I always like the Sacketts. But I thought this story was a little disjointed in the second half. And it's mostly about Flagan Sackett. Galloway is a secondary character. The main thrust of the story is Flagan, first person narration. Occasionally there will be a break out into another POV in third person, which I found a bit disorienting. And there were big plot jumps, where we would get a brief summary of something that had occurred before the present action. It made me wonder a bit if L'Amour was in a rush to finish for some reason. ( )

Flagan and his brother Galloway Sackett plan to settle permanently near a town called Shalako. But their endeavors to start a ranch are opposed by a cattle rustling family. Good entry in the series. ( )

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Title: Galloway
Series: Sacketts #14
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 152
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Flagan and Galloway Sackett are ambushed by renegade Indians and Flagan is captured. He makes an escape and heads naked and unarmed into the mountains. He has a runin with with some local tough and ends up being rescued by Galloway.

The brothers make it to town and decide that they want to settle down there. Unfortunately, the same local tough who gave Flagan a hard time is the son of the local cattle rustler who wants to settle down and rule the town. But when the Sacketts are in trouble, the whole gang comes piling in.

The Sacketts take out a sniper, beat the snot out of the cattle rustler and make a good place for themselves.

My Thoughts:

This was more about Flagan Sackett than Galloway. And really, Flagan already had his story in a previous book, The Skyliners. To add to my confusion, in that book, it ends up with Flagan seeming like he's all set to marry a girl named Judith and take over a ranch from her father. So how does this fit in? In many ways this was the same story as the Skyliners but almost presented as an alternate history version.

I enjoyed the story a lot and really wasn't thinking much about the above until I went through to my previous Sacketts reviews to write this one. I did some “indepth investigation” and apparently everyone else who has read this book has the same issues. Thinking about it, I'm wondering if Lamour had a scheduling deadline and needed to churn out a “story” quick with not even minimal work? I believe it was originally published in 1970 and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. Because its that or Lamour was going full on alzheimers and since he was still writing in the 90's, weeeeeeeeeellllll.....

So a good fun standalone story as long as you don't try to fit it into the overall Sacketts narrative.

★★★☆½ ( )

Of course I love the Sacketts, even if they are on the rougher side as Galloway and Flagan are. Gold, cattle and obstacles abound. And there is a pretty girl. I enjoyed the book and will continue reading the series.

Who would enjoy it? Anyone who enjoys Westerns. ( )

This book is a good quick read. Not L'Amour's best but still solid. ( )