A Practical Guide to Getting Into Down The Long Hills Louis L Amour
If you are looking at this Louis L'Amour book and wondering whether it is worth your time or how to actually get a copy without running into scanner issues, here is the straightforward breakdown. The book came out in 1987 and it is one of the later Sackett family novels. L'Amour had been writing Westerns for about twenty-five years by then, and that experience shows in the pacing. The story follows two Sackett men, Torlapp and another character named Fincannon, who travel overland and end up involved with buffalo hunters, Native American conflicts, and a woman caught in the middle. It is not his most famous novel, but it is solid work from someone who knew the terrain and the period. I picked up a used paperback copy at a thrift store a few years back, and the scan quality on many of the cheap print-on-demand editions online is rough. The margins are uneven and some of the dialogue lines run together. If you are reading digitally, I would look for a proper ebook from a major retailer rather than downloading a PDF from a random site. The formatting on those scanner copies tends to break when you try to change font sizes, which makes dialogue-heavy passages hard to follow.
For anyone new to L'Amour, the Sackett books are a good place to start. He wrote them in a somewhat loose series order, but Down the Long Hills works fine as a standalone read. You do not need to have read the earlier books like Ride the Dark Trail or Sackett to understand what is going on. The family connections are there if you want to go back, but this novel stands on its own. The plot moves at a steady pace without a lot of philosophical tangents. That is one thing L'Amour does better than most Western writers. He keeps the story moving forward through action and dialogue rather than stopping to explain the theme of the frontier. Some readers find his prose plain. It is plain. That is the point. The characters feel real because they talk and act like people who have lived hard lives, not because the narration is beautifully written. One thing I noticed on my second read through is that the ending feels a bit rushed compared to the buildup. L'Amour was known to write quickly, sometimes turning out two or three novels a year. He had deadlines and he met them. The result is that later books in his career sometimes have structural weaknesses near the climax. This one is not bad, but it is noticeably less polished than something like To a Distant Land or Shadow Valley.
If you want to track down a copy, the print ISBN is 0345335122 for the Ballantine Books edition. The ebook ISBN is 0345322366. Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Apple Books all carry digital versions. Paperbacks are widely available from used book sellers. If you order from sites like AbeBooks or ThriftBooks, check the condition notes carefully because L'Amour paperbacks from the eighties tend to have yellowed pages and cracked spines after twenty or thirty years on a shelf. There is also a audiobook version narrated by Christian Rummel, released around 2008 through Simon and Schuster Audio. I listened to that one and the narration is competent. Rummel does not go overboard with regional accents, which is a relief. Some narrators make every character sound like a different cowboy accent and it gets exhausting after two hours. Rummel keeps it readable. The book runs about 224 pages in the paperback edition. You can finish it in a single sitting if you are reading for pleasure. It is not one of those dense novels that demands you take notes. L'Amour was writing entertainment, not literature that requires analysis. And that is perfectly fine.
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My one recommendation is to read the first Sackett book in chronological order if you plan to go deeper into the series. Start with Ride the Dark Trail or The Lonesome Gods and work your way forward. The family saga builds over multiple books and the later novels get richer because you already know these people. But again, this particular book is accessible on its own. As for where to download or purchase, I do not recommend sketchy free PDF sites. Not just because of piracy, but because the file quality is almost always poor. A properly formatted ebook from an authorized seller will have correct chapter breaks, working table of contents, and consistent typography. It makes a noticeable difference when you are reading a long book on a small screen. The Buffalo Bill connection in this novel might interest readers who like that era of the Old West. L'Amour does not spend much time on it, but it is there if you pay attention. The historical detail is generally reliable, though he takes some creative liberty with timelines and minor events. That was standard practice for him and for most Western fiction writers of his generation.
If you decide this style is not for you after a chapter or two, that is fine. L'Amour has a very specific voice and not everyone connects with it. But if you are into frontier stories with straightforward plotting and realistic dialogue, this book will hold your attention without frustration.
