Kiowa Trail

Title: Kiowa Trail

Author: Louis L'Amour

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: September 1964

Genre: Western

Pages: 160

I love westerns. Then again, in my reading, I tend to love a lot of things, but I must say I really love westerns. Especially a western in the hands of a master. Louis L'Amour is just the master I was looking for when I started reading westerns about 12 or so years ago. My main draw to the genre was the price (really, four bucks at Wal-Mart is hard to beat), but I was also looking for something different. I wanted something that did not entail swords, blasters, or monsters. So in the words of John Soule (to be popularized by Horace Greely) "Go west young man" seemed to fit. Besides, I did not have far to go in the bookstore, it was just across from the Sci-Fi/Fantasy aisle. And if you are going to start reading westerns, you start with L'Amour. I think it's like a law or something.

So in my quest for the west, I started with Kiowa Trail by Louis L'Amour. It is the tale of Kate Lundy, owner of the Tumbling B, and her brother Tom. The rules were explained to Tom. Cowboys do not go north into town. Sure, the town's people like the money the cowboys bring in, but the northern part of town is off limits. But when Tom meets Linda McDonald, a daughter of one of the towns leading citizens, all bets are off! Ending up with the death of Tom Lundy. Kate swears revenge against not only the people responsible for the death of her brother, but the entire town. But when an army of hired guns come on the behest of Aaron McDonald, Linda's father, the men of the Tumbling B wonder if they have bittern off more than they can chew.

If you want a good tale of revenge, then this is a good place to start. If you are new to reading westerns, then again this is a good place to start. For a short book, it has everything you could want in a western. Love, action, revenge, retribution.

4 out of 5 stars (it could have been a bit longer)

Re-readable factor of 3 out of 5 (with all of L'Amour's other books you may not want to revisit this)