➽Luke Short's Trouble Country
I usually like stories written by Luke Short, but this one leaves me a mite disappointed.
The main character of the story, Sam Dana, is a fiddle-footed cowboy who returns home following his father's death to find that his half-brother has let the ranch run down and has invited some hardcases to live in the main house. His brother's wife is so disgusted, she has moved into town.
Sam doesn't really need the ranch as he's struck it rich with a coal mine so he's all set to sell his share of the ranch to his brother. However, when he hears accusations that his brother is a cattle rustler, he changes his mind, buys his brother out and sets to mend the tarnished Dana family name.
Only his brother doesn't quit the area; instead he buys a neighboring ranch and commences to causing trouble.
With a set-up like that, you'd expect lots of gunplay, bushwhacking and the possibility of Sam losing the ranch, his life or even his girl.
Yep, there's a romance with the sheriff's daughter, but there's no conflict between the two to be resolved nor a challenge from another suitor to be overcome. Disappointingly, before the romance even gets going, it turns sour when she heeds ugly rumors about Sam's sister-in-law and turns out to be both mean-spirited and prejudiced.
And as for the ranch, there's never even the remote possibility he'll lose it. Yes, his brother burns down the ranch house, but golly, there's a still a small cabin there to live in and well, Sam is rich and can rebuild without much trouble.
The story is well-written. My disappointment is in the expectation that there would be stronger resistance from Sam's half-brother and his hardcases. Turns out the hard-cases aren't as tough as we're led to believe and no challenge to Sam. His brother is no challenge either. He turns out to just be a weak-willed, slow-minded adversary. And without the risk of losing something, or even gaining something worthwhile, there's no real investment in reading the story.
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| Back cover of Luke Short's TROUBLE COUNTRY western novel |
Same with the back cover and the images. It all looks and sounds like there was never-ending gunfights and skirmishes to get his ranch back. You'd think from reading this that Sam had hired a bunch of tough hands to fight his brother and his gun toughs and maybe there were some saloon brawls.
In fact, most of Sam's activity is in legal maneuvering, especially in achieving financial support for his half-brother's wife. The legal maneuvering isn't even challenged with counter legal moves by his brother.
