Crossfire Trail
by Louis L'Amour
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Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. Rafe Caradec—gambler, wanderer, soldier of fortune—was as hard a man as the battlefields and waterfronts of Latin America could fashion, but he was as good as his word. As Charles Rodney lay dying in a dank ship’s fo’c’sle, Rafe swore to make sure that Rodney’s Wyoming ranch went to his daughter, Ann. In Painted Rock, Wyoming, Caradec found land for a man to love, miles of rolling grasslands and towering mountains. He also found show more that one of the most ruthless men in the territory had set his sights on both Rodney’s ranch and his daughter. But Rafe Caradec had given his word, and once he’d looked deep into Ann Rodney’s eyes, nothing short of death would stop him from keeping the promise he’d made. show lessTags
Recommendations
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Member Reviews
Suffers from the typical ideological rot common in westerns, but is very entertaining and the protagonist is compelling.
My first western. It was okay, pretty short book. Also was tired when reading it so that may have something to do with it. Like the good guys in the story, dependable interesting sorts. It was pretty much non-stop action and the lack of break from that was a bit taxing. Louis L'Amour writes well, but sometimes too dependent with the exclamation marks. There was a plot point that bugged me throughout the entire thing -- why in the world would they get in trouble and hung for mutiny? It was clearly expressed but I don't get it. They were taken on the ship against their will (essentially kidnapped), so why would mutiny still be a hangable offense for them? Grr
Read from April 23 to 24, 2014
Listened for Review (Random House Audio)
Overall Rating: 3.75
Character Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 3.50
Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating
Read It File It Review: I love Louis L'Amour and while Crossfire Trail isn't my favorite book by him, it is still a good read or reread. I picked it up again because I was curious how it would do in audio form.
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Jason Culp / Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
Listen up: I think Jason Culp has an excellent voice and I will be trying him again in the future. My problem with the narration was due to my per-conceived notions of how these particular characters would sound. That isn't the narrators fault. Jason did a great job with pacing and show more delivering of the story so please check him out. show less
Listened for Review (Random House Audio)
Overall Rating: 3.75
Character Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 3.50
Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating
Read It File It Review: I love Louis L'Amour and while Crossfire Trail isn't my favorite book by him, it is still a good read or reread. I picked it up again because I was curious how it would do in audio form.
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Jason Culp / Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
Listen up: I think Jason Culp has an excellent voice and I will be trying him again in the future. My problem with the narration was due to my per-conceived notions of how these particular characters would sound. That isn't the narrators fault. Jason did a great job with pacing and show more delivering of the story so please check him out. show less
One of the better ones that I enjoyed from being shanghaied and sent to sea to the Western Rockies.
Great Tom Selleck movie adaptation as well.
Great Tom Selleck movie adaptation as well.
Rafe Caradec has a solemn duty: He promised a friend on his deathbed to look after his family and his ranch. But when Rafe appears at the ranch, the lovely daughter of his friend believes her father died earlier under very different circumstances - and she believes Rafe is trying to cheat her out of her ranch.
Excellent. Interesting how the way to save the woman’s property developed.
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Author Information
870+ Works 99,538 Members
Born in Jamestown, North Dakota on March 22, 1908, Louis L'Amour's adventurous life could have been the subject of one of his novels. Striking out on his own in 1923, at age 15, L'Amour began a peripatetic existence, taking whatever jobs were available, from skinning dead cattle to being a sailor. L'Amour knew early in life that he wanted to be a show more writer, and the experiences of those years serve as background for some of his later fiction. During the 1930s he published short stories and poetry; his career was interrupted by army service in World War II. After the war, L'Amour began writing for western pulp magazines and wrote several books in the Hopalong Cassidy series using the pseudonym Tex Burns. His first novel, Westward the Tide (1950), serves as an example of L'Amour's frontier fiction, for it is an action-packed adventure story containing the themes and motifs that he uses throughout his career. His fascination with history and his belief in the inevitability of manifest destiny are clear. Also present and typical of L'Amour's work are the strong, capable, beautiful heroine who is immediately attracted to the equally capable hero; a clear moral split between good and evil; reflections on the Native Americans, whose land and ways of life are being disrupted; and a happy ending. Although his work is somewhat less violent than that of other western writers, L'Amour's novels all contain their fair share of action, usually in the form of gunfights or fistfights. L'Amour's major contribution to the western genre is his attempt to create, in 40 or more books, the stories of three families whose histories intertwine as the generations advance across the American frontier. The novels of the Irish Chantry, English Sackett, and French Talon families are L'Amour's most ambitious project, and sadly were left unfinished at his death. Although L'Amour did not complete all of the novels, enough of the series exists to demonstrate his vision. L'Amour's strongest attribute is his ability to tell a compelling story; readers do not mind if the story is similar to one they have read before, for in the telling, L'Amour adds enough small twists of plot and detail to make it worth the reader's while. L'Amour fans also enjoy the bits of information he includes about everything from wilderness survival skills to finding the right person to marry. These lessons give readers the sense that they are getting their money's worth, that there is more to a L'Amour novel than sheer escapism. With over 200 million copies of his books in print worldwide, L'Amour must be counted as one of the most influential writers of westerns in this century. He died from lung cancer on June 10, 1988. (Bowker Author Biography) Louis L'Amour, truly America's favorite storyteller, was the first fiction writer ever to receive the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Congress in honor of his life's work, & was also awarded the Medal of Freedom. There are over 260 million copies of his books in print worldwide. (Publisher Provided) show less
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Has the adaptation
Is an expanded version of
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Crossfire Trail
- Original publication date
- 1954-08
- People/Characters
- Rafe Caradec; Charles Rodney; Rock Mullaney; Carol Rodney; Tex Brisco; Bully Borger (show all 28); Ann Rodney; Roy Penn; Bruce Barkow; Pod Gilmer; Josh Briggs; Gene Baker; Gee Bonaro; Red Cloud; Johnny Gill; Bo Marsh; Dan Shute; Weber; Pat Higley; Pod Gomer; Joe Benson; Stu Martin; Al Chase; Red Blazer; Lemuel "Trigger" Boyne; Tom Blazer; Joe Gorman; Roy Gargan
- Important places
- Wyoming Territory, USA
- Related movies
- Crossfire Trail (2001 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- [None]
- Dedication
- To Harry and Ruth
- First words
- In the dank, odorous fo'c'sle a big man with wide shoulders sat at a scarred mess table, his feet spread to brace himself against the roll of the ship.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)When a man wants to sleep, let him sleep. I'd say he'd earned it!
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 747
- Popularity
- 37,579
- Reviews
- 10
- Rating
- (3.86)
- Languages
- English, Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 30
- UPCs
- 5
- ASINs
- 19
