Mon 12 Jun 2017
Archived Western Review: CLIFF FARRELL – Owlhoot Trail.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western Fiction[3] Comments
CLIFF FARRELL – Owlhoot Trail. Doubleday, hardcover, 1971. Signet T5207; 1st printing, October 1972. Zebra, paperback, 1990.
I almost never read westerns for the history that’s behind them, but once in a while I slip up. This story takes place in the days just before the Oklahoma land rush of 1889, and surprisingly to me, this background helps juice up the whole book quite a bit.
Vince Barrett is a con-man and a gambler, and he has no interest in land. What does attract his attention, though, is $80,000 in stolen Wells Fargo money, hidden somewhere on the other side of the starting line. With three vicious outlaw brothers determined to get their hands back on it, however, not to mention a large contingent of lawmen in the area as well, he decides to leave it lay — that is, until a girl and her father also get involved.
Thus begins what promises to be a better than average western tale, but there are just too many secrets involved, and worse, the ending is a minor disappointment, at least in comparison to what came before.
Bibliographic Notes: Cliff Farrell (1899-1977) was the author of hundreds of stories for the pulp magazines, beginning in 1926. His first novel was Follow the New Grass, published in 1954, the first of nearly 30 before his death.
June 12th, 2017 at 9:51 pm
Sounds like the setup for a really good book. Too bad so many writers can’t always finish well. Seems like a slam bam ending in a Western would be the easy part.
June 12th, 2017 at 10:44 pm
It’s been far too long since I read this one to be able to say what I found so disappointing about the ending — other than I was obviously expecting more.
I’ve also been thinking about the first sentence of the review. I don’t think I will ever read another story about the Little Big Horn, for example, or Jesse James, or Wild Bill Hickok, or even Wyatt Earp.
Unless it’s one about people only tangentially involved, that the story is not about Jesse James, but someone whose life was somehow changed by Jesse James, but only tangentially.
Or a book like this one, which takes place at the same time and place as the Oklahoma land rush, but it’s not about the Oklahoma land rush.
I hope that makes sense. When I read this comment tomorrow, and if it doesn’t, I’ll probably delete it.
June 13th, 2017 at 11:02 pm
I’ve liked all the pulp stories by Farrell that I’ve read, but the novels by him I’ve read, maybe half a dozen, all start well and then sort of fizzle out. I think he was just more comfortable with novelettes and novellas.