Initially a superior revenge Western, KIOWA TRAIL comes unglued in the third act once cheesiness and lazy writing take hold. Too bad, because the set up is terrific. The early chapters indicate that L'Amour is aiming for something more clever than your typical revenge plot, but he ultimately reneges on the book's promise by reverting back to the same ol' familiar cliches. Several fortuitous coincidences near the end of the story undermine any attempt at believability, and the only Native American who speaks English talks like Injun Joe from the old Porky Pig cartoon.

This was the first Louis L'Amour book in a long while that I've picked up and suddenly couldn't put down. I grew up with various of his novels around the house since my father's a fan, but usually I browse a few pages and put them back. This time, I was hooked. I liked Conn's backstory (told in pieces that broke the main action up quite nicely), and loved Kate Lundy. The plot twists were easy to see coming but satisfying in their execution; my only issue is that, in the standard burst of action at the end, I feel like the author forgot to make really clear what happened to the new town that had been under attack. Still, this was a fun and easily digested read for a couple of hours.

It's been ages since I read a Louis L'Amour book (I must have read twenty or thirty of them in middle school). A fun fast read :)

A good, read for anyone who likes westerns or adventures. It is more complex than some of Louis L'Amour's other books, but it is still filled with action and suspense. I felt like it wasn't as predictable as some of his other books have been.