Snaketrack

by Frank Bonham

DIFFERENT COVER. NAME ON FIRST PAGE. NO OTHER MARKS OR WRITING ON PAGES.

Genres: Westerns

251 pages, Loose Leaf

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Frank Bonham (February 25, 1914 – 1988) was an author of Westerns and young adult novels. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts. Bonham was born in Los Angeles. He was a UCLA graduate. Bonham was known for his works for young adults written in the 1960s, with tough, realistic urban settings, including The Nitty Gritty and Durango Street, as well as for his westerns. Several of his works have been published posthumously, many of which were drawn from his pulp magazine stories, originally published between 1941 and 1952. Durango Street was an ALA Notable Book.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snaketrack (1952) This is Frank Bonham’s second western and its well enough done. First published in The Saturday Evening Post, this ranch-romance is in the Luke Short/Ernest Haycox mold. A young cattleman, Tom Carmody, returns to a valley he was driven from a year ago. Humiliated when he left, he has returned with vengeance on his mind. The normal stock characters abound: the crazy old coot, the greedy foreman who wants to marry into the valley’s big ranch, the rancher/landbaron, the rancher/landbaron’s daughter, the doctor, the judge, the loyal cowboy crew, the Mexican bandit. Bonham is a clean writer without a lot of posturing or adverbs or adjectives, and it feels like the real west. I’m looking forward to later novels to see how he develops as a writer and storyteller.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not very impressed by this book, but what a great ending. I will not spoil it by writing more.

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! Not a classic, but a good solid entry in the Western genre.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating of this is probably three and a half stars. I enjoyed it quite a bit, although it isn't a compelling read.