Louis Lamour Book Reviews

Should Laura Pritts have her own article?  Is her character strong enough?  Obviously I think so.  Louis L’amour thought so as well.  She makes appearances, brief as they are, throughout the Sackett saga.

In her own way Laura Pritts is a driving force of the action in The Daybreakers.  Though her father is the primary antagonist, she creates the internal conflict within Orrin and by extension the conflict between Orrin and Tyrel.  She also has a great influence on the conflict between Tom Sunday and the Sackett brothers.  Without her it is likely that her father would not have had the ability to keep Orrin, and by extension Tyrel, in check for so long.

In many ways she is also one of the most rounded female characters in L’amour’s writing.  She has all of the appearances of being a desirable woman to begin with.  I cannot disregard Orrin’s sense of judgment enough to think that he would simply fall for a pretty face if there were not other redeeming qualities about her.  But the fact that she would be evil enough to plot her own husband’s death is enough to peak my interest.  Rather than being another pretty figurehead for the hero to win at the end of the story she is a breath of fresh, albeit very mean and selfish, air.

Cap Rountree is probably the second most rounded character in The Daybreakers after Tom Sunday.  There is an air of history about him that is not fully explored within the pages of the book.  His age is always indeterminate though he is certainly older than any of the other main characters.

His learning does not come from books.  It is acquired through hard experience.  His wisdom is the wisdom of the trail and of the mountains.  Despite his age he does the work of younger men, punching cattle, mining with Tyrel, and helping to fight the fights of the Sacketts.

Though he is a supporting character he brings to the table a full deck of character attributes and likeability that deserves mention.

Part of the appeal of The Daybreakers and indeed many of Louis L’amour’s works is the wonderful description of the natural world.

“If I live to be a thousand years old I shall not forge the wonder and beauty of those big longhorns, the sun glinting on their horns…” (The Daybreakers p.9)

“Where our world had been one of a few mountain valleys, it was now as wide as the earth itself, and wider, for where the land ended there was sky, and no end at all to that.” (The Daybreakers p. 9)

L’amour has the ability to bring the natural world alive.  The sights, smells, tastes and textures of the world that his characters perceive is as real to me as I read as if I were sitting with them enjoying the view.

“They were broiling beef, too, and it smelled almighty good.  There I was, lying on my belly smelling that good grub and chewing on a dry sandwich that had been packed early in the day.” (The Daybreakers p.178)

I can feel the dry crumbs in Tyrel’s mouth as he watches his enemies in their comfort.  Throughout the novel, the sensations are as real as the pages in my fingers.  L’amour’s talent for description are as unrivaled as his geographic and historic accuracy.

The character of Tom Sunday is the most interesting to me in The Daybreakers.  He is a likeable man, but has true character flaws that not only drive his negative actions, but which he also seeks to overcome. 

The man is a killer and has a past that has driven him to the west.  He makes honest efforts to make a new and good life for himself and rises to a position of authority.  When we find him he is ramrod for a large cattle outfit and handles himself with dignity.  His character flaws appear organically and naturally as his ambitions come into conflict with those of his good friend Orrin Sackett.

Even when he finds himself beaten he does his best to avoid conflict and to maintain an air of good will.  His ultimate downfall, however is as predictable as the rest of the story, and just as sad.  When Tyrel Sackett pulls the trigger that ends Tom Sunday’s life, I found myself truly sad.  Tom Sunday was one of the most dynamic characters L’amour ever wrote and I didn’t really want to see him go.

The Daybreakers is not a story rich with intrigue or plot twists.  The 1979 movie The Sacketts which is based on the book develops some aspects of the plot a bit more.  By and large, however, even that story keeps it to essentially a history.

Tyrel and Orrin are presented as protagonists early on, and Johnathan Pritts and his daughter are clearly antagonists the moment they step onto the stage.  The reader is not surprised to find that Mr. Pritts has begun nefarious activities or even to discover that his daughter has gone so far as to plot the murder of her husband Orrin.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the plot is the ultimate confrontation between Tyrel and Tom Sunday.  In many ways this is the most engaging emotional aspect of the book, but even this climax is easily foreseen.  The animosity between Tom Sunday and the Sackett brothers is built for many chapters before finally finding release, and the question of which Sackett will face Mr. Sunday is essentially answered in the first sentence of the book when we find that Tyrel is telling the story and not Orrin.

Often the female characters in Louis L’amour’s books are intentionally less interesting than the male characters.  Drusilla Alvarado follows this recipe rather closely.  Of course she is attractive, and of course she is put into a situation which she seems incapable of managing well.

L’amour has  a unique talent for presenting women as strong and weak at  the same time.  In The Daybreakers Drusilla is a well educated woman in charge of running a large ranching operation as her grandfather’s health begins to fail.  Despite her education and success, Tyrel Sackett has to come in and save her from her grandfather’s enemies.

In the end, she comes off a bit flat.  Though she is generally likeable, she does not exhibit the same strengths that some of L’amour’s other female character’s show, such as Kate Lundy in Kiowa Trail.

As the point of view character, Tyrel Sackett comes off as a rough and tough, ready to handle any difficult or violent situation cowboy.  He holds to the true tradition of living by his word and backing down from nobody.  Per his usual style, Louis L’amour presents Tyrel Sackett as a larger than life hero that any young boy might aspire to emulate.

Unlike his brother Orrin, Tyrel finds himself tongue tied and uneasy around women.  When Tyrel meets Drusilla he can barely admit his attraction to himself let alone confess it to her.  Despite his confidence in violent situations he finds himself doubting his abilities to please her due to her situation as an heiress to a wealthy cattle empire.

Over a period of years Tyrel manages to grow into a more rounded individual.  He punches cows all around the west, working to get together enough money to own his own place.  In the end his marriage to Drusilla is more of a union of equals. 

Louis L’amour seems unable to allow his male characters to endure a situation where they must be ultimately subordinate to a female.  In some ways this is part of what attracts his books to men, though clearly this is fiction at its highest.

Tyrel Sackett is ultimately a likeable and enjoyable character though certainly more predictable than his brother Orrin.