Lando (The Sacketts) [Mass Market Paperback]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Sacketts | Publication Date: August 1, 1984

In Lando, Louis L’Amour has created an unforgettable portrait of a unique American hero.

For six long years Orlando Sackett survived the horrors of a brutal Mexican prison. He survived by using his skills as a boxer and by making three vows. The first was to exact revenge on the hired killers who framed him. The second was to return to his father. And the third was to find Gin Locklear. But the world has changed a lot since Lando left it. His father is missing. The woman he loves is married. And the killers want him dead. Hardened physically and emotionally, Lando must begin an epic journey to resolve his past, even if it costs him his life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Sackett got to Texas with a well-oiled dogleg, a racing mule that didn't look worth its salt and a damn good idea of the whereabouts of buried gold across the border in Mexico. In Mexico he had bad luck. His party had to run for it, and when Lando stood rear guard they pulled out and left him. Six years in a Mexican prison put muscles in his arms, fire in his heart and pure recklessness in his head. When he caught up with the men who betrayed him, it made no difference that he didn't have a gun.

From the Inside Flap

One of the great sagas of our time, the chronicle of the Sackett family is perhaps the crowning achievement of one of our greatest storytellers. In Lando, Louis L'Amour has created an unforgettable portrait of a unique hero.

A man never to count out....

For six long years Orlando Sackett survived the horrors of a brutal Mexican prison. He survived by using his skills as a boxer and by making three vows.

The first was to exact revenge on the hired killers who framed him. The second was to return to his father. And the third was to find Gin Locklear.

But the world has changed a lot since Lando left it. His father is missing. The woman he loves is married. And the killers want him dead. Hardened physically and emotionally, Lando must begin an epic journey to resolve his past, even if it costs him his life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055327676X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553276763
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.5 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Westerns > General

More About the Author

"I think of myself in the oral tradition--as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of a campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered--as a storyteller. A good storyteller."

It is doubtful that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L'Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally "walked the land my characters walk." His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L'Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.

Of French-Irish descent, Mr. L'Amour could trace his own in North America back to the early 1600s and follow their steady progression westward, "always on the frontier." As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family's frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.

Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L'Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, and miner, and was an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his "yondering" days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.

Mr. L'Amour "wanted to write almost from the time I could talk." After developing a widespread following for his many frontiers and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L'Amour published his first full length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.

The recipient of many great honor and awards, in 1983 Mr. L'Amour became the first novelist to ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life's work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.

Louis L'Amour died on June 10, 1988. His wife, Kathy, and their two children, Beau and Angelique, carry the L'Amour publishing tradition forward with new books written by the author during his lifetime to be published by Bantam.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Orlando Sackett--#8 In The Sackett Series, August 2, 2005

By 

Kay's Husband (Virginia, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Lando (The Sacketts) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was first issued as a Bantam paperback in December, 1962, having Orlando Sackett as the narrator. The time period circa 1873-1875 was assigned by Louis L'Amour in his Sackett Companion, and that places the book as #8 in the Sackett family series.

This is essentially a fictional story concerning Orlando Sackett, narrated by him, as he leaves the mountains of Tennessee, the Sackett historical homeland, unless you are like Parmalee Sackett, a flatland Sackett. Falcon Sackett, Orlando's father, settled in Tennessee after marrying Orlando's mother to be, Aleyne Kurbishaw. As Orlando leaves the mountains the Tinker (Cosmo Lengro) is his companion, one who says little, but knows much. During the ensuing years of mule raising and racing, bare knuckle fighting, Mexican incarceration, and gold chasing, the Tinker and his wonderfully made knives will be Orlando's guide and companion. I'm not going to give you more of the plot, for those are not the reviews I give, and most other reviews here will offer adequate background as to the plot.

What I will offer is what none of these other reviews knew or offer: there are many details within this deceptively simple novel of the west that are all true. This is a novel from Louis that is a veritable treasure trove of facts.

For instance, the details of what a tinker was, his life and travels, is all true of the times. Jem Mace is mentioned as an English prizefighter of the time, and that is also true: he fought from 1855 through 1864, today classed as a welterweight. The gunfighters of the story: Cullen Baker, Bill Longley and Bob Lee are true characters drawn from this time and place. Governor Edmund Jackson Davis was a real reconstruction governor for the state of Texas, and during his time in office an unknown man, L. H. McNelly, who later became a legend in the Texas Rangers, was part of the governor's police force. Juan Cortina, born in Mexico on May 16, 1824, dying in 1894, also existed. The Bald Knobbers were an actual group of vigilantes around Forsyth, Missouri, who were later disbanded by force, some members being hung, due to their ruffian activities. The cities of Beeville from the 1830s and Oakville, a lawless city Captain McNelly later cleaned up, also existed, and still did at the time of Louis' novel. Finally the Henry Rifle is known to all western readers as a gun appearing during the American Civil War, eventually leading the way to developing the later and famous 1873 Winchester repeating rifles of the frontier. These are just some of the facts and historical notes tucked within this novel, there are more. But these will suffice.

I have all of Louis L'Amour's books in hardcover, and generally enjoy all of them. When I first encountered this one, however, I did not think much of it. But upon discovering the facts that lay behind it and tucked into it, I became more and more interested.

If you want an enjoyable western from Louis, though certainly not in the category of Hondo or Shalako let's say, but still a very interesting read, don't be shy of reading this one. It can be digested in only a few hours, but the facts will add to your western understanding.

Semper Fi.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Landois a Winner!, October 29, 2004

By 

Thomas L. Ogren (San Luis Obispo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lando (The Sacketts) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was reading over some of these reviews and saw that some readers had given Lando a luke warm rating. Had to put in my own two cents.
I thought Lando was flat out terrific! This character is a bit different than many of Louis L'Amour's main men, and I liked the differences. Lando is full of action and the fist fighting scenes are top notch.... the best. I've read perhaps a hundred of L'Amour's books; have enjoyed all of them, some more so than others, but Lando is a winner. Darn good read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, January 9, 2012

By 

regular_guy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lando (The Sacketts) (Kindle Edition)

Read this same book about 20 years ago. Its a shame its not a longer story line. Its good book for a quick read.