A Man Called Trent
by Louis L'Amour
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Early in Louis L'Amour's career, he wrote a number of novel-length stories for "pulp" Western magazines. "I lived with my characters so closely that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared went out of print," he said. "I wanted to tell the reader more about my people and why they did what they did." So he revised and expanded these magazine works to be published again as full-length novels. Here is one of his early creations, show more which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans. A Man Called Trent opens on nester Dick Moffitt lying dead where he was killed by King Bill Hale's riders. His son Jack and adopted daughter Sally, who witnessed the murder, go for safety to a cabin owned by a man called "Trent"-an alias for Kilkenny, who is seeking to escape his reputation as a gunfighter. show lessTags
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A Man Called Trent by Louis L’Amour
Why I picked this book up: I really like the Louis L’Amour westerns since reading Hondo and others like Last of the Breed so I jumped on this one.
Why I finished this book: This book started off ok, a man with two kids he came upon set the stage but it was really about freedom, virtues, the American culture, tough as nails type, not giving up in the face of adversity and others trying to chase “nesters” off their own property, loyalty and there was his woman. It was worth the read even though it was not one of my favorites I’ve read of his to this point. It’s still worth reading but I kind of lost interest during the fight with the prize fighter in some ways I guess but I don’t know, show more maybe the fight part was interesting enough to finish it but not because of the boxing but the reason and way he went into the fight, the money, winning the people over and talking to the officials about the land issues.
Rating: I’d give this book a 3 star rating out of 5 stars. If you want a quick read that is a pretty predictable, classic western, I’d pick this up if one of his others like the two I mentioned above weren’t available. show less
Why I picked this book up: I really like the Louis L’Amour westerns since reading Hondo and others like Last of the Breed so I jumped on this one.
Why I finished this book: This book started off ok, a man with two kids he came upon set the stage but it was really about freedom, virtues, the American culture, tough as nails type, not giving up in the face of adversity and others trying to chase “nesters” off their own property, loyalty and there was his woman. It was worth the read even though it was not one of my favorites I’ve read of his to this point. It’s still worth reading but I kind of lost interest during the fight with the prize fighter in some ways I guess but I don’t know, show more maybe the fight part was interesting enough to finish it but not because of the boxing but the reason and way he went into the fight, the money, winning the people over and talking to the officials about the land issues.
Rating: I’d give this book a 3 star rating out of 5 stars. If you want a quick read that is a pretty predictable, classic western, I’d pick this up if one of his others like the two I mentioned above weren’t available. show less
Interesting and satisfying continuation of the Kilkenny series. I like Lance Kilkenny, a more complex character than one expects in this genre. The plot has been done before, cattle king vs. nesters, but for me the human interactions makes this a better than average tale by L'Amour.
I have never read a western before but quite enjoyed thisone. It was an easy, predictable read. A classic goodies versus baddies set in the wild west. Of course, there is a lady too. Compared to books written today it was very clean - no graphic sex scenes, no disgusting language and despite the gun fights that one would expect the violence is mild. There is a moral too. I would read more westerns if looking for a quick, uncomplicated, old-fashioned book.
[Read by Jim Gough]
Here is one of L'Amour's early creations, which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans.
Early in Louis L'Amour's career, he wrote a number of novel-length stories for ''pulp'' western magazines. ''I lived with my characters so closely that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared went out of print,'' he said. ''I wanted to tell the reader more about my people and why they did what they did.'' So he revised and expanded these magazine works to be published again as full-length novels. Here is one of his early creations, which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans.
A Man Called Trent show more opens on nester Dick Moffitt lying dead where he was killed by King Bill Hale's riders. His son Jack and adopted daughter Sally, who witnessed the murder, go for safety to a cabin owned by a man called ''Trent'' -- an alias for Kilkenny, who is seeking to escape his reputation as a gunfighter. show less
Here is one of L'Amour's early creations, which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans.
Early in Louis L'Amour's career, he wrote a number of novel-length stories for ''pulp'' western magazines. ''I lived with my characters so closely that their lives were still as much a part of me as I was of them long after the issues in which they appeared went out of print,'' he said. ''I wanted to tell the reader more about my people and why they did what they did.'' So he revised and expanded these magazine works to be published again as full-length novels. Here is one of his early creations, which have long been a source of great speculation and curiosity among his fans.
A Man Called Trent show more opens on nester Dick Moffitt lying dead where he was killed by King Bill Hale's riders. His son Jack and adopted daughter Sally, who witnessed the murder, go for safety to a cabin owned by a man called ''Trent'' -- an alias for Kilkenny, who is seeking to escape his reputation as a gunfighter. show less
Here we have a volume with two of L'Amour early novels as they were originally published in the pulp magazine West in 1947. The hero in both stories is Lance Kilkenny.
In The Rider of Lost Creek Lance becomes involved in a range war when he arrives to help a friend keep his range. It appears to all that two local cattle barons are fighting it out for the friend's land. However, Lance comes to suspect that it is a mysterious man who lives in a mansion on a hill who is really behind the burning and killing.
Lance also meets the mysterious Nita Riordan and her body guard Jaime Brigo. Love blossoms but Lance does not see marriage as an option for he feels his life will end violently and not something he wishes to put a woman through. He also show more meets the Brockman twins killing one, beating the other half to death.
The novel ends with Lance abandoning Nita, leaving an angry Brockman looking for him and the solving of the mystery of the man on the hill who he kills.
In A Man Called Trent we have the sequel to the previous story. Lance now known as Trent has settle on a piece of land near the the town where Nita has again set up shop in a saloon. The local cattle baron, King Bill Hale, is forcing families off their land by threats and if that does not work, fire and murder.
Lance organizes the surviving families into taking on Hale and his men. Lance has to box a famous pugilist to defeat Hale and save his love, Nita from being forced to marry Hale or his vicious son, Cub Hale. There are several gun fights one of which ends Cub's rein of terror but also wounds Lance. At the end of this novel, he decides to marry Nita. He also befriends the surviving Brockman twin who settles near Lance's place. show less
In The Rider of Lost Creek Lance becomes involved in a range war when he arrives to help a friend keep his range. It appears to all that two local cattle barons are fighting it out for the friend's land. However, Lance comes to suspect that it is a mysterious man who lives in a mansion on a hill who is really behind the burning and killing.
Lance also meets the mysterious Nita Riordan and her body guard Jaime Brigo. Love blossoms but Lance does not see marriage as an option for he feels his life will end violently and not something he wishes to put a woman through. He also show more meets the Brockman twins killing one, beating the other half to death.
The novel ends with Lance abandoning Nita, leaving an angry Brockman looking for him and the solving of the mystery of the man on the hill who he kills.
In A Man Called Trent we have the sequel to the previous story. Lance now known as Trent has settle on a piece of land near the the town where Nita has again set up shop in a saloon. The local cattle baron, King Bill Hale, is forcing families off their land by threats and if that does not work, fire and murder.
Lance organizes the surviving families into taking on Hale and his men. Lance has to box a famous pugilist to defeat Hale and save his love, Nita from being forced to marry Hale or his vicious son, Cub Hale. There are several gun fights one of which ends Cub's rein of terror but also wounds Lance. At the end of this novel, he decides to marry Nita. He also befriends the surviving Brockman twin who settles near Lance's place. show less
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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
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- Canonical title
- A Man Called Trent
- Original publication date
- 1965
- People/Characters
- Lance Kilkenny (Trent); King Bill Hale; Cub Hale; Nita Riordan; Parson Hatfield; Sally Crane (show all 37); Jack Moffit; Price Dixon; Jaime Brigo; Jared Tetlow; Dick Moffitt; Pete Shaw; Bing Dunn; Ravitz; Dan O'Hara; Lee Hall; Cain Brockman; Quincy Hatfield; Burt Leathers; Jake Hatfield; Smithers; Bartram; Jesse Hatfield; Jim Hale; Dan Cooper; Saul Hatfield; Jackson Hight; Steven Runyon; Tombull Turner; Doc Soderman; Red Gaddis; Jody Miller; Rye Pitkin; Lee Wright; Jeff Nebel; Tandy Wade; Kurt Wilde
- Important places
- Cedar Bluff, New Mexico, USA; Blazer, New Mexico, USA
- Important events
- Trent meets King Bill.; The cabins are burned.; The crossing of the desert.; Trent enters the ring.; King Bill shoots King Bill.; Final showdown with Cub.
- First words
- A Man Called Trent: Smoke lifted wistfully from the charred timbers of the house, and smoke lifted from the shed that had been Moffitt's barn.
The Rider of Lost Creek: A lone cowhand riding a hard-pressed horse reined in at the hitching rail before a Dodge barroom. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)A Man Called Trent:"Let Sally pour it," he said gently. "You stay here."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.) The Rider of Lost Creek: He sang softly, and the hoofs of the buckskin kept time to the singing, and Lance could feel the air in his face, and a long way ahead the trail curved into the mountains.
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- Members
- 151
- Popularity
- 216,372
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.60)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 28
- ASINs
- 4
