Rim of the Desert [Large Print]

Jim Keene was rough, restless, and proud. He had a fiery temper and a will of iron. He rode a thousand miles to escape from trouble only to run into it again in Cloud Valley--a land seething with a feud between cattlemen and homesteaders that threatened to blow the whole country wide open. And when events made their battle his battle the real war began. No writer has ever captured the realness of the West like Ernest Haycox. His novels have a grittiness about them that makes you feel as if you know these people to be people you have met somewhere, sometime. His characters are not perfect; they have flaws which at times get them into more trouble. But that is what makes his work so unique and wonderful. I am not the greatest fan of short stories, but Ernest Haycox created some of his finest characters in his short works, such as found in the two compilations of Burnt Creek and New Hope. Rife with situations and people that are common place, yet Mr. Haycox takes these people and events to a higher level which make them universal. That is the elevation of "westerns" for which he is given credit. Had he lived, I am sure we would be hailing Ernest Haycox as one of the greatest writers of all time, not just a one of the greatest writers of westerns. Rim of the Desert belongs with his other works.

There are so many books out there with this plot - the lone gunman (Jim Keene) against many, who cannot stay away from trouble because he helps the underdog settlers, saves the town from the power-crazed rancher and gets the girl. Ernest Haycox just writes it better than others.