The Haunted Mesa

Rating:
Summary: Geat read
Review: A very good read...well researched and evenly paced. The Anastazi are fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: A Differnt angle
Review: Fans of L'Amour Westerns have come to expect face-paced, tightly plotted adventure stories with lots of authentic historical detail. This book is a departure from most of L'Amour's other books both in terms of subject matter and writing style. It is set in the Southwest, but in the modern day, and it is as much a science fiction novel as a Western. It involves a search for the lost Anasazi Indians involving mysterious inter-dimensional doors in the Southwestern desert. While it is refreshing to see the author exploring some new creative territory, this book suffers from several flaws. Uncharacteristically for L'Amour, the novel is meandering and repetitious--the story could have been told better in half as many words. And while it contains a fair amount of detail about Southwestern history and culture, some of the anthropology he brings in is outdated, suspect, or both.

Rating:
Summary: Probably the worst book ever written by L'amour
Review: I am not a fan of westerns; this book from Louis L'Amour virtually creates its own genre. I have read and reread this book over the years, am haunted by it until I read it again, sated for awhile, then the haunting begins again. Certainly the title is appropriate for a variety of reasons.

Fans of fantasy and science fiction and the unexplained would like this book. This is one I want on my permanent shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Senile Dementia Claims Noted Writer
Review: I read several short stories by Louis L'Amour, and was struck by the elegance of his writing style. It was economical and precise in achieving very entertaining stories. His characterization was weak, but that is the norm in the Western genre. In terms of doing what he set out to do, Louis did it well. Sooo, I thought I'd read one of his novels. What a surprise! Most of the virtues which were so apparent in the short stories were absent. The writing style was not concise, the plot meandered aimlessly about, the motivation of the characters was not merely obscure--it was absent, and the author frequently lost the thread of his own story. This was most apparent in the climax of the story--the fighting and running sequences--in which the chasers arbitrarily gained upon or lost track of the protagonist in utter defiance of any semblance of what is possible. During fight scenes it wasn't even possible to know who did what to whom in the final quarter of the book. The dog, Chief, appeared and disappeared at the convenience of the author with no explanation as to how it was managed. Several characters displayed the same convenient ability, though not so frequently as the dog. As previously noted in a couple of reviews, the author bogged down in a repetitive loop of questions which grew wearisome, then more wearisome, and eventually most wearisome. The book could have been shortened by a third, the plot overhauled, everyone's motivation accounted for, and it would have been a heck of a book. I awarded two stars because some bits were excellent, and the concept of the book was very good. Execution of the plan was very poor. I attribute the failure to a failure of health. I believe the book to have been completed near the end of Louis' life when he was not able to write at his previous level.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Sci-Fi Element
Review: I think this book is very interesting. Vivid descriptions, and fascinating plot twists make you want to continue reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Not the L'amour title to start with
Review: If you've never read L'amour, please don't start with "The Haunted Mesa". It is a good book, and parts of it are excellent, but it does tend to ramble, and like some of the other reviewers I attribute this to the author's ill health (he had lung cancer) at the time of its writing. I have read it 3 or 4 times and look past its weak points to really enjoy it, especially its detail and its fascinating premise. But if you are new to L'amour, start with "Conagher". "Conagher" is a novel that proves L'amour could do in 150 pages what most other authors struggle to do in 500. Also try "Hondo", "The Sackett Brand", "Last of the Breed", and "The Californios". If you try L'amour once you'll eventually read all of his work, but don't start out with "Mesa". Save it for later.

Rating:
Summary: A Differnt angle
Review: Louis L'amour Is an author who has accomplished a great feat he has written a book so good I had to read it three times just to grasp the full meaning of this book. It has a plot that I dont know how he thought up thisnstuff but I give the guy credit he is a great writer. IF you want to know about the plot read the other reviews but this book is a definte buy and you will read it 3-4 times if you have any brains at all....

Rating:
Summary: The last 100 pages are well worth the wait!
Review: The Haunted Mesa is an extremely convincing, well-written and underrated book, and is certainly the most unique in the long, distinguished career of Louie L'Amour. After reading the last 100 pages of this novel I find it difficult to give it anything less than five stars. However, the development of the plot in the first 250 pages does drag on for a while, but I feel most of it is necessary to the story once Mike Raglan crosses over to the Other Side. If you start to get a little bored in the beginning, don't stop reading. All of this about the logbook, the "hairy ones" and Eden Foster does become important later on. Personally, i enjoyed the book all the way through, but I know some people think L'Amour stalled too much before getting on to the parallel world of the Anasazi.

L'Amour does an excellent job of convincing the reader that this story could indeed happen, even though you may think the plot is far-off at first. This book is an incredible combination of history, science fiction and fantasy, and is a must-read for anyone interested in ancient Indians, time travel, or the unknown. Despite the bad rap this book has always gotten, it is definitely one of L'Amour's best, and contrary to popular belief, L'Amour's health was NOT failing when he wrote The Haunted Mesa. The book was originally written ten years before it was published, but Bantam refused to print it at first because they didn't believe anyone would buy a science fiction story by a western writer. Boy, were they wrong. The book got to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list once it was finally published, and proved to be one of L'Amour's most popular among his fans, even though all the critics seemed to hate it. So give The Haunted Mesa a chance, and I think you will be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: "haunting read"
Review: This book is a "haunting read" to the degree it is unforgettable. I've read many Louis L'Amour books down through the years, but this one is certainly the most atypical of the entire lot.

Released in September,1987, little less than a year before he died in June, 1988, it has as its locale the contemporary Southwestern frontier. His subject is the cliff dwellers, the Anasazi, who left very little trace of themselves after the year 1250 a.d. The setting is the four-corner area of Utah and Arizona, in the San Juan river area of southern Utah, with mysticism and Indian lore in abundance.

There is not too much to say, for fear of undercutting the suspense filled reading contained in these pages. One cannot quite be sure in what direction the plot will next flow. Especially when reading of the Varanel, a strong arm group to hold their own with any modern day swat team. It can be said with certainty there are no other characters in Louis L'Amour's books to match those found here.

New books by Louis L'Amour are greatly missed by his thousands of readers. But since his second home seemed to be the desert, having a lifetime's knowledge about and love for desert existence, it allowed him to leave his readers one swell final book to read.