Off the Mangrove Coast

Rating:
Summary: What It Feel Like To Be A Man.....
Review: ....sometimes I like my stories written straight ahead with no deep analysis required. And easy to read. And in small bites.

These are great tales of pirates and noire detectives and exotic lands and plenty of fights and murder. No deep analysis required. Straight ahead storytelling from one of the best. The best five bucks I spent all summer...

Rating:
Summary: Great entertainment for a small price
Review: I've always been a fan of Louis Lamour's western's but this book is an excellent example of just how great a writer he was. Using his life experiences Mr. Lamour paints a vivid and entertaining picture in each of the short stories included in this compilation. And only one of them is set in the western genre. A great read for any fan of his or anyone who loves short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Great entertainment for a small price
Review: I've always been a fan of Louis Lamour's western's but this book is an excellent example of just how great a writer he was. Using his life experiences Mr. Lamour paints a vivid and entertaining picture in each of the short stories included in this compilation. And only one of them is set in the western genre. A great read for any fan of his or anyone who loves short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Fine stories of courage and adventure
Review: Louis L'Amour was one of the great writers of modern times, and he is sorely missed by everyone that loves a good story. This book is one of the best collections of his short stories, some of them never before published. His books and stories are often filled with a deep sense of justice, and the ultimate triumph of all that is right. The stories in "Off The Mangrove Coast", follow that pattern. There is the story of a boxer, seeking justice for the cruel death of his father. In another story a man goes out into the jungles of Borneo, trying to rescue some tourists from murderers and headhunters. There is a story about a true friendship that forms during a perilous journey on the sea, in search of treasure. There are nine stories included in this book. These are stories about the heart of adventure and courage, and the surprising good that can sometimes be found in very unexpected places. Louis L'Amour wanted to be remembered as a good storyteller, and in this and so many of his other books that wish has always been fulfilled.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Bag of Nine Stories
Review: The nince uncollected stories here range from L'Amour's earliest days as a writer to his latest, but are linked by protagonists seeking justice. While L'Amour is most famous for his Westerns, most of these stories draw upon his own life experiences for their setting and subjects. L'Amour was a boxer, winning over 50 bouts, and in "Fighters Should Be Hungry" he presents the classic tale of a hungry kid seeking to avenge his father's death. Boxing surfaces again in the equally formulaic "The Rounds Don't Matter." I don't know that he was ever a detective, but he's not much of a detective writer, based on the two weak pulp stories here, "The Unexpected Corprse" and "Time of Teror." For the Western fans, there's a quite nice little tale of outlaws and gold, called "The Secret of Silver Springs." And for the checkers fans there's a brief little throwaway tale about a champion seaman checker player called "It's Your Move." I have to confess that "The Cross and the Candle" made such a small impression that I have no idea what it was about! The two best stories derive their quality from L'Amour's travels. "Off the Mangrove Coast" is about a villanous quarter of sailors seeking gold lost at sea. It's a tense, gripping story with a great fight scene. The longest and best story is "The Diamond of Jeru", about an expatriate American on Borneo who dreams of making a big diamond score so he go back home. When an American couple hire him to take them upriver, it turns into Deliverance meets The Headhunters. It's a great old-fashioned adventure tale that was recently made into a cable movie. All in all, a mixed bag with two gems and a few lumps of coal.

Rating:
Summary: Not All Wesrern
Review: This book contains many different kinds of stories and at first as I picked up the book and saw the contents only contained one western story, oooh, I might not like this collection. But being adventerous, I said to myself it's only one book. So I bought it and thoroughly enjoyed every story without question.