Max Brand - The Night Horseman

The story started off like a cowboy story should but just when you think this is going to get really good it goes downhill fast. If you have any other books to read try them first. Maybe this Brand book since it was Public Domain was not one of his best. It was the first of his I have ever read. May try one more and if that one is not any better I will move on.

Way too convoluted, way too prosaic, way too boring , unbelievable and drawn out. Just too much meaningless idiotic detail throughout. Could have been entertaining if not so over the top. Too much, too bad.

The Dan Barry Trilogy, this is the second part of 3. (which eventually became 4 volumes, whatever 4 is called) Best trilogy of any genre I have run across, just as good with the second reading 10 years apart. The 3rd volume is outstanding, mysterious, hair raising. No one like Barry. By the way, the trilogy is available on youtube, read by volunteers from Librivox. I'd like to read Dan Barry's daughter, but am afraid that the 4th volume will break the spell, and IIRC it was written after the breakoff year for public domain, 1923. These are novels, I am with those who object to brushing them off as "westerns".

wonderful book, wonderful author, like the reader at Librivox opined.....Max Brand is not for everyone.

Frederick Schiller Faust wrote under 19 different pen names, the most popular being Max Brand. He was orphaned at an early age and worked as a cowhand during his formative years and attended the University of California, where he was known as a troublemaker. work influenced Louis L'Amour and hundreds of other western authors who followed the literary trail Brand had blazed.
This is one of his best novels, violet, yet powerful, funny, about East meets West, and the West winning! All with an ending that only Max could write. In some ways, it's sad these days are now gone - except for being able to pick up his novels once again. If you have never read one of his westerns, you could do no better than to pick up this one.

Although this is an old public domain book, it was an entertaining, well written and exciting book. You may be able to get it free on other sites or get his package of 13 novels on this site that includes this book for .99