Arizona Clan

by Zane Grey

Ex-Gun slinger Dodge Mercer, hungry for the quiet life, drifts west looking for a spread of his own...

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Pearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining western listening 🎶🔰

Another will written western adventure thriller novel by Zane Grey about a cowboy meeting a young lady whose family is in trouble. The young 🐄 cowboy comes to the rescue, marries the 💘 of his life, and becomes a rancher. I would recommend this novel to readers of westerns. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of eye damage and health issues. 2022 👒😊💑🏡

[Jake Watmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine little western from Zane Grey, great action and character development if not a little meandering at times.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really his best work as it was corny as all get-out at times.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up when we visited Arizona a couple of years ago, because it takes place in an area where we spent a lot of time, but I'm just now getting around to reading it.

Grey is a legendary writer, but this is a lesser work filled with paper-thin characters, hokey dialogue, and an uninspired plot about warring families and the drifter who gets caught between them because of a pretty girl.

The landscape descriptions are nice though and make me want to go back and visit Arizona again.

[J.D. Frailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted a short audiobook and for some reason thought of Zane Grey, long ago super prolific writer of Westerns. I am giving it four stars because I really tried to listen and evaluate it in the context of the time it was written, when Westerns ruled the airwaves and movie screens. The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, on and on. If there was a category of westerns for young adults this is where I would put it; I could see myself really being into it as a 12 or 14 year old back on our farm in Oklahoma. One item where I’m confused is the books copyright date in that Zane Grey died in 1939 yet the book shows first edition date of 1958, I googled the heck out of everything I could think of to see if indeed it was posthumously published or if there was an earlier copyright, but can’t find either so I assume it was posthumous.
By today’s standards, the book is hokey to the point of ridiculous, one example being our protagonist hero Dodge Mercer, comes upon a beautiful young woman dipping water at the edge of a creek, letting her shapely legs dangle in the water. He makes his presence known, and 30 minutes later, still at the creek, tells her he loves her and asks her to marry him. She would love to marry him, except there is this super mean evil dude named Buck Hathaway, to whom she has been promised by her weak father because the Hathaways, who are thieves and purveyors/pushers of an addictive, dangerous moonshine called White Mule, own the title to his land.
All manner of fist fights and gun fights ensue, you can probably guess things work out well for the good guys in the end.
Regarding the writing itself, there are excellent descriptions of the Arizona desert and the higher mountains, great descriptions of the skies, the plants and cacti, etc. Then, there are over the top bits of dialogue like the following, which I swear I am not making up:
“By jumping grasshoppers!” he soliloquized 🤣

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ullhhhh. I had plans to make a parody review where I act like there is a lot of depth and meaning behind the writing, but now that I'm finally done with this short book I just want to walk away. All the sexist stereotyping and ego-centric marlboro man porn you could want. If this was a movie it would bomb in the box office and still get a sequel. It's the type of movie you'd watch on a plane ride because you literally have nothing else and when it was done you'd say, 'well at least this flight is slightly less long.' No redeeming value unless you love to tell yourself you're the hero in everyone else's life and have the integrity of a cigarette ad.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bad. The dialogue was so stilted and artificial. I was waiting somewhere when I started it, to pass the time, and then just finished it “because.” The descriptions of the love between them was good, but he was a bit wimpy, I thought — it took him so long to do what he set out to do. I couldn’t understand some of the backwoods morality at the end, either. Not enough to make me want to read another, although I’m sure his more famous books are better.

[Steve Courson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up for $2.00 at a used book store because I had heard of the author (who hadn’t) and thought I should take a test drive. This was thankfully a very quick read. Simple stereotype characters, simple plot and simple vocabulary. If I was a 14 year old boy prior to television this would be the best. But only because there weren’t that many alternatives. Read one just so you can say you did.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I have always enjoyed Zane Grey stories. They are clean and just fun to read. I grew up reading his stories around the age of 12. This is the first time I read this story. There is action and I learned a little bit about moonshine. I would say this is a good book for 12 and up. I think older adults would like it too.

[Russell G Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuine smash hit western with all bases touched.

Excitement galore with never a dull moment throughout from beginning to end. Many unforseen events occur that finally lift the shadow of the enslavement this family has lived under. All due to friendship of a small boy for one of their daughters.

[Michael D. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Western love prose!

Zane has richness of prose to address the harsh life pioneers suffered throughout their endeavors to seek and conquer! Their quest to explore, find, struggling to make their imprint on a new frontier! Courage, strength, love, in all seeking to achieve a home forever!

[RICHARD LEWIS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nan finds love

This was a good western with lots of saloon shootouts, tracking of the bad guys, very descriptive expressions of the countryside, and the tried and true element of the cowboy falling in love with the country girl. A little hard to follow at times but all in all a good story. I would definitely recommend it.

[Kelsey Grissom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things I liked: the roles given to the dog and the horse, the vulnerability and weaknesses/confusion of the hero, I learned some terminology/rules of gunfight that I had only been able to guess about previously.

Drawbacks: the plot was slow in some places, and I am pretty sure I did not understand all of the humor.

[JW Dillingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Zane Grey

Like all of Zane Grey’s books, Arizona Clan has strong characters and a definite moral code. No one is perfect but the hero and heroine are strong in moral fiber and up to living and prospering in the Old West. A thoroughly good story.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was slow, lots of set up, lots of lovey dovey cowboy shit.

The second half started with a brilliant few chapters of rootin and tootin and gun shootin… then back to the lovey cowboy shit.

It was good, but really not great.

[Monica Peavy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zane Grey books make you crave the western life

Not everything and everyone in the West was good, but that holds to be the same today. We like the good guy to get the girl even after he's gone through hardships to save her we always feel great at the end.

[Child960801 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook for this one. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. I think the problem was that my idea of westerns is prairies and this is set in the mountains.

A Kanas cowhand travels to the Arizona mountains where he finds love and adventure.

[Rod Innis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Western story. It has been a while since I read a Zane Grey book and I enjoyed this one.
I plan to read a few more; I have several on my bookshelf.

[Gena Lott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a classic western with some not-so-western plot twists like the differences between backwoodsmen and plainsmen, moonshine and feuding.
The story is short and filled with romance.

[Daryl Sparr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic western. Gunslinger comes into the basin to save the day. A decent read at times the action was slowed by too much description of the scenery.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like it

[Steve Ollove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good oldtime Western.

[Abby]

I'm branching out with my first western, and it was HILARIOUS. The anachronism of the thing was so funny. The hero calls his buddy with an Apache mother "the half-breed" and hits on an 18-year-old "backwoods girl," and these are the good guys. For all the superficiality of cookie-cutter plot and characters, I have to admit that it is sort of folkloric: driven completely by the force and simplicity of its elements rather than pretty writing. Sure it's the same story over and over...but we love that story every time, right?

[Tripp]

Southwest

[Sandy (WI girl at heart) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Zane Grey book. His descriptions of the AZ scenery is marvelous to say the least. It's a quick read, written at a time that life was simpler.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember much of this story. This was a time when I was reading Zane Grey.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was just interesting enough to keep me reading.

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Arizona Clan is an action packed western romance. Dodge is a Kansas cowhand looking to be rid of trouble. Instead he rides right in and takes Nan’s as his own.