Customer Reviews

Taggart

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

 

 

Have just finished reading "Taggart" again. As in previous readings, the plot and action hold up very well. This is one of Louis' better westerns, right there with Shalako, Hondo, Radigan, and several others.

As the map in the hardcover edition shows, the action takes place in Arizona, mainly at Rockingstraw Mountain. The central action revolves around placer mining from an alluvial fan, to dangerous extraction farther up a mountain, from a strip of rotten quartz "six feet wide, and cobwebbed with gold." In all Adam Stark is seeking $100,000.00. All of this is interwoven with numerous Apache attacks, tension in a marriage, and Taggart's attempt to evade capture by a bounty hunter. How this all works out, of course, will be known to the reader upon finishing the book.

The author, who died in 1988, was a very experienced writer and some of his books go beyond western fiction, to become just good literature. This book is close to that class of writing. It can be read in a few hours, but the characters Louis L'Amour created in this effort will stay with the reader much longer.

If you haven't read this one, please do so. If you have, do as I've done several times, read it again.

Semper Fi.

I had the pleasure of reading the Bantam rack-size edition of this western printed in 1959. It was loaned to us by my Wife's cousin. After reading "Haunted Mesa", I was a little hesitant about reading another Louis L'Amour's stories; I'm very glad I did. This a classic western about a cowboy, Swante Taggart, who is on the run from a bounty hunter and ends up right in the middle of Apache country and is not expecting what he runs into. This story has love and romance, along with gun fights and Indian attacks. Most importantly L'Amour is an artist at painting a picture in your mind of the beautiful mountains ,canyons, and deserts of Arizona.

My husband is a huge fan of Louis Lamour. Every few months I surprise him with a few more paper backs.

Many of Louis L'Amour's heroes are loners who are riding away from trouble but take the time to detour and assist folks who find themselves in harm's way. That is the basic plot of this interesting story in Arizona of a rancher on the run who helps a man and two women protect their cache of gold in the heart of Apache country. A ruthless bounty hunter also complicates matters by laying claim to the gold strike as Indians search the canyons and mountaintops for the small party of whites. L'Amour had a gift for weaving philosophy, logic and romance into his plots and the elements all work well here. The story is a quick read but captures the flavor of the deserts and mountains of the arid, dry southwest.

This reads like it was cobbled together from abouth three different pulp novellas. There's the lost Spanish mine plot, the innocent man on the run plot, and the Apaches out to kill everybody plot. It relies on coincidence and convoluted logic to hold it all together. Still, as a L'Amour western, it is better than 95% of what is out there.

I liked this book because the author is good and indians died. I liked the part where Taggart noticed a bush was not where it used to be so he knew it was an indian, so he took aim and when the bush moved again he fired wounding the indian. In my oppinion that was the best part.