Customer Reviews

Dark Thicket (Texas Tradition Series)

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It was dark times during the Civil War. Owen Danforth is wounded and comes home to heal but he finds "home guards" or "heal flys" as the locals call them, trying to take over the counry. Owen is caugh up in it and has no choice but to join forces with the men against the "heal flys". Their leader is Shattuck, a man who will do anythng. He killed Owen's Uncle and tries to kill the rest of Owen's family. It is the story of people who hide, and wait for the proper time to take care of the "home guard". It is a quick read and the story line is very good. Kelton makes you feel like you are there.

Owen Danforth is home from the American Civil War on temporary leave until his arm, deeply wounded by a Yankee saber cut earned in battle, heals well enough for his return. But Owen is not returning to a peaceful Texas: the people of his hometown are as divided here as on the battlefield. Even at home -- Owen's father Andrew is a staunch Unionist though his son fights for the Confederacy.

But blood is thicker than politics, and to keep Andrew out of danger, Owen puts himself in the middle of a different kind of conflict but just as dangerous -- and helping two women prisoners escape to the Dark Thicket from Phineas Shattuck and other local heel flies is just the beginning.

Elmer Kelton is one of the greats. His books have substance; they're meaty and as satisfying as a well-grilled T-bone. Buffalo Wagons was the first Western I read that made me realize the genre could offer depth along with a fast-paced read and historical authenticity. It's hardly a wonder that he has won 6 Spur Awards and was voted best Western writer of all times by his peers at the Western Writers of America.

In Dark Thicket, Kelton shows the other side of the Civil War -- how it affected those back home, turning old friends into enemies (though those enemies are nonetheless eager to be friends again after the war is over). And in Phineas Shattuck, Kelton offers a villain that is both frightening in his realism and fun to hate in his over-the-top actions.

Kelton combines history with a no-nonsense writing style that expresses genuine human emotion without resorting to overt sentimentality, creating characters that are believable in their conflicted, sometimes inconsistent natures, with real feelings that linger in the reader's mind long after the book has been put back on the shelf. I feel I learned more about the actual effects of the War Between the States on individuals from Dark Thicket than from any history book.

I recently discovered Elmer Kelton and consider him among the very best of western writers along with Louis La'Mour, Zane Grey, and other outstanding Western Novelists. This novel is about Owen Danforth a wounded Confederate Soldier going home on medical leave in Texas. His father is a Union sympathizer and both had bad words to say when Owen went off to join the Army of the Confederacy. A few years later Owen comes home to find out his brothers all died in the war and his mother has passed away as well.
Of course the bad guys in the novel are very bad and are local Confederate militia sent to round up deserters of the C.S. Army. Before the war these militia were the local thieves and vagabonds. Owen has to fight these vagabonds during and after the war and it is a very interesting read. His love interest is a girl named Lucy whose father is also a Union Sympathizer. Overall this is an interesting read. Kelton did his homework about the local history of Texas during and right after the Civil War. He always has a great plot and story to tell and his books are well worth reading. Highly Recommended!