Customer Reviews

The Man from the Broken Hills

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A solid entry from Louis L'Amour. The novel is a suspensful, cattle rustling whodunit. Milo Talon, a back trail rider, decides to hook up with one of a group of ranches in West Texas. A range war between some or all of these outfits seems imminent. Milo strikes up a good friendship with a fellow Stirrup-Iron hand, meanwhile he is coming to grips with some of his past catching up to him. A nicely paced story that always kept my interest. Hint: Pay close attention to the first sixteen pages or so, otherwise it will not shape up as much of a mystery for you. Milo Talon appears in one more novel by L'Amour, but that's a different story. I have read a dozen of Louis L'Amour's titles, and this has become one of my favorites. "Light 'n set!"

Growing weary of the Outlaw Trail, Milo Talon (whose mother's maiden name is Sackett) starts riding for the brand with the men of the Stirrup-Iron outfit. Riders in this part of Texas take careful measure of each other because valuable young stock is getting rustled from the T Bar T, the HF Connected, the Circle B, and the Stirrup-Iron. Wandering cowpokes are treated with extreme caution. Talon encounters an old enemy, Rossiter, in the Stirrup-Iron owner. Further complicating Talon's life is a mysterious gunman inexplicably on his trail, a killer longhorn called Old Brindle, and the fiery tempered Ann Timberly, whose father owns the T Bar T. Besides cattle and strong, silent men, Texas grows a flock of beautiful women. Blonde and bratty Barby Ann is Rossiter's daughter. A box social at the Rock Springs schoolhouse introduces Talon to a shy girl named Lisa. And we should definitely mention the wonderfully enigmatic China Benn.

Louis L'Amour does an excellent job of breathing new life into the familiar elements of the western story. His knowledge of the Old West is extensive, and it serves him very well. His western stories are rich in authentic atmosphere. L'Amour writes enthusiastically of the lure of distant trails, the freedom of the big sky country, and the Code of the West without sounding trite and over-influenced by movie and TV westerns. His books are a fast read that allows the reader to escape from the toil, tension, and clamor of contemporary life. Good reading.

It has been quite a long while since I have picked up a L'Amour western actually since I was young and wet behind the ears-perhaps 30 some years. Recently I have recaptured my interest in reading westerns finding authors that I hadn't read before such as Kelton, Jonas, Leonard, and so on. In boxes packed away for years I have boxes marked read and unread and there are many L'amour books that have been read and also a box of L'amours yet to be touched. Out of the unread box my first read in many a years was "The Man From the Broken Hills". I couldn't put the book down and was mesmerized and intrigued by the adventure of Milo Talon. A drifter from the famed heritage of Sacketts, lands a job herding cattle and soon finds him in a web of intrigue and mystery as the outfit he hired on for "Stirrup-Iron" and neighboring outfits are missing yearlings. The plot thickens and soon he is caught up finding pieces of the puzzle to make them fit dodging someone who is wanting him dead. Now I remember why I loved Louis L'amour so much how his characters are gritty, but real and how you can almost smell and feel the authenticity of the old west in his books. On top of that his stories seem true and you know the places he writes about are actually there. This was a quick read and I could hardly think of anything else other than to keep on reading to follow Milo Talons trail to the very end of this book. Lots of action with rustlers, gun hands, cattle, and great characters that coupled with a nice plot. If you haven't ever experienced L'amour this would be a good book to start with as even though I hadn't read one in a long while I again have found something I knew all along he is one of the best!!!

I enjoyed everything about this book except for the last four-five pages. Didn't quite understand who was in the bunkhouse. Also didn't like how the love interest was handled. Seemed like he was going to go with Ann. Seems like Milo should have been warned Ann off of Roger. There was talk of Roger being such a skunk. I was ready for a showdown with Roger.

There was not enough information available for me to understand the book was in Spanish which I don't read, speak or write. Therefore; the book is worthless to me.

A lesson learned.