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Long Ride Home [Paperback]

W. Michael Gear (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 28, 2008

There is a reason Long Ride Home has remained in print for twenty years.  The novel is a classic.  The gunman has become a romanticized American icon, but Gear dares to take us inside his gunfighter’s troubled soul: that of a man teetering between destruction and salvation. 

Theo Belk is the quintessential gunfighter: rootless, ruthless, and deadly.  In the fierce and lawless Western frontier of 1874 these traits were what was needed to stay alive.  Haunted by the ghosts of the men he's killed, there is one man he has set out to destroy...Louis Gasceaux, the man who murdered his parents while a younger Theo watched. But the trail Theo's following is long and bloody...and Louis always seems to stay a few steps ahead.

This is how it was--from gritty buffalo and gold camps to brawling, building towns like Denver, Cheyenne, and Dodge City, populated with ambitious dreamers, deluded fools, and pragmatic women.


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Long Ride Home + Morning River: A Novel of the Great Missouri Wilderness in 1825 + Coming of the Storm: Book One of Contact: The Battle for America
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“As a warning to those looking for the Hollywood stereotyped hero, he won’t be found in Long Ride Home.  This isn’t your usual horse opera tale.  It’s a novel of the post-Civil War frontier by a man who obviously knows a lot about the subject.  And as for the hero, Theo Belk is as tough as a boiled owl and sometimes just as unsavory.  Like a lot of real people who have a problem trying to figure out the difference between good and evil.”—Douglas C. Jones, author of The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer

“Gear offers complex psychological insights into the motivations of the guy in the white hat…it proves that it is still possible to find real dramatic fiction in the western setting.”—Rave Reviews on Long Ride Home

“Gear writes superbly, rolling prose with flair, confidence, wit, an ear for sound, and an eye for details…His characters and their utterances are striking.  And he has another gift: the ability to entertain his readers as he educates them.”—Rocky Mountain News

“A novel of defiance and raw emotion: the vivid portrait of a man locked in violent struggle with himself and the lawless frontier.”—Earl Murray, author of South of Eden on Long Ride Home

“Gear is a vigorous writer…he tells a gripping tale.”—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

W. MICHAEL GEAR is the author of thirteen novels including Morning River, Coyote Summer, and Big Horn Legacy.  With his wife, Kathleen O’Neal Gear, he has coauthored twenty-two novels including the internationally bestselling First North Americans series.  His books have been translated into twenty-three languages.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 28, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765322560
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765322562
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W. Michael Gear has co-written 23 international bestsellers which have been translated into 21 languages. His novel People of the Raven won the Golden Spur Award in 2005. Michael's solo novel Morning River was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1998. In addition to writing both fiction and non-fiction, the Gear operates an anthropological research company called Wind River Archaeological Consultants, and raises buffalo on his ranch in northern Wyoming.

 

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it was just like this, December 28, 2008
By 
This review is from: Long Ride Home (Paperback)
Wow! What a novel. I almost want to say this is to western novels what "Andersonville" is to Civil War novels. The story morphs several actual wild west gunmen into "Theo Belk." Maybe those guys were that looney, or walking contradictions as Theo is. It moves at a quick pace and does the job of showing "Regeneration through violence" that "Blood Meridian" is suppose to do. Except this book does not have the creepy psycos of Meridian, or the surrleaism nonsense.

As a side note. The author portrays the use and types of period firearms

correctly. Being a lifelong history buff, it always ruined the story for me in westerns when the post civil war period is seen has having all cartridge revolvers. Really! (Those guys used cap and ball revolvers and some people did have the newer design S&W cartridge guns.) Judging by the old photos and writings, gunmen used the Civil War period firearms-period. Not the Colt "peacemaker" which came along after the heyday of the big cattle drives.

A wonderful book any history buff would love. Well done, and done right. It grabs you and won't let go. It has the "you are there" affect. Very vivid.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, March 21, 2008
I picked this book up many years ago out of curiosity because I have read all of the archaeological series by him and his wife. I began reading it and couldn't put it down. The main character is completely believable and makes you want to follow him through his many travels. It's a great character study and a great way to see all the parts that made up the Old West. The character and events in this book have come back to me many times over the years since I read the book. It is one of the very few books I have read in my life that affected me very deeply.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is magnificent., February 19, 1999
By A Customer
Gear has a talent.The way he uses vernacular is astounding.The characters are portayed as they would o' been back then.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
freight outfit, buffalo range
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Theo Belk, Louis Gasceaux, Dodge City, Miss Moore, Tom O'Connell, Blacks Fork, Henry Moore, Irish O'Connell, Charlie Torgusson, Clementine Thomas, Theodor Belk, Sergeant Huffman, Fort Laramie, Front Street, Dodge House, Toddy Blake, Ida Hamilton, Holy Moses, Miss Dolly, Kansas Pacific, Dolly Moore, New York, Charlie Bassett, Colonel Dye, Kit Carson
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