The Man from the Broken Hills

by Louis L'Amour

Book Overview

For years Milo Talon had been riding the outlaw trail, looking for a man who had betrayed his family. Only Hank Rossiter wasn't the man he had been: old now and blind, Rossiter was trying desperately to hold on to a small ranch to support his daughter, Barbara. Suddenly Talon found himself in the middle of a range war, siding with the man he'd marked for payback. But had Rossiter really changed? And could his daughter be trusted by either of them?...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553276794
• ISBN13: 9780553276794
• Release Date: October 1975
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.1" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

First of two Milo Talon novels

A solid entry from Louis L'Amour. The novel is a suspensful, cattle rustling whodunit. Milo Talon, a back trail rider, decides to hook up with one of a group of ranches in West Texas. A range war between some or all of these outfits seems imminent. Milo strikes up a good friendship with a fellow Stirrup-Iron hand, meanwhile he is coming to grips with some of his past catching up to him. A nicely paced story that always kept my interest. Hint: Pay close attention to the first sixteen pages or so, otherwise it will not shape up as much of a mystery for you. Milo Talon appears in one more novel by L'Amour, but that's a different story. I have read a dozen of Louis L'Amour's titles, and this has become one of my favorites. "Light 'n set!"

Riding for the brand.

Growing weary of the Outlaw Trail, Milo Talon (whose mother's maiden name is Sackett) starts riding for the brand with the men of the Stirrup-Iron outfit. Riders in this part of Texas take careful measure of each other because valuable young stock is getting rustled from the T Bar T, the HF Connected, the Circle B, and the Stirrup-Iron. Wandering cowpokes are treated with extreme caution. Talon encounters an old enemy, Rossiter, in the Stirrup-Iron owner. Further complicating Talon's life is a mysterious gunman inexplicably on his trail, a killer longhorn called Old Brindle, and the fiery tempered Ann Timberly, whose father owns the T Bar T. Besides cattle and strong, silent men, Texas grows a flock of beautiful women. Blonde and bratty Barby Ann is Rossiter's daughter. A box social at the Rock Springs schoolhouse introduces Talon to a shy girl named Lisa. And we should definitely mention the wonderfully enigmatic China Benn.Louis L'Amour does an excellent job of breathing new life into the familiar elements of the western story. His knowledge of the Old West is extensive, and it serves him very well. His western stories are rich in authentic atmosphere. L'Amour writes enthusiastically of the lure of distant trails, the freedom of the big sky country, and the Code of the West without sounding trite and over-influenced by movie and TV westerns. His books are a fast read that allows the reader to escape from the toil, tension, and clamor of contemporary life. Good reading.