Reilly's Luck
1970
- fiction in english
- fiction
- western
- gamblers
- frontier and pioneer life
- fiction, westerns
- west (u.s.), fiction
The story
Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reilly--a gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years they each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the cities of Europe--until the day Reilly's luck ran out in a roar of gunfire. But it wasn't a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Will's fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would soon uncover, one that touched upon Val's nearly forgotten childhood, the woman who was Will Reilly's lost love, and the violent future of a growing country.From the Paperback edition.
What it’s like
Dusty frontier light and wide open country, the kind of Western that lives in sagebrush flats, saloon lamplight and rain-spotted train platforms. Louis L'Amour writes in a plain, brisk, unfussy voice, with short declarative sentences, practical details of horses, guns and card tables, and long stretches of travel that let the landscape settle. The vibe is steady and rugged with a wistful undertow, a tender story of a boy raised by a charming, self-taught gambler who is the only family he has. Pacing is unhurried in the early years, shifting toward a more purposeful, tense forward drive as the mystery of the gambler's death pulls the young man into the violence of a growing country. Emotional register is warm and quietly sentimental, with an arc about a lonely young man who slowly learns who he is and where he came from. Intensity is moderate: gunfire and a sudden, consequential killing, with fights and frontier violence described plainly rather than graphically; no gore, no sexual content on the page. Good for readers who want a classic Western after a long day, a comfort read on a rainy weekend, or a companionable book for a long train ride, especially those who enjoy father-son style bonds and old-fashioned adventure.
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