Author: Max Brand (Frederick Schiller Faust)
Genre: Western
Year Published: 1922
Horse's Name: El Sangre
Content Rating: G--- no sex or swearing
Stars: **** Very Good
Link for Free Ebook: http://manybooks.net/titles/brandmaxetext06blkjk10.html
The book begins with the shooting death of an outlaw, witnessed by spinster ranch owner Elizabeth Cornish and her lazy younger brother Vance. The outlaw, Black Jack, left an orphaned infant son behind.
Vance Cornish, referring to the theory of eugenics popular when the book was written, predicted Black Jack's son would grow up to be just like his old man. Elizabeth not only believed the infant could be spared that fate if carefully reared, she decided to do so herself. Vance predicted the boy would shoot a man before age 25.
Jump forward to just before the boy Terry's 25th birthday. He is a fine young man and proud of the fine family that Elizabeth told him he came from--- he has no clue his real father was an outlaw. He has tamed a wild horse, El Sangre, and won much admiration for his courage and his sense of fair play.
But Vance, whose idle ways have lost him his share of the family ranch, is jealous when Elizabeth proposes to make Terry her heir. He arranges for Terry to learn the truth about his father--- and to be confronted with the man, now a sheriff, who shot Black Jack from ambush. Terry calls the sheriff out, and shoots him in an excruciatingly fair duel.
Terry must now leave the ranch in disgrace. He tries to find honest work, but when he is found out as Black Jack's son he is fired. Only the members of Black Jack's old gang have any interest in helping Terry.
Terry ends up hiring on for ranch work at the home/hideout of the current leader of Black Jack's gang. Here he is pulled closer into a life of crime, much to the dismay of the gang leader's pretty daughter.
The great question of the book is: Does a boy like Terry have any chance at all of leading a morally upright life? And can Terry resist the strong temptations posed by a life of crime when an honest life seems so difficult? Read the book to find out!
I believe this book would be of great interest to the Christian reader because of the moral dilemma at the heart of the story, and because of the lack of objectionable content. The YA reader would also be pleased as the hero, though older than the standard age 17, is youthful and just starting out in life.
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Great review, will have to read this one.
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