Crossfire Trail
History/ Adventure
By: Louis L’amour
Reviewed by: C.Cornell
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
The open sea, the city, and the beautiful country side are the setting for another of Louis L’amour’s great stories. This story is one about a wanderer, a tough,dangerous,and daring man, who goes by the name Rafe Caradec. Beginning on a rough and traumatizing ship ride, Rafe, promises a man to make sure his daughter gets his ranch. Making a few stops along the way Rafe is determined himself to get to the Wyoming ranch. Once Rafe gets there he falls in love with the scenery, but that won’t last long.
The sound of rushing waves up against the side of the ship, crisp, salty sea air, the feeling of sorrow and sadness, and men awaiting the inevitable filled the open sea. In the lower decks of the ship Rafe is comforting the shot man, as Charles Rodney lay dying, due to a bullet wound from the captain of the ship. In his last moments Charles asks Rafe to make him a promise he has to fulfill. That promise is that he makes sure his daughter gets ownership of his ranch in Wyoming. Rafe and his friends gang up on the captain and form a mutiny. They reach shore but know they are now wanted, since mutiny was illegal. Now Rafe is on a race to Wyoming to save the ranch. When he gets there he falls in love with the beautiful scenery. It is soon interrupted but two men, who do not want Charles daughter Ann to receive the ranch. It becomes a battle to the death so that Rafe can fulfill his promise to his friend.
This book was a decent book. I found it really hard to get into and to keep reading up to page 30. Once getting past that it was still slow but had many action scenes that kept you wondering what was going to happen next. At 162 pages it’s not too long but not too short either. With the authors usage of western slang and words it is sometimes hard to get what the characters are saying and what’s going on in the scene. I would recommend this to anyone who likes adventure and history as it is a mixture of the two. Although if you don’t like books that drag on in the beginning and have some slow parts in it, maybe this isn’t a book for you. Overall I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars for having some slow parts to it.
