Kilrone (Bantam Book)

Rating:
Summary: Poor for L'Amour
Review: I'm sorry for anyone who would judge Louis L'Amour entirely after reading this book. It was one of his poorer works. L'Amour writes about a man named Barney Kilrone. He was an ex-soldier who had been given a raw deal and blamed for something he had never done. He finds himself in the middle of a bad situation that entangles him in a mess of renegade indians, massacres, and jealousy, and a drunken commander who seeks notoriety. In the end he saves the day and gets the girl, but not the girl some might have expected. Although the ending was rushed as others have stated, I did like the fact that the main villian was finished off by someone other than the main character. Take a look at this one despite it's low rating.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful pulp Western
Review: Kilrone is an ex Army man who gave up a promising military career after a confrontation with an exploitative Indian agent and has spent his post military career as a drifter.He rides into an Army outpost to alert the commander to an Indian raid that has wiped out a cavalry patrol.The post commander is Paddock ,a once high flier whose career has been blighted by scandal and an old acquaintance of Kilrone whom he suspects to be in love with his wife.
Against the advice of Kilrone the commander sets out to warn the other patrol in Indian territory of possible attack Kilrone rightly feeling the attack was a ruse to get him to weaken the post defences so the tribes can take over the fort.
He stays behind to organise the defence of the post while Paddock takes the field to warn the other patrol.That is not all however for Kilrone's foprmer nemesis Iron Dave Sproul is a key man in the fort and has been selling guns to the Indians

L'amour cuts briskly between the siege and the troops in the field and action is vividly described and plentiful with something of the more explicit violence that emerged in the genre -celluloid and paper-during the mid sixties.The climactic fist fight is especially powerful and the seeker after action will not put down the book feeling short changed.
The climax fells rushed and the conflict between Kilrone and Paddock is not fleshed out enough ,while the women remain cyphers.This is all a little carping however and overall the book is a satisfying read for lovers of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: Kilrone was my first L'Amour book to ever read, and needless to say I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting L'Amour novel events to be more plausible. At times, a better description of some of Kilrone's feats would probably be defined as ludicrous. Kilrone during the fort siege jumped astride a gray horse bareback. I found it odd that Kilrone later during that same day on the ride away from the fort, he reaches for the pommel, without mention of ever finding a saddle along the way. The ending to the novel was very rushed -- absolutely nothing flowed well. If anyone is considering a L'Amour book to read, maybe it is best he/she chooses another.