No Traveller Returns (Lost Treasures)

Starred review from August 27, 2018
As Louis L’Amour’s son, Beau, explains in an afterword, he has taken the “roughly patched” segments of what would have been his father’s first novel and turned them into a highly entertaining nautical adventure. The narrative focuses on the 33 men who comprise the crew of the tanker SS Lichenfield, which is carrying a cargo of highly explosive naphtha from Los Angeles across the Pacific in early 1939. L’Amour (1908–1988) drew on his experiences as a merchant seaman and those of his fellow sailors to create characters such as Dutchman Pete Brouwer, who’s always planning to return home but never making it; Tex Worden, the lone survivor of a shipwreck; and thoughtful Second Mate John Harlan, who delivers some of the book’s best lines (e.g. “a very slight change in atmospheric conditions or a difference of a few degrees of temperature, and we might no longer exist”). The fate of the ship and its crew matters less than the characters’ often conflicting relationships. Beau L’Amour has done his father’s fans a service by showcasing the future bestselling author’s already developed storytelling and mature insights into human nature.

October 1, 2018
A pre-World War II merchant ship crosses the Pacific with a deadly cargo and a crew that must guide it safely to Asia.In 1939, the tanker SS Lichenfield departs the West Coast, "a tiny, moving island of darkness" bound for Asia, carrying 80,000 barrels of volatile naphtha. There is much foreboding about the flammability of the cargo, which could easily be ignited by a spark or a crewman's cigarette. An oiler named Sam Harrell tells a crewmate, "You forget and strike a match and the next thing you know somebody hands you a harp." The characters are more important than the plot, as tensions and fights break out among tough crew members. Many think about their girlfriends or wives back home, but not everyone wants to return. Second Engineer Con O'Brien muses, "Home was one thing when a man was far away; it was another when he had to live there." Readers of a certain age will remember the late Louis L'Amour as a bestselling writer of Western novels, but this is his first novel--unfinished until decades after his death. His son, Beau, has completed and polished the story while maintaining all the flavor that Louis had intended. It's the first of a planned series titled Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures. The storyline is as straightforward as the ship's route, and it holds no major surprises. The men have their bloody fights and their dreams of returning to other lives, but if their floating bomb explodes, none of it will matter. Perhaps the Lichenfield succeeds in its perilous crossing. Or perhaps....A dark and enjoyable maritime adventure that focuses on character and fate.

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October 1, 2018
Virtually forgotten until long after prolific western author Louis L'Amour's death in 1988, his very first novel has been recently completed by his son, Beau. No Traveller Returns is based on the elder author's youthful experience as a merchant seaman. The tragic story, told through the logs of the crew members, takes place in 1939 aboard the SS Lichenfield, a tanker en route to Manilla from Los Angeles with 80,000 barrels of naphtha, a flammable oil, in the hold. It's impossible for the crew to forget the highly explosive cargo, and fear haunts them all. The men have diverse backgrounds, values, and concerns?and secrets?but one thing they have in common is that their fate was decided before that of the ship. Although L'Amour's name will be forever linked with the American West, fans should welcome the opportunity to read some of his early work. The pace may be a little slower, but the insight into each character is typical of everything L'Amour ever wrote.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)