Western

Enjoyable. Sometimes the descriptions included too many names of places I didn't know, but overall it had a good atmosphere. Ending was a bit quick. ( )

Sackett brothers Tell and Orrin head to New Orleans to follow the last trail of their missing father. Clues lead them back to New Mexico, and possibly an answer to a twenty-year mystery. Standard but enjoyable. ( )

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Title: Treasure Mountain
Series: Sacketts #15
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Tell Sackett along with one of his brothers, is trying to find out what happened to their father. Their mother is reaching the end of her life and she wants to know what happened to her husband those many years ago. Tell begins tracking down the last known job his father took and in the process finds out that his father might have been killed for a hidden fortune in gold.

Tell stirs up some issues that people would prefer to stay hidden. While Tell isn't on the trail of the gold, others are and they don't want Tell or his brothers to get any of that gold.

Tell finds out what happened to his father and finds his burial place. At the same time, the gold hunters close in and begin hunting the Sacketts, as Tyrel and Orrin have joined up with Tell. Tell plays hide and seek on a mountain with some of the killers and wins. The other 2 brothers take care of the rest of the badguys off-stage and everything is hunky-dory.

Tell meets a Trelawney girl and plans on settling down in the area so his Ma can live the last of her days in peace.

My Thoughts:

First things first. L'Amour in no way was concerned with story continuity when writing these Sackett books. There is a very loose continuity, but unlike a series today, he deliberately writes in the moment. As he says in his little blurb, he's a myth teller, not a historian. It's only taken me 15 books to really realize this. Wish it had sunk in a little sooner, would have made me stop trying to tie all the books together.

I've noticed that L'Amour likes to have his characters fight it out on the tops and sides of mountains. Raining or at night or something. It does make for a good exciting fight scene.

I like having a dash of western genre in my reading cycle so when I'm done this Sackett series (only 2 more books to go) I'll be checking out either Zane Grey or Max Brand. Probably whichever one my library has a bigger collection of will decide which I go for.

★★★☆½ ( )

Tell Sackett is back in this book with Orrin Sackett, whose taste in women has definitely not improved. This book has an interesting quest to find out what happened to their father. Yes, gold does creep in, but it wasn't the main focus in my mind. And there is another of L'Amour's spunky female characters that I like.

The true love in this book is the land itself. From the canyons around the Red River and the Tucumcari Mountain, to the San Juan mountains, you can feel the love of the land and the freedom it represents.

Were there some less than plausible moments? Yes. But fiction is rarely about "normal" life as it would be boring for the most part. The point is that I really liked the book.

Who else would like it? People who enjoy Westerns or others who have followed the Sackett series. ( )