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topdragon's review against another edition
4.0
Milo Talon has a reputation for being able to find things, mostly the result of his knowing more than a few outlaws. He does not have any experience as an investigator but nevertheless, a rich man hires him to hunt down his missing granddaughter. The pay is good, so Milo takes the case. But it is soon evident that not everything is on the up and up. Some people have already died, and their little town is being overrun with hired guns.
Milo Talon is a cousin to the famous Sackett family, and his nature fits in well with theirs. A good day’s work for a good day's pay…never quit a job…loyalty to family and friends is paramount. Most of this novel is fairly typical of Louis L’Amour’s work, although I maintain that he was remarkably successful in keeping his stories from becoming formula repeats. This one too has several surprises along the way including a really interesting nice old couple who lives in the mountains who are not at all what they first seem.
Another enjoyable western yarn from the master.
Milo Talon is a cousin to the famous Sackett family, and his nature fits in well with theirs. A good day’s work for a good day's pay…never quit a job…loyalty to family and friends is paramount. Most of this novel is fairly typical of Louis L’Amour’s work, although I maintain that he was remarkably successful in keeping his stories from becoming formula repeats. This one too has several surprises along the way including a really interesting nice old couple who lives in the mountains who are not at all what they first seem.
Another enjoyable western yarn from the master.
qjbrown96's review against another edition
5.0
I was going to give this book 4 stars but the ending was just too satisfying that I had to give it 5 stars! Solid book and possibly my favorite Talon novel.
papidoc's review against another edition
3.0
Louis L'Amout was, for the most part, a formulaic novelist, but it was a formula I thoroughly enjoyed, and still enjoy. This was one of the Sackett series, though on the fringes, as Milo is a distant cousin to the central figures in the Sackett timeline. Good story, though, where the bad guys are clearly bad, the good guys have strong values and similar friends, and in the end, the hero wins and gets the girl. Sorry for those who like more sophisticated fare...so do I, but this also works for me.
stanleys1's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
papi's review against another edition
3.0
Louis L'Amout was, for the most part, a formulaic novelist, but it was a formula I thoroughly enjoyed, and still enjoy. This was one of the Sackett series, though on the fringes, as Milo is a distant cousin to the central figures in the Sackett timeline. Good story, though, where the bad guys are clearly bad, the good guys have strong values and similar friends, and in the end, the hero wins and gets the girl. Sorry for those who like more sophisticated fare...so do I, but this also works for me.
caleb_m's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
angielisle's review against another edition
3.0
This book has the element I love most from L'Amour - great descriptions! I can imagine everything that L'Amour wants me to see; that's his strong point. This book, like many of L'Amour's books, has typos and printing errors and I lay the blame on the publishers because these books have been out long enough that those errors should be caught and corrected before the next printing.
I figured out the plot almost as soon as the characters were introduced but I'm not sure if that happened because I heard the story in the hazy days of childhood or if it's because the whodunit is just that obvious. I knew what was going on from page one and I'm inclined to think it was from the prior reading.
Milo Talon drives me crazy with the way he solves crimes. Milo has all the info he needs right at his fingertips but doesn't use those tools to figure out what's up. We keep going around and around in his head because he won't stop and take the time to look for the answers to his questions. And because real life detective work doesn't work that way, this book has the feel of a cozy mystery rather than detective noir. That's not necessarily a bad thing - I love cozies which is probably why I like the Talon and Chantry series but, if you're wanting a good detective story, look elsewhere.
L'Amour gets tagged as an author who doesn't depict other races well. He does use the typical (negative) stereotypes in some of his stories but he also surprises me by occasionally throwing in characters who break the stereotypes/tropes that were commonly depicted at the time of drafting/writing. I sometimes think this was his way of fighting the system, to work in those characters when he could get away with it. In this book, Milo depends on a bunch of Latinos for back-up. Some would argue that it's an evolution of the Tonto/side-kick trope, and maybe it is, but I do enjoy his depictions of Mexican-Americans because it isn't the layabout/border-jumping/drug cartel stereotypes that we see depicted so frequently in pop-art today. L'Amour gave us competent Latino cowboys who are good at their jobs - they wouldn't be alive and working if they weren't good at cowboying up (which is accurate to history - a good percentage of cowboys weren't the white boy we see depicted in Hollywood westerns). It was a nice change of pace that gave me an excuse to imagine Emilio Rivera (as Pablo) and Danny Trejo (as Felipe) into the story (and I'm not going to complain about fantasizing about those two).
I figured out the plot almost as soon as the characters were introduced but I'm not sure if that happened because I heard the story in the hazy days of childhood or if it's because the whodunit is just that obvious. I knew what was going on from page one and I'm inclined to think it was from the prior reading.
Milo Talon drives me crazy with the way he solves crimes. Milo has all the info he needs right at his fingertips but doesn't use those tools to figure out what's up. We keep going around and around in his head because he won't stop and take the time to look for the answers to his questions. And because real life detective work doesn't work that way, this book has the feel of a cozy mystery rather than detective noir. That's not necessarily a bad thing - I love cozies which is probably why I like the Talon and Chantry series but, if you're wanting a good detective story, look elsewhere.
L'Amour gets tagged as an author who doesn't depict other races well. He does use the typical (negative) stereotypes in some of his stories but he also surprises me by occasionally throwing in characters who break the stereotypes/tropes that were commonly depicted at the time of drafting/writing. I sometimes think this was his way of fighting the system, to work in those characters when he could get away with it. In this book, Milo depends on a bunch of Latinos for back-up. Some would argue that it's an evolution of the Tonto/side-kick trope, and maybe it is, but I do enjoy his depictions of Mexican-Americans because it isn't the layabout/border-jumping/drug cartel stereotypes that we see depicted so frequently in pop-art today. L'Amour gave us competent Latino cowboys who are good at their jobs - they wouldn't be alive and working if they weren't good at cowboying up (which is accurate to history - a good percentage of cowboys weren't the white boy we see depicted in Hollywood westerns). It was a nice change of pace that gave me an excuse to imagine Emilio Rivera (as Pablo) and Danny Trejo (as Felipe) into the story (and I'm not going to complain about fantasizing about those two).
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