welshbard's Full Review: Louis L'Amour - The Empty Land
Welcome to Confusion...a booming mining town on the border of Utah and Nevada. Like most boom towns it has a problem maintaining the rule of law. Especially since a good part of the population is made of semi-professional troublemakers (led by the odious Big Thompson and Peg Gorman) who move from boom town to boom town spreading their special brand of sweetness and light.
The honest and hardworking people of the town realize they need help, and need it fast. And the best man to clean up a bad town is Matt Coburn. There are just two teeny weeny little problems...A) One of the leaders of the town, Dick Fenton, doesn't want to hire a "gunfighter." B) Matt Coburn doesn't want to clean up other people's messes anymore.
This is the stituation in "The Empty Land." A good Louis L'amour novel written at the height of his powers. Okay, it's a situation western readers are very familiar with...the town tamer story. But L'Amour handles it with his usual adroitness. The characters have depth and dimension, and L'amor's special ability to make the people of the American Frontier come alive.
The story moves at a good pace, and even given the fact that you know that Coburn will eventually put on that badge, and lay the smacketh down on the black hats, the surrounding story is enough to make you forget the cliches, and enjoy yourself.
And the story turns out to be very timely, despite it's being written in 1969. The debate between those who believe that if you just talk to the bad guys, and give them a chance...they'll embrace niceness, and those who realize that the Big Thompsons and Peg Gormans of the world need a hard and pitiless hand.
The struggle between civilization and anarchy is a frequent one in L'amour. Thompson and Gorman definiely symbolize anarchy. And Coburn is the business end of civilization. He does the job not because he enjoys killing, but because it's the only language the bad hats understand. But it doesn't mean that Dick Fenton, the advocate of the pacifistic approach, is a bad person (he proves game enough to put the badge on himself before Coburn does), just the product of a more sheltered upbringing.
There are subplots...a romantic quadrangle between Coburn, Fenton, a pretty rancher, and an ex-saloon singer turned sucessful businesswoman named Madge Healy. Madge's troubled and hidden past provides yet another. All leadiing to a a big climatic gunfight in the middle of town. One of many excellently handled action sequences throughout the novel.
This is a good western for western fans. Lots of action, a good story, and fine characters, all in the best L'amour tradition. And I think you'll enjoy it.
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