Sackett

William Tell Sackett heads west after his service in the Union Army during Civil War to find away to raise funds to start a ranch. He accidentally stumbles on an abandon gold mine in a hidden valley which also is the trap for an attractive young woman named Ange. Once he brings out some of the gold, the usual bad types follow him back to steal his find. They force Ange to lead them into the hidden valley but they do not prepare for the early winter weather. Tell's struggle to bring Ange and a wounded man out of the valley during a severe winter storm while holding off a group of five gunmen is a suitable L'Amour ending to this quick, fast moving read.

A relatively short novel about William Tell Sackett, older brother of Orrin and Tyrel from The Daybreakers. Tell is bigger-than-life, and twice as sturdy. On his way to New Mexico to find his brothers, after a cattle drive in Montana, he happens on a starving young woman in a cave that also happens to hold a hella stash of easy-to-get-at goooooold that she and her grandfather were looking for with the help of a very old Spanish map. So Tell rescues her, dispatching some bad dudes who have been hunting for him for a while, and sets out to get as much gold out of the mountain as possible before winter makes it impossible to get there or----wait for it----get OUT again. Tell wants to settle down, and hopes maybe this girl is for him, but show more even after he's played the hero card, she won't be easy to convince. I enjoyed this slightly outlandish tale of adventure in the High Lonesome, and I sincerely hope Tell gets what he wants. He earned it. show less

In this book we meet William Tell Sackett, older brother to Ty and Orrin who we first met in The Daybreakers. Tell has been drifting since the War, and decides it's time to do something with his life. He stumbles upon gold, and a girl, and trouble, as usual.

I love Tell and his laid back attitude. He prefers to use humor to confuse and confound those who are spoiling for a fight, and I found myself laughing at times as I reread Sackett. This story remains a favorite of mine.

I really enjoyed this book. It is far more complex than the movie would suggest. Tell Sackett is a thoughtful man who considers honor and duty. He also has thoughts about the effects of literacy. It is this that makes it a classic Western and raises it well above the average.

If you want to introduce someone to the Western genre, this would be a good entry point.

Sackett by Louis L’Amour is part of the series of books about the Sackett family. In this book the main character is William Tell Sackett. Like many of the Sacketts he is tall , lean and well muscled. Although he prefers a peaceful life, he seems to attract trouble. Luckily he is very good with guns, knives and his fists. He stumbles upon a rich gold mine high up in the mountains, and when he goes to stake his claim, the word gets out and he attracts a lot of unwanted attention. He also finds a young woman stranded in the wilderness, a woman that he rescues and wants to claim as his own.

Dogged by greedy interlopers, Tell tries to disguise the location of the gold mine but the story becomes one of survival and adventure as he is show more followed by murderous claim jumpers who had also kidnapped his lady-love.

Sackett was an old-fashioned western with the hero being a principled man who never gives up. He overcomes the weather and the bad guys and still manages to win the girl and pocket the gold. A fun read. show less

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Title: Sackett
Series: Sacketts #8
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 160
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

William “Tell” Sackett decides that since his younger brothers are so successful that he needs to do something important too. So he finds a hidden valley with a gold mine and a beautiful lost woman.

Gets hunted by golddiggers, some gunslingers out for revenge for their dead brother and a banker. Now THAT is show more scary! Just imagine the banker from The Bank of Evil in Despicable Me.

The beautiful woman rejects him because he's such a “savage killer”. Then he rescues her again, kills most of the badguys, gets shot and hooks up with the beautiful woman, who sees the error of her liberal, big city, gun hating ways.

Oh, if only more stories had that kind of happy ending.

My Thoughts:

Besides Ride the River, this was the most enjoyable Sackett story yet. It is also one of the simplest and straight forward ones as well. As well as eye rollingly western tropish. But that is WHY you read L'Amour.

When I married Mrs Bookstooge, if I had known that all I needed to do to get her to agree to me owning a gun was rescue her from a mountain, in a blizzard while being chased by desperadoes, well, that would have totally changed the equation. And doing it while carrying a wounded man who had tried to kill me? Psshawwww! But obviously, real life isn't that simple. I had to prove to her that her wishes came first for 9 years.

Honestly, I don't think that Tell Sackett was as big a man as me! I'd like to see him put up with some of the people I have. Of course, he'd probably just shoot them and have done. Ahh, the good old days

* huge grin *

★★★☆ ½ show less

Another excellent story by L'Amour about the type of men who settled the west. After the Civil War he drifted west working anything from cattle drives to riverboats. After killing a man who tried to kill him he decided it was time to try to improve his life. On his way down to New Mexico to visit his brothers (see Daybreakers) he stumbles on a rich vein of gold. After talking to his brothers he and Cap Rountree get the supplies together to mine that gold. With gold being one of those things that tends to draw unwanted attention they ran into trouble almost from the beginning. Also in the valley where he found the gold he found a young woman whose grandfather had found the gold first. He rescued her and faced the trouble that found them. show more Tell is another one of L'Amour's quiet heroes. He doesn't go looking for trouble but he doesn't run from it either. He has a strict code of honor and believes in the difference between right and wrong. One of the things he was determined to do was to improve his reading which he did by reading a book about law which gave him a lot to think about. I also liked the way that he tried to resolve issues without shooting if it was possible. Besides the intense drama of some of the events, there were also some funny times. I really enjoyed the shaving scene at the beginning and also his dealing with the interlopers of the town near the end. show less