North to the Salt Fork

by Ralph Compton (Series Creator), Dusty Richards

USA Today bestselling phenomenon

Captain Jack Starr served the Confederate cause with honor for four years. The town of Lost Dog Creek promised an opportunity for the war veteran to rebuild his life-and a woman to share it with. But not everyone is willing to roll out the welcome wagon...

Genres: Westerns

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Ralph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.

A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.

Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...

Reviews

[West Craft · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well… let’s say this: If Disney ever made a western, this would be it, and I don’t mean that in a good way. I’m a fan of westerns, but this book simply is not good. Jack is the hero in every situation, everyone likes him, every woman falls in love with him, and he always has the perfect, instant solution to every problem where he receives a resounding applause from the locals. The story has literally no tension. None. Every scenario in the book is tackled to perfection by Jack within a couple of paragraphs and we’re on to his next heroic obstacle for him to overcome.

I also have to mention the REPEATED issues with Lucy’s character. I can sum it up in one scenario, then copy and paste it through the rest of the book:
Lucy: “Jack, I’m so worried.”
Jack: “Don’t worry, Lucy. I’m perfect and a hero.”
Lucy: “Okay, great!”
Repeat for 300 pages.

I could go on and on with other quirks and clichés but I’ll keep the review concise. The book is a short, easy read, but with no tension, no high stakes, and no grit. It is an absolute snoozefest of a western about a dude who falls in love and does a cattle run. That's it. This really should be targeted towards a children/young adult audience, because it doesn’t capture much of anything that makes a good western.

[Mariam Uchaneishvili · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an amazing opportunity to get to know the western culture and it definitely worked for me, however as I’ve never been close to the said, I can not even infer if it’s just a stereotypical little book in the terms of Texas, or something more unique. It was still enjoyable!

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. A lot going on. The cattle drive was a little to drawn out and got a little boring, otherwise I enjoyed the story.

[John Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Western" novels have been here forever. Reading one is a good change of pace in the 21st century

[Michael Barnette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just tried to be too many things as a large number of western tropes were used. So many of them in fact that the book suffered from a lack of solid direction. There were Texas Rangers at the core of the story. Okay, that's fine, but then there were the ubiquitous attacks by Comanches stealing women and horses; the 'crooked banker'; gunslingers; a mustang round up; Sunday socials and dances; a cattle drive and attendant cattle rustlers, a barely defined cast of secondary characters; the 'widowed love interest' and her two teenaged children... I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea. This book simply tried to be too many things and, in the end, failed at all of them.

My recommendation: Unless you're really hard up for a western to read, give this one a pass.

[Jeff]

Neat