Flagan Sackett is running for his life and the outlook is not good. A few minutes ago, he was the captive of Apache Indians but thanks to a diversion provided by his brother Galloway, he has a chance. Buck naked and hand-bound, all he can do is run.Galloway and Flagan were searching for a good place to homestead when they ran afoul of the Indians. For a Sackett, however, this is just a diversion. Stranded in the wild, Flagon makes a bow-and some arrows, kills an elk for food, and fashions himself some crude clothing from the elk’s skin. In a few days, he is reunited with his brother near the town of Shallaco.Galloway and Flagan’s troubles are only beginning. They decide that this is where they want to homestead, but the Dunn family might have something to say about that. The Dunn’s have the idea that all the land in this area belongs to them, and they are used to getting what they want. It’s been a long time since anyone dared to cross them.The Dunn’s didn't count on the Sackett family, however. When a Sackett is in trouble, the whole family comes on the run to help out. This time it is Parmalee Sackett, and Logan of the Clinch Mountain Sackett’s that answer the call. The two families must now go head-to-head to see who will claim the land.Most of Louis L’Amour’s Sackett audiobooks center on three brothers, Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel. Galloway, however, focuses on two other brothers, Galloway and Flagan, who are cousins to the other three. It doesn’t seem to matter which family those Sackett boys come from, they are not to be crossed. Honest and hard working to a fault, if you bring trouble to them, they’ll give you your fill in return.I didn’t like Galloway quite as much as some of the other Sackett audiobooks. Maybe that was because it was so similar to others I have read. The Sacketts come in looking for a homestead, the bad guys try to run them out, but the bad guys end up being the ones rousted. It was interesting, however, to get a little background on this other family of Sacketts that have played small roles in Louis L'Amour's other books.Incidentally, I thought Galloway was an odd title for this book. Galloway Sackett certainly was a major character, but the story is told from Flagan’s point of view. I wonder why Louis L’Amour didn’t call this one “Flagan?”A while back, I listened to an audiobook called Dead Lines which was also narrated by Jason Culp. I wasn't overly impressed with Culp on that audiobook, but found myself liking him on Galloway. Jason Culp displayed a surprising variety of voices for the characters in Galloway, and although some of them sounded a bit odd, I applaud his effort to spruce up this audiobook. Perhaps western books just suit Culp’s style a little better, or vice-versa.While Galloway wasn’t my favorite Sackett audiobook, it still had everything I have come to expect from Louis L’Amour. Indians, gun fights, and men so tough they wear out their clothes from the inside out. Galloway is a worthwhile read.Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
A Sackett novel in L’Amour’s series about a huge clan of tough mountain men who come riding to the rescue if one of them is in trouble. I listened to this one on audio.This opens with a fantastic example of “start with your hero treed by wolves, then set fire to the tree.” Often this sort of extreme hook is ends up ho-hum, as the writer either hasn’t given us a reason to care about the hero, or doesn’t know where to go post-tree escape, or the situation, while dangerous, is not also interesting. If you want to see that sort of hook done well, read this book. It’s also a good example of flashback narration.It opens with Flagan Sackett in the mountain wilderness, watching a moose being stalked by a pack of wolves. He’s lurking in the hope of scaring off the wolves and getting the meat, because…- Four days previously, he was separated from his brother Galloway and captured by Apaches, who stripped him naked and spent the night torturing him.- Three days previously, he managed to escape. Naked and barefoot. Running over sharp rocks which badly cut his feet. Pursued by a bunch of very determined Apaches…- …who are still chasing him, three days later. He’s still naked and has not eaten in three days while expending tons of energy fleeing Apaches, while he can barely walk and is totally lost in the unforgiving, freezing wilderness.- …at which point he notices that he is being stalked by a lone wolf.Seriously, how great is that? About a fourth of the total novel concerns Flagan alone in the wilderness, and it’s one of the best and most vivid fictional wilderness survival narratives I’ve read. Even one of L’Amour’s best, and he’s very good at that.Meanwhile, Galloway is alternately trying to find Flagan and trying to establish a ranch for both of them. His chapters are third person; Flagan’s are first. Flagan’s are more fun – he’s got more of a sense of humor.The book breaks down like this:1. Lost in wilderness: AWESOME. A+.Subplot 1: The lone wolf. A+. Beautifully woven into the novel, with great and unexpected conclusion.2. Ranch war, in which Flagan and Galloway try to mind their own business while being attacked by a bunch of evil ranchers with an apparently unlimited supply of psychopathic henchmen. A-. Misses "awesome" by comparison with the lost in the woods sections. But still pretty good, with a fantastic supporting character, an erudite outlaw Sackett who descends periodically to perform amazing feats of badassery.Subplot 2: Flagan’s romance. F. Absolutely dreadful. L’Amour can write good female characters, but this is not one of them. Flagan inexplicably falls for this obnoxious, shallow woman who refuses to believe obvious truths due to having a crush on a handsome psychopath. When she FINALLY grudgingly admits that he’s a psychopath, she promptly falls for a SECOND psychopath. Too stupid to live.3/4ths excellent, 1/4th awful. Would probably be better read as a book rather than listened to, because then I could have skimmed the romance.
What do You think about Galloway (1970)?
Some interesting characters and a lot of shoot 'em up, but short on plot. This one ends with the good guy killing the bad guy, the good guy finding the gold, the good guy befriending the wolf that followed him throughout the book and then crawling back injured to his new home in the mountains. That all happened on the last two pages. Three more left in the "Sackett" series.
—Chuck
Oh good grief! Could L'Amour not be bothered to keep any sense of continuity at all? What, he couldn't find a copy of The Sky-Liners and lookup that Flagan already had a girlfriend? Yeah, Judith ain't much, but you have two brothers right there! He couldn't throw Galloway a bone and have this one be about him?And that's another thing! Who writes a book, names it Galloway, and then has the entire story be all about Flagan? Yeah, Flagan is an even dumber name than Galloway for a book, but he couldn't name it something like, I dunno, "blue-sky country" or something? Seriously, Galloway was barely more than background and had less screen time than Logan.It doesn't help that the story is flat and the through-line rocky. Or that the pacing felt ragged and the characters thrown in from all over the Sackett-verse all higgledy-piggledy. Or that he resorted to completely unnecessary PoV shifts to the bad-guy camp. In short, this felt like a rush-job.Frankly, it doesn't really deserve a full three stars. Call it two and a half with really generous rounding...
—Jacob Proffitt
After Flagan escapes from a group of renegade Indians he escapes into the mountains for protection. He knows that he has a better chance of rustling up some grub there than other places, but he knows that he will be followed. As this is happening, Gallowing is bringing cattle to their home sted. He want no trouble, but it is evident that there will be some. Can he and the rest of the group survive against Bull Dunn's attacks? The stakes are high and the chance low, but what a Sackett does, he does to the best of his ability. HHg
—Ms. Mielke's Class
