This was my first ever Louis L'Amour book, and I liked it really well! Which is a good thing, as I've got something like 15 more of his books on my TBR. See, we were having a yard sale this summer, and my grandpa had a big box just chock full of L'Amour books, so when the sale was over, I took a bunch of 'em home with me. My grandma said to just bring 'em back when I was done and we'd stick 'em in the next sale, but I'm not gonna do that, no way. This is going in my collection. Part of the attraction I felt to these books was the small size, I knew they'd be quick and interesting reads. And of course there was the attraction I've always felt to the Old West, an attraction I've only recently explored in non-romance-book form. But I'm finding I like it a lot. This one in particular was about a tough guy, a man's man, a man who knows what to do with a gun and is not afraid to do it, and how to survive in the wilderness, and yet who is still a good man inside, one with some morals and stuff. To me, he reminded me of my love Roland, though of course with nowhere near as much awesomesauce. He encounters the theatre troupe while on his way to finish a hired-gun job, and when he suspects that the man they hired to guide them through the Wyoming wilderness is up to no good, he feels like he should help, but at the same time he doesn't want to, he's tired of being a hired gun. He also takes interest in one of the troupe's ladies, a woman from back East, Janice, who to him is everything clean and nice and good. She sorta takes an interest in him too. So he goes off to finish what he was doing, and comes back to the way-station where he'd met them, only to find their guide has rushed them out of there, despite it being winter time and bad weather and all that. Because the guide's a bad dude, he got the tip that there's gold stashed in them there wagons, and he plans to take it and the women too, he and the two hired goons he's got. So our hero Mabry sets off on their trail, but the guide had a suspicion he'd follow, so there's another goon trailing Mabry. When the guide gets the troupe sufficiently isolated, he makes his move, one of the theatre men is killed, and the other, Tom Healy, takes off running. Mabry is ambushed by the goon and injured, left for dead. Good thing the women find a way to fend off the baddies! One of the girls, Dodie, a young spitfire seventeen year-old, has her dad's gun, and they barricade themselves in their wagon. Mabry, tough old boy that he is, gets his self up on his horse despite his wounds and the horse heads off towards its old home, which is luckily nearby. Healy follows, knowing Mabry is his only chance if he wants to save the women. They hole up in a cabin for a little while, and Healy mans up a little here. I liked Healy too, he was a good guy. Well, there's a whole lotta action from here out, from encounters with renegade Sioux, and running from the baddies with a sick woman in tow and only two horses, in the snow and cold, making a shelter out of young trees and pine boughs, plenty of gunfights... It was all very interesting to me, I really enjoyed it. I also liked how there was a little bit of 'romance' to it (nothing like a romance book though, seriously, don't get me wrong here), I wasn't really expecting it from this book. See, Healy likes Janice, and Mabry likes Janice too. Janice is interested in Mabry, but she abhors that he's such a rough sort, killing people and living by the gun, a fact that leads to conflict between them. Then there's Dodie, who's got the hots for Mabry big time. And Mabry is interested in Dodie too because she's pretty and brazen and a tough cookie. In the end I was psyched that Mabry didn't take Janice. Because she wouldn't have him unless he gave up his gun, despite the fact that bad guys were after them, despite the fact that he'd saved her from being raped and killed multiple times, despite that he'd saved all their asses by using his guns. I don't know what she thought they could do to keep safe without guns. Crazy lady. Dodie on the other hand wasn't afraid to use her gun, and proved herself again and again. She had ten times the backbone Janice did. So in my opinion she was a better match to Mabry, and I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Made me grin. I also really enjoyed all the fighting scenes, they were written well in my opinion, I could picture it all just like in the movies, the gunsmoke, the horses, the wide open spaces and the outcrops of rocks, the characters... It was great! I'll definitely be getting to more of my L'Amour stash this year, and I'ma hit my grandpa up for more! :D
I have a pulp habit, I admit it. Skulking about the more garish shelves of the library (you know the sort: the large prints, the Mills & Boons, the obscure graphic novels) in the hopes that any witnesses would bugger off my eye was caught by a comparatively dull spine among the Westerns (my primary target) - a Louis L'Amour! If I reviewed any of those guilty little volumes it'd have to be this one, so others can indeed tell what the fuss was about.I must tell you now the book gets stars for my enjoyment rather than its quality. The plot revolves around the hero, a man so ruggedly manly (we're told this about once every five pages, in case we forget) you begin to wonder whether his inability to express love for a woman he's infatuated with has more to do with his heart not being in it than her being a silly moo. The women do get to be a little proactive, but only to tide them over until King Mabry (I'm afraid I read it as -'king Mabry throughout) can come help them out...quite necessary, when sex-crazed injuns and bandits are on the loose! -'King Mabry aside, the minor characters are well-drawn (even if they talk about -'king Mabry a lot in case we forget he is Manly and a Killer when he's not in a scene) and several have noticeable character arcs. Wounds and horses tend to disappear at random, but the dangers of a cold climate are brushed in in loving detail, and it's that love which lends this little book its not unconsiderable pulpy charm.The scenery alone and the images of the big wide mythological West makes this worth a run-through, though it's not one for the easily annoyed.
What do You think about Heller With A Gun (1998)?
This is the straight-up Western, un-deconstructed, un-winking, straight-talking, straight-shooting, straight-faced Cowboys N’ Indians. A rip-roaring yarn that makes a fun afternoon. What surprised me (and it shouldn’t have) was how well-written this was. Louis L’Amour, there’s a reason you’re a legend. The Westerns will outlive us all.Plus, any book that has lines like this is a friend of mine: “Miserably he stared at the mountains. How could he make her understand? Or anyone who had not been through it? They tried to judge a wild, untamed country by the standards of elm-bordered streets and convention-bordered lives.”
—Jamie
I actually found this book in a dumpster, and so first assumed it was there for a reason other being slightly damaged and old. But as a library worker I decided I should give westerns a try so I could help suggest them to interested readers. I had heard of Louis L'Amour and knew he was a popular author in the genre, and the book was quite short, so I went for it.It was surprising to me how engaging this book was. I am not typically interested in western stories, (but I do like a good spaghetti western movie). Heller with a Gun read like a movie, which means for me, that I had a hard time putting it down. Lots of action, gritty back-country experiences and a little love story thrown in for good measure. The protagonist happened to be a little too lucky, but the author does point this out multiple times... just a small thing that bothered me a bit. Otherwise, if you are the kind of reader that reads a book for the action and the story, give this one a try.
—Holly
One of the nice things about L'Amour books is the pacing. They are all quick reads, at least the few in number that I have read so far. I'm able to get through them in two to three days. The stories move right on along and keep my interest.Heller with a Gun is another one of three that was published in 1955 and is the story of a acting troupe trying to get from Wyoming to Montana in the middle of winter. The leader of the Troupe, Tom Healy, hires a guide, Andy Barker, to take them to Montana not realizing that Barker has ulterior motives; he's after the troupe's savings.Fortunately the hero of our story, King Mabry shows up to look after the troupe ultimately foiling the plans of the bad guys.
—Paul
