The Tall Stranger is an average Louis L’Amour, which means it is still pretty good.
Rock, the hero, is a young man who joins a wagon train. He is awkward with words, but not with guns. He helps the wagon train through some tough times, but they don’t trust him. Then a smooth talking man shows up and tells the wagon train about a “short cut.” They follow him.
The glib man wants to use the people in the wagon train to take land away from a cattle baron. Rock is suspicious from the start, but as he is not elegant with words the people in the wagon train ignore his concerns. The story moves pretty quickly.
I am always amazed at Louis L’Amour ability to make every page a page turner. Once started, his stories are hard to put down.
I enjoyed the story and would encourage anyone who had liked other Louis L’Amour stories, or westerns in general, to give “The Tall Stranger" a try.