Amazon.com
In this prequel to McMurtry's 1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are invincible young bucks, Texas Rangers, full of youthful energy and, quite frankly, full of themselves. That is until they're utterly consumed by the vicious battlefield of the early-19th-century Wild West. Their journey takes them across barren deserts and raging rivers and through steep and snowy mountains, often on foot and with barely enough provisions and clothing to keep them from certain death. The constant threat of attack by Comanches keeps them awake nights, fearing for their lives--and for good reason. "Buffalo Hump reached down and grabbed the terrified boy by his long black hair. He yanked his horse to a stop, lifted Zeke Moody off his feet, and slashed at his head with a knife, just above the boy's ears. Then he whirled and raced across the front of the huddled Rangers, dragging Zeke by the hair. As the horse increased its speed, the scalp tore loose and Zeke fell free. Buffalo Hump had whirled again, and held aloft the bloody scalp."
This bedraggled group of adventurers--on their foolhardy expedition to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans (who also prove to be formidable enemies)--includes a salty assortment of cowboys, scouts, fortune seekers, and a fat and sassy whore nicknamed "The Great Western." McMurtry's adept storytelling paints a portrait of the Wild West that at times is palpable. One can almost smell the campfires, the body odors, and the long-awaited piece of meat after weeks without a proper meal. Dead Man's Walk will satisfy your craving for adventure, without having to put your life on the line.
From Publishers Weekly
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. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
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.-?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, SeattleCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Digestible, but less than satisfying, is Dead Man's Walk, the prequel to Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. Will Patton does a low, lazy Texas accent, which sounds flawlessly accurate to East Coast ears. His inflection and timing enhance McMurtry's lush descriptions and capture the attitudes of newly enlisted Texas Rangers Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call. However, Patton's other accents vary widely. Another, more persistent problem concerns the narrative. Dramatic urgency dissipates when you know that Gus and Call must walk away from even the most harrowing adventure so that they may reappear in Lonesome Dove. R.O.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
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. Mary Frances Wilkens
Review
The Kansas City Star Brimming with passion and page-turning excitement...it's good, good stuff.
Book Description
Dead Man's Walk is the first, extraordinary book in the epic Lonesome Dove tetralogy, in which Larry McMurtry breathed new life into the vanished American West and created two of the most memorable heroes in contemporary fiction: Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. As young Texas Rangers, Gus and Call have much to learn about survival in a land fraught with perils: not only the blazing heat and raging tornadoes, roiling rivers and merciless Indians but also the deadly whims of soldiers. On their first expeditions--led by incompetent officers and accompanied by the robust, dauntless whore known as the Great Western--they will face death at the hands of the cunning Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump and the silent Apache Gomez. They will be astonished by the Mexican army. And Gus will meet the love of his life.
About the Author
The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, among other awards, Larry Mcmurtry is the author of more than twenty novels, two collections of essays, and more than thirty screenplays. His reputation as a critically acclaimed author is unequaled. Mr. McMurtry lives in Texas.
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