and easy to read. The twists and turns kept it moving. I had forgotten how much fun the Iron Marshal is.

The Iron Marshal once again proves Louis L'Amour's incredible range and command of historical fiction. Others may tell the tale of the west, but this novel takes us deeper into the understanding of the life of an immigrant newcomer and how he becomes a part of the western expansion.

Tom Shanaghy is just a boy when the story begins. He's alone and in a strange New York City. Without father or mother this young boy is forced to make it alone. The street becomes his teacher and like so many other young Irishman, he becomes embroiled in political disputes and controversies that force manhood upon him.

Tom seems to be alive only for the moment and this is noticed by the one man he truly trusts. McCarthy, his mentor and teacher, suggests that Tom break away from the road he is traveling. It leads to only one place and that place is somewhere without the support of the powerful people that rely upon his keen mind and strong arm. One day he'll mean nothing to them and he'll find himself alone.

Through events outside of his control, Tom finds himself heading West. From here the story takes on an interesting quality. It's out of control. Many of L'Amour's books follow the tale, but the Iron Marshal is hijacked by the greed of multiple individuals and he again finds himself thrust into a position he had no wanting for.

As an immigrant and eastern city man, this young Marshal is without the keen sense of tracking, rope craft, and small town living. He must rely on near total strangers to unravel the mysteries surrounding him. He also finds himself doubting all of the central characters. Who's a part of scandal and who is not.? How can he protect those that are potentially trying to kill him and this two-bit Kansas town?

Without explanation, the rug is pulled from beneath him and even the few assets he had to work with appear to have been destroyed. Tom, the Marshal, the chief suspect? What was happening? He was the only genuine chance this town had. They were going to move in now. All of it had come to a head right now, and in this moment it was all so clear.

I have read many of louis lamour's books and have found them to all be great. I'm 12 years old and wish i was back in the days of the west. My father and grandfather both love louis lamour books and so do I! This is one of my favorite books and has opened a new world to me. I suggest you read this book i think you will like it!

Not your usual Western. Louis L'Amour deftly combined genres: Western and crime. And along the way added some American history tidbits. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I have read it once before several years ago. It was even better the second time around. I got more out of it.

This story by Louis L'Amour was the very first of his novels that I ever read. Novels with a western theme were not my thing when I was growning up, so imagine my surprise when I just sort of drifted into this book one rainy afternoon. I guess I was attracted to it by the fact that it opens in New York City, not the deserts of New Mexico.

Anyway, I soon found that L'Amour has a writing style just as smooth as silk, and I found myself sliding into this book as easily as if he took me by the hand and led me to an alter. Since then I have read several more of L'Amour's books and have enjoyed all of them. I will review them here over the next few weeks, time permitting.

This book tells the story of how a young man from New York City ends up in a small Kansas town and picks up the job of being the Sheriff one day before all hell is scheduled to break loose. Others have outlined the text already, so I won't bore you with yet another outline. I'll just say that if you have not read any of Louis L'Amour in the past, this would be a really great place to start, or even to get reacquainted. While you do that, I'm gonna find another L'Amour book to read.:)

This book shows the true versitility of Louis L'Amour. The setting changes from the rough and tumble strees of New York to the rough fronteer of the American west.

Tom Shanaghy was a rough neck from the streets of New York. He knew how to handle himself there very well! Then he had to escape quickly by jumping on a train westward. There was no intention to stay out west long, but he found himself wrapped up in a mysterious situation. He was a man on the edge of being a criminal. Then he became the marshall that a town loved, then hated, then loved again. He still never intended to stay, but he had to stop a theft that would destroy the town. One more thing tempted him to stay long term... the girl. This one was well written and worth your time. It is a little far fetched, but what else do you expect? You'll enjoy it.

"The Iron Marshal" is not as popular as some of L'Amour's other works, but it remains an excellent demonstration of his versatility. A good half of the book is not a "western", per se--it takes place in the Five Points ghetto of New York City in the late 1800's. I recently visited what was once the Five Points district in New York City (now home to the federal and state courthouses and police headquarters) and learned just how much tougher Five Points was than any frontier town in the old West.

Although most of his stories take place in the Old West, they could take place anywhere, as they are primarily about people and how they relate (or don't) to each other. The settings are authentic, though, and L'Amour is one of the very best storytellers we have had.
In the Westerns genre, he is the best, in my opinion, even better than Zane Grey and Max Brand.