SOMEWHERE THEY DIE is a range war novel. Veteran gun-for-hire Riley Haslam is part of a rough crew brought in to help rancher Syl Overdeck battle his arch-rival, cattleman Hugh Racklyn. Haslam and his companions are jumped by Racklyn’s men as soon as they get off the train. A beautiful young woman named Janet Wilkerson, the daughter of one of Racklyn’s friends, helps Haslam get away from the men who are trying to kill him. But it’s not long before Haslam realizes he’s waltzed into a bad deal and doesn’t want to fight for either of the men who are battling for control of a crucial pass through the mountains. Another opportunity comes along that offers Haslam a chance to put his violent past behind him, but to grab it, he’ll have to be surrounded by enemies who want to kill him first . . .
As you can tell by that description, SOMEWHERE THEY DIE, published in hardback
by Little, Brown in 1955, reprinted in paperback by Bantam in 1956 and Popular Library
in 1976 (the edition I read, with a nice wraparound cover), is a very
traditional Western novel when it comes to the plot. But since the author is
L.P. Holmes, you can also count on it being very well written. I’m not sure any
author has been better than Holmes when it comes to taking a standard plot and
elevating it to something else with superb writing and excellent
characterization. Holmes at his best—and this novel won the Spur Award for Best
Western Novel from Western Writers of America—gives you the characterization of
Ernest Haycox and the setting and action of Louis L’Amour. For my money, he’s
better than both of them, and I like Haycox and L’Amour.
This particular novel has not one but three despicable villains, a romance
angle that’s low-key but very effective, a top-notch supporting cast, some
poignant moments (yeah, you knew all along that character wasn’t going to make
it, but the death is still a gut punch to the reader), some brutal fistfights,
and a very sympathetic protagonist in Riley Haslam. My only quibble is that a
couple of plot angles are never really resolved, and they could have been
without much trouble.
Overall, SOMEWHERE THEY DIE may be the best L.P. Holmes novel I’ve read so far.
I’m glad I still have a bunch by him to read. Highly recommended.
1 comment:
Excellent. I know I've read Holmes's work, and can't for the life of me remember what it was (I think it was short fiction, but no title coming back to me at all), but I remember it being very good.
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