Ride the River: The Sacketts: A Novel

Great read, could not put it down.
Wonderful storyline as always with
one of Mr. L'Amour's books. I get
submerged in the story and almost
instantly feel as though I'm there with
the characters of his (Louis L'Amour) book.

I found the book to be very interesting. I purchased the book on cassett tape and was surprised to find the reader of the book had a excellent speaking ability. If you are a Louis Lamour fan then I hope you enjoy the Sackett Series as much as I did.

Echo Sackett's response when asked- very late in this book- "How many Sacketts are there?" This 16 year hill billy girl responds, "No body really knows. But one Sackett is quite a few." This historically middle of Louis L'Amour's 17 book series of the Sackett family and American History is uniquely told by this very young woman.
It is difficult to review this story, this L'Amour for it refers to my family directly...The McCoys of Pikeville, Kentucky. I will try again later.

One of L'Amour''s best skills, especially in "paper backs" is historical accuracy. And he wrote it all before the internet! We have learned of his huge library and obviously great memory. In Ride the River, he tells of the western Appalachians, Tug Branch and Pikeville. I grew up (kinda) there. There was kale and sassafras root and rifles and moonshine and clans... like the Sacketts that looked out for each other and had very long memories. Although this book was set in 1840s +/-, the raw survival and family traditions were still there. Our small subsistence farm and that of Uncle Cecil were very much like the farm outside Louisa- one horse or or one mule, a plow, a corn shed and a few flat acres to farm.
My brother George David and I were born in Chatteroy holler and lived through WWII in Grandpa George Washington Allen and Grandma Dollie McCoy Allen's one bedroom shack in Williamson, Mingo County, WV.

No excuses for stating the obvious...L'Amour's Echo Sackett was in our front yard 100 years before us and how the heck Louis got it so right is astounding!

Somewhere in the Tennessee hills in 1840, there is a young gal named Echo Sackett and she never wastes a bullet. When this fiesty girl aims, she hits what she is aiming for and can ride and hunt as well as any man. One day a traveling peddler happens to come across her family name in a newspaper and upon reading it, Echo must travel to Philledelphia because the newspaper states that there is an inheritance for the youngest living Sackett. Once arriving in Philledelphia, however, Echo discovers that a greedy lawyer never intended the article to reach Tennessee, let alone hand the rightful heir the money. A kindly, old lawyer becomes involved and after attaining about three grand and a ruby in a box, Echo undertakes a perilous journey home with thieves and murderers constantly shooting at her or stealing her bag.

Amid all the horse riding, stagecoach hopping, streamrolling, canoeing, and in between shooting off bad guys' ears, Echo developes a crush on the kindly lawyer's nephew, who has come along attempting to help her reach home safely. Echo shows us all that she is certainly capable of making it on her own, and with her sense of humor intact too.

The only thing I didn't like was the prose. Whereas I understand the use of uneducated prose when people are actually speaking, I found it unnecessary when Echo was simply narrating.

I would like to read more Louis L'Amour, but I am only interested in the ones with strong female characters in the lead. If anybody knows of any titles I may enjoy, please leave me a comment. Much Thanks!

Fun book to read. Good story. I enjoyed the main character, Echo Sackett. Great personality. She's a good strong female character. The Sackett tradition of Sackett helping Sackett was brought out. L'Amour did a good job writing Echo's diction, as well as depicting the landscape. He's always taking the Sacketts west, and her journey did not disappoint.

My only criticism has to do with the flow of the story. It gets choppy at times, and the end is pretty abrupt. A character's actions would change without any explanation regarding his motivation. With that said, it was a good continuation of the Sackett series. It was also nice to see his focus on a female character in the Sackett family.

Enjoyable read. I liked this one better than Juball Sackett. Ride the River tells the tale of a 16 year old girl named Echo Sackett who travels by herself to Philadelphia, PA from the backwoods of Tennessee to collect an inheritance due to her.

A shady lawyer tries to get her to sign off on $500.00 but she refuses to sign until she consults another attourney, who happens to be an old friend of Echo's distant relatives. Turns out the inheritance is around $3,200.00

Once she collects her money and tries to return home is when the action begins. The lawyer wants the money, an ex-con is after her for the money and few other cut throats , as well.

Very fast paced book. Turned out to be a page turner. Read it in 2 days, but it was a shorter novel coming in at 182 pages.

Recently, I decided to re-read all of the Sackett books in order. I am very partial to this particular family of heroes. My favorite character being Barnabas Sackett; I so wish he were real and even more wish he was an ancestor of mine.

The story itself is typical for this author, meaning good. Atypical is that the main character is female, which was ok for a change. I am glad however, that 99% of his main characters are male.

I had read this book many years before, but I did not remember that it was so humorous. I don't read Lous L'Amour for the laughs, but I was literally laughing out loud with this book, in a good way. I don't remember when I have enjoyed a book more.

Ride the River introduces sixteen year old Echo Sackett. Wise for her years and skilled at the necessity of staying alive, she encounters adversaries at every turn. Bringing home a family inheritance becomes a series of confrontations with those who would want to take it from a girl.
Easy read as all of Mr. L'Amours stories.