Dead Man's Walk

September 4, 1995
Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae, the heroes of Lonesome Dove, return in a rousing if slightly contrived yarn set decades before the events of that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel--and earlier still than the latter-day adventures of Call, detailed in Streets of Laredo. Now hardly more than teenage runaways, the pair, just recruited into the ragtag Rangers of the new Texas Republic, come face-to-face with death on their baptismal patrol as Gus, foolishly wandering away from his guard post, stumbles onto the grotesquely disfigured Comanche chief Buffalo Hump and narrowly escapes with the Indian's lance embedded in his hip. Gus and Call return safely to San Antonio but, lured by myths of silver and gold, the hapless duo sign on to a small army led by a former seafaring pirate intent on liberating Santa Fe from Mexican rule. An unforgettable (and equally unlikely) crew of blackhearted villains, foppish officers and star-crossed heroes and heroines, the sorry little force heads west only to be terrorized by Buffalo Hump, then captured by Mexican militia. With the ruthless Captain Salazar calling the shots, Mexicans and Americans are ordered to march toward El Paso. Along the way, Call is whipped nearly to death for a minor offense, and the group is stalked by a murderous Apache. Forced by Salazar to cross the high desert known as ``dead man's walk,'' Gus, Call and company end up at a leper colony near El Paso, where they find salvation. Suffering from McMurtry's usual coincidences and miraculous escapes, as well as from some stereotypical key characters and too much obvious melodrama, this falls short of both Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo. Still, it's bracing entertainment in its own right, with McMurtry flashing his storytelling skills as he recreates the salad days of two flawed but all-American heroes adrift in the Old West. 500,000 first printing.

Starred review from September 1, 1995
McMurtry's recent novels (The Late Child, LJ 5/15/95 and Pretty Boy Floyd, LJ 9/1/94) have been disappointing, but in this prequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove (LJ 7/85), he shows himself to be in top form again. During the years of the Texas Republic, a group of Rangers travel across Texas on several misbegotten missions. Two of the youngest Rangers, Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae, are featured in Lonesome Dove. Their coming of age can be charted by the rivers they cross--the Brazos, the Trinity, the Big Wichita--and the hardships they endure. Death is a constant companion, coming quickly at the hand of hostile Natives, fellow rangers, and nature itself. Their last expedition, to take Santa Fe from the Mexicans, ends disastrously with a heartstopping game of chance determining who will live and who will die. From opening line to last page, this marvelous novel--part soap opera, part slapstick, part tragedy--is impossible to put down. Very highly recommended for all popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/95.]--Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle

August 1, 1995
Fans of "Lonesome Dove" will flock to read McMurtry's latest novel, a prequel to that best-seller, which was made into a popular television miniseries. We meet Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae when they're novice Texas Rangers not yet 20 years old. They are part of a pack of Rangers bound for new frontiers in the Wild West. Traveling with the team is Mathilda, a heavyset whore who provides both comfort and wisdom. When the group gets word that the town of Santa Fe--full of gold and silver and prosperity--is primed to be captured, they head out for a long, dangerous, and ill-fated journey. They are terrorized along the way by the fearsome Comanche chief Buffalo Hump, who is known for viciously torturing those he captures. Their biggest challenge, though, is nature itself, as they must cross Jornada del Muerto, or Dead Man's Walk. Although foolish, filthy, and ornery, these men are endearing, with a simple but insightful worldview. McMurtry again paints a story full of dreariness and despair with colorful characters, bringing out the beauty rather than the bleakness of life. ((Reviewed August 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)