Over on the Dry Side (Talon and Chantry) Paperback – June 1, 1985

I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns in this book. It has many things that identify it as a story by Mr. L'Amour. But the treasure that was something besides gold, well, that was a new twist. Unputdownable!!

They found the body and a pencil marked number 10, but no other clues. A dangerous gang was searching the nearby hills and wanted no interference with their hunt for the gold. Always the stories of gold from Mexico drove men crazy. Greed with this hard lawless bunch came easy so when a man and his soon settled in the ransacked cabin and took over the ranching in this lonely remote area, it wasn’t long before gunmen shadowed their door. Well worth the time.

First, let me say that I am a HUGE Louis Lamour fan. I have read his books extensively over the years (going back to the 1960's). I am very familiar with his writing style. I believe that this book was part of many unfinished manuscripts that were found after his death, and are now being published as finished works. The storyline is fine, the characters are there, but......there is not a consistent voice. Part of it is told in the first person voice of the young boy, and part of it is in 3rd person voice of the character Owen Chantry. I don't think that this is a literary technique being used, because these voice perspective shifts occur in the same chapter, in some cases. It doesn't flow well, and it doesn't feel right. There are many areas where there is just a raw, disjointed, unfinished feel. The boy's character is not developed and you are left with the feeling of "who's story is this, anyway? The boy, or Owen Chantry?" I have never encountered that in all of the Louis Lamour books and stories that I have read before. Louis Lamour's works always rang with truth and authenticity, because as he said, "he walked those hills and lands that he wrote about. He grew up with true stories of the frontier. His own grandfather was scalped."Frankly, the story needs more work - which, I believe, was why the author did not publish it before his death - it just wasn't ready. This is still a rough draft; not the usual polished gem that Louis Lamour typically produced.

L'Amour attempted a new narrative style with this book - multiple points of view (POVs) pop up sporadically in his other stories but this book uses multiple POV more consistently than his previous attempts. Doby Kernohan is a sixteen year old boy with some rough po' white boy vernacular. This can be tough for folks who don't appreciate dialects - it's one of my favorite parts of the book. Doby's POV is off-set by educated Owen Chantry, who speaks with (mostly) proper grammar. L'Amour succeeds at keeping the two main characters separated by voice.L'Amour spent a lot of time building tension between his two main characters, only for it to fizzle out at the end. The plot isn't much better - it builds well, but the mystery is one that readers can't solve because we aren't given what we need to solve it so we're dependent on Owen to tell us the answers. It feels like L'Amour just connected the pieces as quickly as he could to reach the ending; I wish he had taken the time to properly finish this tale because I did enjoy reading this book, it just doesn't deliver the ending it deserves.

Good book. Reading the Chantry series. Have enjoyed many Louis Lamour short stories with action. Drama and a flirtation or two. Learned much about horses and the west.

Another great fast moving twisting western by a great author. A man a d his so come upon a cabin, with the body of a dead man laying in the door way. They check the man to see if there's any identification on him, and of course there isn't. The cabin was in disarray, dusty, but we'll built with sturdy homemade furniture.The father and son clean the cabin and bring in their few items.I think everyone who likes Louis L'Amour books should read this adventure. It's an intriguing mystery that won't let you put it down until you've finished the finished the book.

Very good book, with the Sackett, Series so popular this is a good addition to the Chandler series it is easy to be under rated but a very good book with a lot of action. To bad there was never more about the future events

Luis lamour takes you right to the country that he writes about... it's just like you are there..his descriptions are very vivid

If Louise Lamour wrote it it is a damd good read

All fans of Louis L'Amour seem to love all his books and this was no exception.

Excellent story as usual by the greatest writer of western stories of how america was developed and advanced by these early brave men and women to make the country how it is now

Enjoyed this Louis L'Amour book very much. Easy to picture the mountains and lakes as the old Westerners saw them. A story of the old west, pleased to add it to my collections from the pen of a great writer.

Thumping good read! Always a pleasure.Never known a Louis L'Amour story to disappoint.a a a a a a a