Son of a Wanted Man [School & Library Binding]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1984 | ISBN-10: 0808518682 | ISBN-13: 978-0808518686

An outlaw's legacy...

In a remote corner of Utah lies the secret outlaw kingdom of Ben Curry. For fifteen years Curry has ruled supreme, as his men have pulled jobs from Canada to Mexico. But the king is getting old... he wants to turn his legacy over to someone younger, tougher. Mike Bastian is Ben's adopted son, a young man who can handle a knife, a gun, his fists, but a man who's never broken the law.

Now, as treachery explodes among Ben's riders, and two honest lawmen—Tyrel Sackett and Borden Chantry—begin to zero in on the gang, Mike must choose...between his loyalty to Ben and his yearning for a different life. Yet when the guns start echoing off the Vermilion Cliffs, the time for choosing is over—and the time for battle has begun.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the thrilling radio serials of yesteryear, the momentum of the tale kept listeners from imagining actors in a studio reading scripts. Not so with this selection. The acting is noticeably awkward, possibly because, unlike "live" radio, this classic western was recorded out of sequence for budgetary reasons. The sound effects, however, outshine the acting: they are so sharp that the listener may look up when hearing incoming footsteps or try to duck a rifle shot. But the music, composed and recorded for this presentation, is inappropriate. Imagine John Tesh on New-Age, echoing guitar. More fitting would have been old-style music from that era, or even the swelling organ from the serials of yore. The ring of authenticity that this production lacks arrives only after the story is over, when listeners are treated to an archival interview with L'Amour himself, who grew up skinning cattle and talking to folks who knew real gunslingers. This last disc also contains "The Making of Son of a Wanted Man," which is educational, fascinating and a bit sad when one considers how the best-laid plans run awry. Based on the Bantam paperback. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From the Inside Flap

An outlaw's legacy...

In a remote corner of Utah lies the secret outlaw kingdom of Ben Curry. For fifteen years Curry has ruled supreme, as his men have pulled jobs from Canada to Mexico. But the king is getting old... he wants to turn his legacy over to someone younger, tougher. Mike Bastian is Ben's adopted son, a young man who can handle a knife, a gun, his fists, but a man who's never broken the law.

Now, as treachery explodes among Ben's riders, and two honest lawmen--Tyrel Sackett and Borden Chantry--begin to zero in on the gang, Mike must choose...between his loyalty to Ben and his yearning for a different life. Yet when the guns start echoing off the Vermilion Cliffs, the time for choosing is over--and the time for battle has begun. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• School & Library Binding: 208 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval (April 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0808518682
• ISBN-13: 978-0808518686
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,877,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raised to be the new leader of the outlaws, November 18, 2003

By 

Richard J. Brzostek (New England, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Son of a Wanted Man: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

"Son of a Wanted Man," by Louis L'Amour, was first published in 1984. Louis L'Amour is most known for his excellent Westerns, and this novel is no exception. The book is filled with gunfights, pursuits, and a little bit of romance as well.

Ben Curry was the mastermind of well-planed robberies from Canada to Mexico and from San Antone to Los Angeles. Because the robberies were so well planed, almost no clues were left behind. Tyrel Sackett and Borden Chantry begin to look deeper into these robberies and piece together the clues, because Sackett's town was recently robbed.

Ben Curry also planned ahead for his own retirement by raising an orphaned boy, Mike Bastian, as his son. Curry wanted Mike to take leadership of the outlaws, now that he felt Mike was ready. But did Mike want to follow in his foster father's footsteps? And to make matters worse for Mike, several of the outlaws didn't like the idea and would rather become the leader. With Sackett and Chantry looking into their activities, there is plenty of suspense and action in this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trained well by outlaws, he must now choose his own fate., August 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Son of a Wanted Man: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

He has been trained by the best. He can track, shoot, and more importantly, he can think. He's been raised to take over his father's gang of hundreds of outlaws stretching all over the country. But he must now decide if that is the life he wishes to lead. In the meantime there's disention in the ranks, a pair of wise lawmen on the gang's trail, and a woman with the fire of a stallion eating away at his heart. All this and more will face the son of a wanted man. It was a terrific story that keeps moving until the final page. I loved it. The story has everything that you look for in a Louis L'Amour book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awsome Audio - Wish Amazon Had the Right Text!!!, February 24, 2005

By 

Bo Gustovson "Bogus" (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of a Wanted Man (Louis L'Amour) (Audio CD)

WOW! The only problem with the Amazon product description and reviews is that THEY ARE TOTALLY WRONG!!!!! This Dramatized Audio version of the Novel is somewhat different from the novel. According to the web site dedicated to this audio (www.sonofawantedman.com) the script was written by Louis L'Amour's son Beau and includes some changes.

As an audio fan I can tell you that this is the Rolls Royce of audio productions. It has a full cast of exciting actors playing all the roles, a great sound track and the sound effects are so realistic you won't believe it. I know I didn't. I put on the headphones and spent the next 3 hours totally enthralled!

The third CD is half "The Making Of" and half an interview with Louis L'Amour. According to the How To and the web site all of the sound effects were recorded specifically for this show and to ensure realism. Recorded digitally, this show is really clean with no noise and or hiss. In addition the editor creatively used pan and volume to create a three deminsional space.

I absolutely loved this show and I highly recommend it for anyone that likes good audio, whether you are a western fan or not!