Ride the Dark Trail (Sacketts #16) ★★★☆½

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Title: Ride the Dark Trail
Series: Sacketts #16
Author: Louis L’Amour
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 167
Format: Digital Edition

Logan Sackett is on the run from a posse and in possession of a stolen horse. He takes a rest in a small town and is trying to eat a meal in peace. A young woman enters the bar looking for work, as the man she had been working for is trying to force her to marry him since her father is dead. Logan gets involved, comes across the man running the town and learns that an Emily Talon is needing some help. He takes the young woman out to Emily’s ranch and finds out she is a Sackett and under siege.

He doesn’t like the boss man in town, a relative needs help and a pretty young girl has already relied on him. It’s a no brainer that Logan sticks around. He sends out some feelers for Emily’s two sons and begins doing what a Sackett does best, ie, stand their ground.

Logan and Emily take on a whole gang and when Em’s two sons do return, Logan is wounded, left on a mountain and then has to go rescue Emily who has been taken captive by the Boss. Showdown ensues, bad guys die and Logan thinks about moving on to California.

An enjoyable read that kept me entertained for a day. None of these Sackett books truly depend on each other. Change the names of the characters and you could have any standalone western that you wished. I guess that could be viewed as a weakness and in the right (or wrong perhaps?) mood I could definitely go that way. But these are just tales of adventure showcasing the Spirit of America.

L’Amour obviously loved America and thought that the men and women who bled and died during its growing up period deserved to be thought of as heroes. Not superheroes or impossible icons, but heroes in the fact that they did the right thing and just wouldn’t give up.

This checked off most of the boxes I expect from a Sackett book: the hint of romance with the girl, rugged individualism, a mountain, a rain storm, tricky and brutal badguys, relatives saving the day.

I would say this is a typical L’Amour book and you’ll either enjoy it or not depending on if you like him as an author or not.

★★★☆½

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