Louis L’Amour- Radigan (Bantam Books 1969) 3.75 StarsAfter working through harsh conditions to build his ranch, Tom Radigan now finds himself in danger of losing what he has fought so hard to build. Angelina Foley comes from seemingly nowhere claiming to have a deed to the ranch land that he has settled on. Fighting the claim will take grit and determination. She intends to force him off of the land using the gunmen she has hired, but Tom Radigan and his friend John Child do not intend to be run off. The fight is on and knowing the lay of the land may be just the advantage he needs, what with winter approaching fast. He is digging in and the only way he will lose the ranch is if he is no longer breathing. Radigan is a top-notch western by one of the greatest western writers of all time. Louis L’Amour packs a punch as the plot unwinds with a beautiful woman threatening to take away this tough rancher’s land. You know that the fight is on after the introduction starts off with a man trying to gun down Radigan and failing miserably. After the introduction the author does not fail to produce as we see action mixed with thickening plot. I may have liked to see a little bit more length to the book, which would have helped in developing the plot/storyline a bit more, but a lot of westerns lack in this department so I won’t hold it against him. It also would have been nice for the falling in love bit to be left out as this seems to be a bit of a redundant theme in westerns, leaving it out would have set it apart from other westerns, but again I won’t hold it against Louis L’Amour. The characters were not deep, but were interesting enough to keep the reader intrigued. As many of my main readers know I love the western setting and that time period so as you can guess I loved this part of the book.I recommend Radigan to western readers and Louis L’Amour fans. For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.comTony PetersKids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnappinghttp://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/
Solid story. And as with all Louis L'Amour books, I learned quite a bit about how to handle horses, and how to live off the land. Not that I think I could actually do any of these things based on what I have read in a western pulp novel, but I think if you had all of L'Amour's books with you in the wilderness you could manage pretty well for a while.Anyway. This one was violent, which I liked. But all of the violence was justifiable, and never too gory or overplayed. The bit about the women all being in love with Radigan got a bit tiresome at a certain point, but that is how most westerns work, isn't it? The hero is over-hyped by everyone except for one guy, The Villain, and all the women are in love with the hero.It may sound like I didn't like this one, but I did. Quite a bit actually. You should read it and then tell me what you thought about it.Go ahead.I will wait here.
What do You think about Radigan (1984)?
"Radigan" is the 66th Louis L'Amour book I've read, my number one author if you count by number of books read but only number 6 if you count by the number of pages read. This is another fairly average length L'Amour paperback novel, coming in at 154 pages. Obviously, you can tell I like this author and I read his novels periodically but this time I chose to read one because they serve as great "comfort" reads for me. I received some bad news yesterday and was feeling pretty low. I didn't want to do any of my normal hobbies and I didn't even want to read. That's certainly a rare occurrence for me. But I had to do something to fill the hours so I gave reading a try and L'Amour was just the ticket.I've remarked before about how I read these novels for the fun of them. Not for any great literary accomplishments or for what anybody else may think of them. There's a certain honesty about them and it sure beats listening to the radio which is constantly playing campaign ads right now.Tom Radigan is a former ranger and now owns a small cattle ranch in northern New Mexico territory. Along comes Angelina Foley with an outfit of gunfighters, 3000 head of cattle and what she claims is a deed to Radigan's land. Radigan knows the deed is phony but despite his attempts to tell her so, a full-on range war begins. Now you might expect some sort of boiler-plate western plot to take over with Radigan falling for the girl and living happily ever after but that is just not the case. I won't spoil it for you but this is a fine western story with gunfights, fist fights, wilderness survival (in deep winter snows), and more. The ending came abruptly and I would have liked to have a little more filled out with the final moments of the plot but overall, this was a great one.And yes, I do feel better now, thanks for asking.
—Benjamin Thomas
The first L'Amour book I've read and it was what I was expecting and wanting. A breezy, action-oriented Western. This is ideal nightstand or back-of-the-toilet reading since it requires little brain power and is easy to pick back up. It is unsurprisingly a bit sexist and features some unintentionally funny spots of bad writing as both of the significant female characters are described to have developed the hots for Radigan. The book's biggest fault is its strangely abrupt ending, but otherwise I enjoyed it and will probably read some more of L'Amour. Feel free to make recommendations.
—Gavin Breeden
A great quick read from a writer that knows his wilderness. While following along with the story you accidently learn how to track in the snow...and a few other tricks that could save you if you were hunted by a gunman. I like the story from start to finish. I did notice a couple of places where 1958 values were out of date now, when it came to women. But hey, this was to have taken place around 1870 or so.....times have changed. Great action, and a somewhat surprise ending. I'll be reading more by L'Amour now.
—Allen
