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The Sacketts #5
Ride the River
In Ride the River, Louis L’Amour spins the tale of a young woman who has to protect her family fortune from a murderous thief and teach him what it means to be a Sackett. Sixteen-year-old Echo Sackett had never been far from her Tennessee home—until she made the long trek to Philadelphia to collect an inheritance. Echo could take care of herself as well as any Sackett man, but James White, a sharp city lawyer, figured that cheating the money from the young girl would be like taking candy from a baby. If he couldn’t hoodwink Echo out of the cash, he’d just steal it from her outright. And if she put up a fight? There were plenty of accidents that could happen to a country girl on her first trip to the big city.
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Louis L'Amour
995 books3,468 followersLouis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 357 reviews
March 5, 2021
Holy crap! Why didn't anybody tell me L'Amour wrote a female protagonist?!? And did an incredible job with her PoV as well!! I'm sorry, I just can't get over this. I mean, Echo Sackett is nine kinds of awesome with extra kick-ass on top! L'Amour might not have pioneered the female action hero, but this is an excellent entry and one devotees of the modern YA girl power movement will find comfortably familiar. I'm serious, L'Amour was decades ahead on this; Echo would fit seamlessly in the current girl warrior cadre.
Okay, now that I've used an entire year's worth of exclamation points, I'll do my best not to squee all over this review. Which means I'll keep it short. It's a short book, so that's fitting. Really, there isn't a lot of story here. It's a good tale, very riveting, and exceptionally well-paced, but still pretty bare. The story starts with Echo arriving in Philadelphia to pick up a surprise inheritance and it's mostly about navigating the difficulties of acquiring and moving a mobile asset of considerable value with various villains, con-men, murderers, thieves, and the occasional floozy stacked up against her.
And the wonder of it is that she achieves it with Sackett grit and determination done with a believably feminine flare. (I very nearly used another exclamation point, there. I have unsuspected depths.) And I even liked Dorian as her man-candy. He's much more than that, of course (which you can tell because I liked him), but it was fascinating to see the gender reversal pulled off so beautifully without diminishing either one in the slightest.
This was very nearly my first five-star L'Amour, but as good as it is, I can't quite bring myself to do it. It's a very strong four, but it's light enough and with a couple of plot diversions that made it less than it maybe could have been—or, at least, choices that seemed rather random and made solely so that we could see a set-piece that interested the author rather than making sense from the characters' points of view. Also, Echo slips in and out of backwoods speech patterns and while L'Amour accounts for it inter-textually, it doesn't really hold up under scrutiny (i.e. she shifts linguistic register without anything like enough context cues to make it logical or predictable).
Still, minor quibbles aside . . . squeeee! (okay, so I have unsuspected shallows, too.)
Okay, now that I've used an entire year's worth of exclamation points, I'll do my best not to squee all over this review. Which means I'll keep it short. It's a short book, so that's fitting. Really, there isn't a lot of story here. It's a good tale, very riveting, and exceptionally well-paced, but still pretty bare. The story starts with Echo arriving in Philadelphia to pick up a surprise inheritance and it's mostly about navigating the difficulties of acquiring and moving a mobile asset of considerable value with various villains, con-men, murderers, thieves, and the occasional floozy stacked up against her.
And the wonder of it is that she achieves it with Sackett grit and determination done with a believably feminine flare. (I very nearly used another exclamation point, there. I have unsuspected depths.) And I even liked Dorian as her man-candy. He's much more than that, of course (which you can tell because I liked him), but it was fascinating to see the gender reversal pulled off so beautifully without diminishing either one in the slightest.
This was very nearly my first five-star L'Amour, but as good as it is, I can't quite bring myself to do it. It's a very strong four, but it's light enough and with a couple of plot diversions that made it less than it maybe could have been—or, at least, choices that seemed rather random and made solely so that we could see a set-piece that interested the author rather than making sense from the characters' points of view. Also, Echo slips in and out of backwoods speech patterns and while L'Amour accounts for it inter-textually, it doesn't really hold up under scrutiny (i.e. she shifts linguistic register without anything like enough context cues to make it logical or predictable).
Still, minor quibbles aside . . . squeeee! (okay, so I have unsuspected shallows, too.)
August 4, 2018
Goodreads characterizes this novel, set in 1840, as the fifth volume in the author's Sackett series. The fictional Sackett family, in L'Amour's writings, are descended from tough, larger-than-life Barnabas Sackett, who emigrated to America in the 1600s and settled on the frontier, and who laid down a law for his descendants that whenever a Sackett was in trouble, the rest were bound to lend their aid. This book is indeed about a Sackett, and no doubt chronologically the fifth in that sequence. But the sequence forms a multi-generational saga in which the individual books are generally about different people; though some knowledge of the family origins, as mentioned above, might be helpful (and is repeated in the text of this book, for readers who didn't read the series opener), they can be read perfectly well as stand-alones. (I haven't read any of the other Sackett novels.) L'Amour also wrote sequences of novels and stories about two other fictional families that bred adventurous pioneers, the Chantrys and the Talons, whose paths sometimes cross those of the Sacketts --and the paths of a couple of the Chantrys will bring them into this tale as well.
Sixteen-year old Echo Sackett, of the Tennessee Sacketts, lives in the mountains with her family. Her pa is recently dead; her brothers are on an extended trapping expedition further west, and her uncle is laid up from a bear attack. So when an unusual circumstance brings an ad in a peddler-borne Pennsylvania newspaper to light, seeking the youngest descendant of one Kin Sackett to claim an inheritance, it falls to Echo to undertake the long and somewhat dangerous round trip to Philadelphia to receive and bring back the money. Readers accustomed to judging teens by the most immature and irresponsible examples that 21st-century American entitlement culture can produce might well see this as a foredoomed exercise that should never have been contemplated. But Echo is a product of a very different kind of culture. A crack shot who packs a pair of Doune pistols (see this link: http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2... ) and is accustomed to shooting game for the table without missing, self-reliant, mature and capable Echo is a formidable young woman, not a child. She might need her cool head and firearms skills (and her "Arkansas toothpick") on this trip, because there are those who didn't want that ad seen to start with, and who'd prefer to have that money in their own pockets, rather than hers.
One reviewer said he felt this novel was "gimmicky." I'm not sure what he considered the "gimmick" --possibly the protagonist's gender, or the Sackett family's clannish ethos of sticking together and helping each other in the face of trouble, including attacks by outsiders. Personally, I didn't consider either element a gimmick. For me, seeing competence and fighting skills on the distaff side of the equation is a strong plus; I don't see those kinds of qualities as inconsistent with female nature in any way, and Echo has plausible reasons for her characteristics. The Sackett ethic strikes me as something all families could profit by internalizing, and as such a worthwhile message for contemporary society. L'Amour's knowledge of his settings, from 1840s Appalachia to distant Philadelphia, and of relevant history, is clearly extensive; he brings his world to life well. The characters, especially Echo herself, are vividly drawn and evoke reactions from the reader. In much of his work, L'Amour's plotting is often predictable, but he managed to take me by surprise with one key development here --in a good way! There's no sex and very little bad language here, and respectful treatment of a black character. With plenty of effective action scenes, the book is a pretty quick read.
There's also a element of low-key, but serious, romantic attraction that develops in the book. For some readers, this will be problematic because of Echo's age; while the age difference per se isn't excessive, at this time of her life, it happens to put her love interest above 18 while she's below that age. This didn't scandalize me, in context; as I said, Echo is a woman, not a child (and in her community, she's considered to be of a normal marriageable age). I didn't consider the mutual attraction to be in any sense pedophilic or abnormal.
My one criticism of the book is the slipshod writing/editing in several places. Echo serves as first-person narrator for most of the book; but for scenes to which she isn't privy, or where he wants to give us a different perspective, L'Amour occasionally uses other viewpoint characters, in third person. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, and it even enhances the story at times. But at other times, L'Amour forgets which narrative thread he's using, and is inconsistent with pronoun use in the same sentence or paragraph. That takes a reader out of the story, and is particularly frustrating when you're reading this aloud (as I was, to my wife). Just for that reason, I deducted a star (which would have been half a star, if Goodreads allowed that.) But that didn't keep me from really liking the book! Any read by L'Amour has always been a winner for me, and this one was no exception.
Sixteen-year old Echo Sackett, of the Tennessee Sacketts, lives in the mountains with her family. Her pa is recently dead; her brothers are on an extended trapping expedition further west, and her uncle is laid up from a bear attack. So when an unusual circumstance brings an ad in a peddler-borne Pennsylvania newspaper to light, seeking the youngest descendant of one Kin Sackett to claim an inheritance, it falls to Echo to undertake the long and somewhat dangerous round trip to Philadelphia to receive and bring back the money. Readers accustomed to judging teens by the most immature and irresponsible examples that 21st-century American entitlement culture can produce might well see this as a foredoomed exercise that should never have been contemplated. But Echo is a product of a very different kind of culture. A crack shot who packs a pair of Doune pistols (see this link: http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2... ) and is accustomed to shooting game for the table without missing, self-reliant, mature and capable Echo is a formidable young woman, not a child. She might need her cool head and firearms skills (and her "Arkansas toothpick") on this trip, because there are those who didn't want that ad seen to start with, and who'd prefer to have that money in their own pockets, rather than hers.
One reviewer said he felt this novel was "gimmicky." I'm not sure what he considered the "gimmick" --possibly the protagonist's gender, or the Sackett family's clannish ethos of sticking together and helping each other in the face of trouble, including attacks by outsiders. Personally, I didn't consider either element a gimmick. For me, seeing competence and fighting skills on the distaff side of the equation is a strong plus; I don't see those kinds of qualities as inconsistent with female nature in any way, and Echo has plausible reasons for her characteristics. The Sackett ethic strikes me as something all families could profit by internalizing, and as such a worthwhile message for contemporary society. L'Amour's knowledge of his settings, from 1840s Appalachia to distant Philadelphia, and of relevant history, is clearly extensive; he brings his world to life well. The characters, especially Echo herself, are vividly drawn and evoke reactions from the reader. In much of his work, L'Amour's plotting is often predictable, but he managed to take me by surprise with one key development here --in a good way! There's no sex and very little bad language here, and respectful treatment of a black character. With plenty of effective action scenes, the book is a pretty quick read.
There's also a element of low-key, but serious, romantic attraction that develops in the book. For some readers, this will be problematic because of Echo's age; while the age difference per se isn't excessive, at this time of her life, it happens to put her love interest above 18 while she's below that age. This didn't scandalize me, in context; as I said, Echo is a woman, not a child (and in her community, she's considered to be of a normal marriageable age). I didn't consider the mutual attraction to be in any sense pedophilic or abnormal.
My one criticism of the book is the slipshod writing/editing in several places. Echo serves as first-person narrator for most of the book; but for scenes to which she isn't privy, or where he wants to give us a different perspective, L'Amour occasionally uses other viewpoint characters, in third person. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, and it even enhances the story at times. But at other times, L'Amour forgets which narrative thread he's using, and is inconsistent with pronoun use in the same sentence or paragraph. That takes a reader out of the story, and is particularly frustrating when you're reading this aloud (as I was, to my wife). Just for that reason, I deducted a star (which would have been half a star, if Goodreads allowed that.) But that didn't keep me from really liking the book! Any read by L'Amour has always been a winner for me, and this one was no exception.
February 25, 2025
Oh, this was a good'un!
Thoroughly enjoyed it
cover to cover. 👍😁👍
Thoroughly enjoyed it
cover to cover. 👍😁👍
February 10, 2015
"You? You're just a girl. What could you do in a fight?"
At five foot two and 100 pounds soaking wet, there's not much that men think slim, pretty Echo Sackett can do. So, when she goes to collect an inheritance crooked lawyers, city slickers, and street toughs try to con her out of her money. And when the con fails they try to steal it. And when the theft fails, they try to kill her. The only problem for them is that Echo isn't your ordinary sixteen year old girl. She's a Sackett. And being a Sackett means that she knows her way around a rifle, a pistol, and a knife better than almost any man.
This book was a blast. Taking place nearly two hundred years after the last Sackett book, Echo out thinks, out fights and out wits a baker's dozen of crooked men. I appreciated the fact that while Echo was tough and smart, she was also a young woman. She liked wearing dresses and from time to time worried about appearances. She was not some strange time travelling woman who suddenly appeared in the nineteenth century wearing pants, sporting a "Self-Rescuing Princess" t-shirt, and swearing like a sailor. No, her power and raw toughness was packed into her five foot two frame. She was a strong and feminine frontier woman. She struck me as the type of character my oldest daughter would really enjoy reading about. (The surprise the men felt each time she surprised them by pulling a knife, or unloading her pistol, or hitting them with her rifle butt made me laugh. The bad guys just couldn't comprehend that a little woman like Echo could be dangerous and kept underestimating her).
Outside of Echo, this book offers another view of a growing, changing America. The English settlements on the coast are now bustling cities and steam boats and canals connect the East coast with the interior of the country. While still being wild, it is clear that the wilderness is fading. The native tribes are merely a footnote in this book whereas they were central players in the earlier Sackett books. Sad, but reflective of reality.
Four stars out of five. Another fun Sackett book.
At five foot two and 100 pounds soaking wet, there's not much that men think slim, pretty Echo Sackett can do. So, when she goes to collect an inheritance crooked lawyers, city slickers, and street toughs try to con her out of her money. And when the con fails they try to steal it. And when the theft fails, they try to kill her. The only problem for them is that Echo isn't your ordinary sixteen year old girl. She's a Sackett. And being a Sackett means that she knows her way around a rifle, a pistol, and a knife better than almost any man.
This book was a blast. Taking place nearly two hundred years after the last Sackett book, Echo out thinks, out fights and out wits a baker's dozen of crooked men. I appreciated the fact that while Echo was tough and smart, she was also a young woman. She liked wearing dresses and from time to time worried about appearances. She was not some strange time travelling woman who suddenly appeared in the nineteenth century wearing pants, sporting a "Self-Rescuing Princess" t-shirt, and swearing like a sailor. No, her power and raw toughness was packed into her five foot two frame. She was a strong and feminine frontier woman. She struck me as the type of character my oldest daughter would really enjoy reading about. (The surprise the men felt each time she surprised them by pulling a knife, or unloading her pistol, or hitting them with her rifle butt made me laugh. The bad guys just couldn't comprehend that a little woman like Echo could be dangerous and kept underestimating her).
Outside of Echo, this book offers another view of a growing, changing America. The English settlements on the coast are now bustling cities and steam boats and canals connect the East coast with the interior of the country. While still being wild, it is clear that the wilderness is fading. The native tribes are merely a footnote in this book whereas they were central players in the earlier Sackett books. Sad, but reflective of reality.
Four stars out of five. Another fun Sackett book.
February 9, 2024
I have to give this five stars as I think the only way it could have been better (for what it it) is to be longer. I don't rate books against others, but against what they are attempting to be, and Ride the River succeeds very well. This is a Western set in 1840 centering around a young girl, Echo Sackett, who travels to Philadelphia to investigate a family legacy. Bad guys abound, as do some good people who help her along the way, but for the most part Echo saves herself. She does this by being smart and competent and using the skills she learned growing up as a Sackett in the mountains of Tennessee.
It's possible that Echo is a bit too good at saving herself, but I didn't care, because she's a lot of fun, and she does get bits of help here or there from others. Echo never depends on those others to save her, though, and she feels a great sense of responsibility for anyone who supports her. I couldn't help liking her a lot.
This is a quick book full of interesting characters that never lets up on action. One of the points I like about L'Amour is that his female characters are usually strong and capable, so when I saw this book at my used bookstore for $1.99 I had to give it a try. I'm glad I did, I enjoyed every page. In fact, I really wish it was the start of it's own series. I want to know what the family did with the inheritance, how Echo's relationships played out, what Dorian ended up doing - did he become a back-country lawyer - etc. It all ended too soon - my only complaint.
It's possible that Echo is a bit too good at saving herself, but I didn't care, because she's a lot of fun, and she does get bits of help here or there from others. Echo never depends on those others to save her, though, and she feels a great sense of responsibility for anyone who supports her. I couldn't help liking her a lot.
This is a quick book full of interesting characters that never lets up on action. One of the points I like about L'Amour is that his female characters are usually strong and capable, so when I saw this book at my used bookstore for $1.99 I had to give it a try. I'm glad I did, I enjoyed every page. In fact, I really wish it was the start of it's own series. I want to know what the family did with the inheritance, how Echo's relationships played out, what Dorian ended up doing - did he become a back-country lawyer - etc. It all ended too soon - my only complaint.
August 26, 2021
Non-stop action and adventure set in 1840. A mountain girl from Tennessee comes to Philadelphia to collect an inheritance. She is hunted all the way back to Tennessee by ruthless murdering thieves. Stage coaches, wild horse rides, riverboats, canoes, and finally trekking through the mountains, she matches wits with the thugs. There are fist fights, knife fights, and gun fights. Louis L'Amour was a master storyteller who wrote beautifully evocative yarns that bring America's pioneering past to life, and this was a really great read. Very enjoyable, highly recommended.
August 28, 2015
This was a fun little romp, but boy oh boy does L'Amour's style grate on me. And the romance was...well, you could see the girl falling in love, but the guy seemed pretty indifferent right up until he wasn't. Still, very exciting action, and I loved the main character--she was tough but feminine and it really worked.
July 2, 2019
4 Dynamite-comes-in-small-packages stars!
The black-hatted villains in Ride the River were skilled and deadly—especially murderer Felix Horst. He and a band of cut-throats were determined to steal the small fortune that was inherited by a snip of a girl from the backwoods of Tennessee and carried in her carpetbag.
But the bad guys are totally unprepared for 16-year-old Echo Sackett. She looks sweet as a speckled pup in the dress she made herself for her big trip to the settlements (Philadelphia), where she went to claim an inheritance left to the youngest descendent of Kin-Ring Sackett. What nobody would suspect looking at the petite, pretty teen is that she was raised with a bunch of rough-and-tumble Sackett brothers who have skills. She can hunt, track, and outshoot all the boys with her rifle. And hidden in the slash pocket of her dress is her deadly Arkansas pick (think Aria Stark’s Needle as a hunting knife).
When handsome and privileged Dorian Chantry is sent by his Uncle Finian to see Echo safely back home, he steps up to be a hero but is constantly about two steps behind Echo, who is in her element in the woods. Echo has been instructed by her Uncle Regal never to let young men know what a good shot she is, so there are some comic moments when people around her puzzle out Who fired that shot? and How did that ruffian get knocked out?
Even with all their abilities, Dorian and Echo are badly outnumbered and outgunned, and Echo knows they are in trouble. But they have also traveled into the home country of her cousins, the Clinch Mountain Sacketts. “If you step on one Sackett's toes, they all come running.” And as Echo says, “...even one Sackett is quite a few.”
I wish Louis L'Amour was still with us, but he left us some great books to enjoy about the rugged frontier pioneers. I would love to read more about Echo, but at least I can enjoy the rest of the Sacketts and the series about the Chantry’s and Talon’s, which interweaves with The Sacketts stories in an American frontier saga spanning the early 1600’s through post-Civil War.
The black-hatted villains in Ride the River were skilled and deadly—especially murderer Felix Horst. He and a band of cut-throats were determined to steal the small fortune that was inherited by a snip of a girl from the backwoods of Tennessee and carried in her carpetbag.
But the bad guys are totally unprepared for 16-year-old Echo Sackett. She looks sweet as a speckled pup in the dress she made herself for her big trip to the settlements (Philadelphia), where she went to claim an inheritance left to the youngest descendent of Kin-Ring Sackett. What nobody would suspect looking at the petite, pretty teen is that she was raised with a bunch of rough-and-tumble Sackett brothers who have skills. She can hunt, track, and outshoot all the boys with her rifle. And hidden in the slash pocket of her dress is her deadly Arkansas pick (think Aria Stark’s Needle as a hunting knife).
When handsome and privileged Dorian Chantry is sent by his Uncle Finian to see Echo safely back home, he steps up to be a hero but is constantly about two steps behind Echo, who is in her element in the woods. Echo has been instructed by her Uncle Regal never to let young men know what a good shot she is, so there are some comic moments when people around her puzzle out Who fired that shot? and How did that ruffian get knocked out?
Even with all their abilities, Dorian and Echo are badly outnumbered and outgunned, and Echo knows they are in trouble. But they have also traveled into the home country of her cousins, the Clinch Mountain Sacketts. “If you step on one Sackett's toes, they all come running.” And as Echo says, “...even one Sackett is quite a few.”
I wish Louis L'Amour was still with us, but he left us some great books to enjoy about the rugged frontier pioneers. I would love to read more about Echo, but at least I can enjoy the rest of the Sacketts and the series about the Chantry’s and Talon’s, which interweaves with The Sacketts stories in an American frontier saga spanning the early 1600’s through post-Civil War.
February 1, 2020
A large inheritance, a conspiracy to steal it, and a young mountain woman who aims to bring home to her needing family has need of come hell or high water. Louis L'Amour is a favorite author and his western and adventure stories especially his Sackett family saga has fired my imagination for decades. L'Amour has always represented the women in his stories with the same care that he takes with his male heroes- frontier tough, but to my knowledge this is the only story with the primary character being a women. And, what a gal she is, but, then again, she's a Sackett.
Ride the River is the fifth book in the Sacketts series. This is a series of standalones organized chronologically. The books that come after this one tend to be all grouped around the same time frame with Ride the River bridging the gap between the old Colonial era Sacketts to the post-Civil War generation.
In 1840, Echo Sackett is sixteen and ready for her first adventure away from her Tennessee mountain home. When the traveling Tinker shows their family a notice in an obscure Pennsylvania newspaper that the youngest descendant of Kin Sackett has an inheritance coming, she knows she must go. Her family doesn't have much and her widowed ma and her uncle aren't getting younger so off she goes.
In Philadelphia, Echo encounters the shyster lawyer who is handling the estate and he has no intention of a backwoods hick to get so much money. But, he's not the only shark circling around such a large inheritance. Echo might be confused about big city ways, but she knows her varmints when she sees them and she contacts Finian Chantry, a renowned trial lawyer to help with the legal issues and Finian sends his nephew along to watch her back on the treacherous journey home with a carpet back full of money.
Dorian Chantry reluctantly follows Echo and shakes his head over a slip of a girl carting all that money and traveling alone. He's used to polished debutantes and idling his time with gentlemanly pursuits, but out on the frontier that cuts no ice ad he must step it up to prove to his uncle and to himself that he's capable. But, then he starts to see Echo is something special and takes the shine out of all those girls back in Philadelphia. She knows they are in trouble with killers on their trail, but calmly tells him that they just need to hold out until her kin can get there- and they will come.
I enjoyed this slice of adventure told during a time period that isn't common for most American historical fiction or romance. The nation is young, but growing in this time of expansion. River travel is king. The 1840's are still a time when the frontier started just beyond the cities in the east. L'Amour paints the settings so vividly that I felt I was there.
As to the characters, it is a given that they are colorful and diverse from several stratas of American society and race. As to personalities, Echo was a sparkling young woman who is confident without being arrogant. She lets the snobs in the cities think she's naive hick from the hills, but she's smart and educated in the way of survival and reading people like she reads sign while out hunting. It was fun when she takes a shine to Dorian even when he pretended not to notice the pretty young woman with his uncle. And, it was more fun when she taught the villains a few lessons about underestimating a gal particularly when she was armed with her own hunting knife, pistol, and rifle and had grown up rough and lean in the hills of Tennessee with mostly men. She knows those men are strong and cunning, but she works to outwit them and stay alive and keep Dorian alive once he joins her in her element.
The narration work was done by Jamie Rose who is new to me. She had a great rustic voice for Echo and voiced the others so that their gender, class, and character came out as clearly as the words describing them. I thought she matched well for this style of story and would definitely listen to her work again.
All in all, it was exciting and fun with a great blend of historical, adventure, and romance by a master storyteller. The family saga set against the American frontier was just the thing and I look forward to listening to more Sackett stories. I can definitely recommend this one to historical, western, and adventure fans.
Ride the River is the fifth book in the Sacketts series. This is a series of standalones organized chronologically. The books that come after this one tend to be all grouped around the same time frame with Ride the River bridging the gap between the old Colonial era Sacketts to the post-Civil War generation.
In 1840, Echo Sackett is sixteen and ready for her first adventure away from her Tennessee mountain home. When the traveling Tinker shows their family a notice in an obscure Pennsylvania newspaper that the youngest descendant of Kin Sackett has an inheritance coming, she knows she must go. Her family doesn't have much and her widowed ma and her uncle aren't getting younger so off she goes.
In Philadelphia, Echo encounters the shyster lawyer who is handling the estate and he has no intention of a backwoods hick to get so much money. But, he's not the only shark circling around such a large inheritance. Echo might be confused about big city ways, but she knows her varmints when she sees them and she contacts Finian Chantry, a renowned trial lawyer to help with the legal issues and Finian sends his nephew along to watch her back on the treacherous journey home with a carpet back full of money.
Dorian Chantry reluctantly follows Echo and shakes his head over a slip of a girl carting all that money and traveling alone. He's used to polished debutantes and idling his time with gentlemanly pursuits, but out on the frontier that cuts no ice ad he must step it up to prove to his uncle and to himself that he's capable. But, then he starts to see Echo is something special and takes the shine out of all those girls back in Philadelphia. She knows they are in trouble with killers on their trail, but calmly tells him that they just need to hold out until her kin can get there- and they will come.
I enjoyed this slice of adventure told during a time period that isn't common for most American historical fiction or romance. The nation is young, but growing in this time of expansion. River travel is king. The 1840's are still a time when the frontier started just beyond the cities in the east. L'Amour paints the settings so vividly that I felt I was there.
As to the characters, it is a given that they are colorful and diverse from several stratas of American society and race. As to personalities, Echo was a sparkling young woman who is confident without being arrogant. She lets the snobs in the cities think she's naive hick from the hills, but she's smart and educated in the way of survival and reading people like she reads sign while out hunting. It was fun when she takes a shine to Dorian even when he pretended not to notice the pretty young woman with his uncle. And, it was more fun when she taught the villains a few lessons about underestimating a gal particularly when she was armed with her own hunting knife, pistol, and rifle and had grown up rough and lean in the hills of Tennessee with mostly men. She knows those men are strong and cunning, but she works to outwit them and stay alive and keep Dorian alive once he joins her in her element.
The narration work was done by Jamie Rose who is new to me. She had a great rustic voice for Echo and voiced the others so that their gender, class, and character came out as clearly as the words describing them. I thought she matched well for this style of story and would definitely listen to her work again.
All in all, it was exciting and fun with a great blend of historical, adventure, and romance by a master storyteller. The family saga set against the American frontier was just the thing and I look forward to listening to more Sackett stories. I can definitely recommend this one to historical, western, and adventure fans.
November 13, 2017
It's been far too long since I re-read my favorite Louis L'amour books. These were the books I grew up reading in my teens. Perhaps it was books like this one that made me confused when other readers talked about the lack of strong female characters in older books. Because I grew up reading about girls like Echo Sackett who at 16 could out-hunt and out-shoot most men in the hills, travel from Tennessee to Philadelphia and back with a pack of greedy murderers on her trail, and somehow keep the city-slicker tag-a-long alive. Echo is strong but also feminine. She gets just as much pleasure out of buying herself a brand, new pretty dress as she does buying herself a new rifle. She makes mistakes but has the smarts and cool to bluff her way out of them.
This book has the amount of language you'd expect in a western, and the romance can be summed up as "We'll think about it more if we both make it out of this alive."
This book has the amount of language you'd expect in a western, and the romance can be summed up as "We'll think about it more if we both make it out of this alive."
January 8, 2023
This one was fun. Echo is tough and feisty, but thoroughly feminine — a pioneer, not a princess. The romance felt too rushed at the end.
I was startled at first to hear a female narrator, but of course the book turned out to be in a woman's voice. She did fine.
I was startled at first to hear a female narrator, but of course the book turned out to be in a woman's voice. She did fine.
December 16, 2019
Continuing down the line on my Sackett saga list with Ride the River.
Funny name for a book that has very little to do with a river per say, but that’s a minor detail.
This is a story of Echo Sackett - a descendant of the original Sackett’s that came to America from England more than 200 year prior.
She inherited a considerable amount of money, learning of its existence only by a chance. The lawyer, who advertised it in the most obscure newspaper, hoped that the heir wouldn’t be able to find the advertisement and thus he wouldn’t have to part with it.
But the luck is with Echo and she learns about the inheritance and comes down from the mountains to claim it. From the minute she arrives in Philadelphia, she’ll not only have to fend for the money belonging to her, but for her life as well.
With a handsome young guy trailing after her to protect her and her money from the group of thugs who did set their eyes and minds on getting rich easy and quick, Echo will have to employ every survival instinct and skill she learned in the mountains where she grew up.
Ride the river is a fast paced, action filled chapter in the Sackett saga and I am glad that it features a female character in the lead.
She is definitely not a damsel in distress but a skilled young girl that knows how to take care of herself in the wilderness. She knows and uses knives, guns and makes smart choices as she and her group of friends are being hunted by the bad guys.
Funny name for a book that has very little to do with a river per say, but that’s a minor detail.
This is a story of Echo Sackett - a descendant of the original Sackett’s that came to America from England more than 200 year prior.
She inherited a considerable amount of money, learning of its existence only by a chance. The lawyer, who advertised it in the most obscure newspaper, hoped that the heir wouldn’t be able to find the advertisement and thus he wouldn’t have to part with it.
But the luck is with Echo and she learns about the inheritance and comes down from the mountains to claim it. From the minute she arrives in Philadelphia, she’ll not only have to fend for the money belonging to her, but for her life as well.
With a handsome young guy trailing after her to protect her and her money from the group of thugs who did set their eyes and minds on getting rich easy and quick, Echo will have to employ every survival instinct and skill she learned in the mountains where she grew up.
Ride the river is a fast paced, action filled chapter in the Sackett saga and I am glad that it features a female character in the lead.
She is definitely not a damsel in distress but a skilled young girl that knows how to take care of herself in the wilderness. She knows and uses knives, guns and makes smart choices as she and her group of friends are being hunted by the bad guys.
September 27, 2009
Somewhere in the Tennessee hills in 1840, there is a young gal named Echo Sackett and she never wastes a bullet. When this fiesty girl aims, she hits what she is aiming for and can ride and hunt as well as any man. One day a traveling peddler happens to come across her family name in a newspaper and upon reading it, Echo must travel to Philledelphia because the newspaper states that there is an inheritance for the youngest living Sackett. Once arriving in Philledelphia, however, Echo discovers that a greedy lawyer never intended the article to reach Tennessee, let alone hand the rightful heir the money. A kindly, old lawyer becomes involved and after attaining about three grand and a ruby in a box, Echo undertakes a perilous journey home with thieves and murderers constantly shooting at her or stealing her bag.
Amid all the horse riding, stagecoach hopping, streamrolling, canoeing, and in between shooting off bad guys' ears, Echo developes a crush on the kindly lawyer's nephew, who has come along attempting to help her reach home safely. Echo shows us all that she is certainly capable of making it on her own, and with her sense of humor intact too.
The only thing I didn't like was the prose. Whereas I understand the use of uneducated prose when people are actually speaking, I found it unnecessary when Echo was simply narrating.
Amid all the horse riding, stagecoach hopping, streamrolling, canoeing, and in between shooting off bad guys' ears, Echo developes a crush on the kindly lawyer's nephew, who has come along attempting to help her reach home safely. Echo shows us all that she is certainly capable of making it on her own, and with her sense of humor intact too.
The only thing I didn't like was the prose. Whereas I understand the use of uneducated prose when people are actually speaking, I found it unnecessary when Echo was simply narrating.
April 3, 2023
reread apr 2023
Echo Sackett was tiny-Rebecca’s role model. (That’s because tiny-Rebecca knew what was up.)
reread 2020
As many times as I’ve read this, I totally forgot what happened to Elmer. So as the story drew to a close, it is not an exaggeration to say I was FREAKING OUT on his behalf.
Anyway, I love this book. So much. Echo, Archie, the dog, the Arkansas toothpick, the mountains, the Sacketts, all of it.
Echo Sackett was tiny-Rebecca’s role model. (That’s because tiny-Rebecca knew what was up.)
reread 2020
As many times as I’ve read this, I totally forgot what happened to Elmer. So as the story drew to a close, it is not an exaggeration to say I was FREAKING OUT on his behalf.
Anyway, I love this book. So much. Echo, Archie, the dog, the Arkansas toothpick, the mountains, the Sacketts, all of it.
April 2, 2017
5 stars
My first western novel. Very good. Still have to get used to the old way of speaking. Liked Echo. Hope they will put the money to good use.
Can't wait to read more Sackett novels!!!!!
My first western novel. Very good. Still have to get used to the old way of speaking. Liked Echo. Hope they will put the money to good use.
Can't wait to read more Sackett novels!!!!!
July 22, 2017
This is one of my favorite Sackett novels. In particular as it has a heroine with Echo. Her journey to receive an inheritance with a corrupt lawyer and her journey home overcoming all obstacles.
October 7, 2024
It’s not that the book was bad it’s just that I’ll never read another one😂 sorry Dad and Grandpa
March 26, 2025
I enjoyed this book. It doesn’t cover a lot of time, but it’s full of excitement, danger, and some humor. I do like Echo and determination to keep going even in the face of trouble because this is what she needed to do, but still be girl enough to just wish she was home. I wouldn’t say this was a suspense even though it kept me reading.
"Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else."
A couple swear words.
"Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else."
A couple swear words.
July 23, 2018
7/22/18 - finally finished audiobook. The narrator was OK, not great, but the entire audiobook suffered from a faint distortion - flutter? tape wobble? It seemed likely this had been transferred from a cassette tape; the flutter was fairly even throughout the entire book.
Regardless, this was a nice little tale, by far from the best of L'Amour's stories, but nice to have a female POV character.
Regardless, this was a nice little tale, by far from the best of L'Amour's stories, but nice to have a female POV character.
June 17, 2018
This is my favorite book of the Sackett series by L'Amour. I suspect that the fact that I was a young girl when I read it had something to do with it... I wanted to be as cool as Echo was.
*Edit, 5/15/2018*
I just reread this book for about the millionth time. I still enjoy the story (Echo is such a badass, while not being arrogant about it), but this time I noticed some errors - like switching points of view in the middle of a page with no warning. I don’t know if that was on purpose or was just poor copy editing.
*Edit, 5/15/2018*
I just reread this book for about the millionth time. I still enjoy the story (Echo is such a badass, while not being arrogant about it), but this time I noticed some errors - like switching points of view in the middle of a page with no warning. I don’t know if that was on purpose or was just poor copy editing.
October 23, 2024
This is a refreshing adventure that pits a small Sackett female against a bunch of big men a couple of decades before the Civil War. Neither city slickers nor run-of-the-mill woodsmen are going to steal from this mountain girl. Hardest thing about this story is finding a break in the action long enough so that you can put it down! (I've read it 6 times since it was published in 1983.)
March 11, 2025
Enjoyed Echo's story but felt the ending was a tad rushed.
There were also a few side characters who needed more time involved in the story.
There were also a few side characters who needed more time involved in the story.
January 22, 2023
I think this may be one of the few books Louis L'Amour wrote about a female Sackett, although he did write other books with female main characters. There were so many Sackett characters, one could totally lose track of them all, although several were made more famous by being made into movies.
In this engaging adventure story, a young Tennessee girl travels down the mountains to Philadelphia to collect an inheritance. Although there is no one to accompany her, she is not afraid. Mountain born and raised, she is not only a crack shot, but tough as nails and unafraid, like all the Sacketts. The shysters who hold the inheritance were counting on her not finding out about it, and failing that, persuading her to accept a smaller amount, and failing that, taking it from her, a girl traveling alone back to her Tennessee mountain home. What they didn't count on was that she was a Sackett.
In this engaging adventure story, a young Tennessee girl travels down the mountains to Philadelphia to collect an inheritance. Although there is no one to accompany her, she is not afraid. Mountain born and raised, she is not only a crack shot, but tough as nails and unafraid, like all the Sacketts. The shysters who hold the inheritance were counting on her not finding out about it, and failing that, persuading her to accept a smaller amount, and failing that, taking it from her, a girl traveling alone back to her Tennessee mountain home. What they didn't count on was that she was a Sackett.
August 3, 2025
This was an easy read, and I narrated it aloud in my best Tennessee accent to my husband, who also enjoyed it. The storyline was engaging, well written from the main character’s perspective and somewhat adventurous, but this isn’t my typical preferred genre. I could take or leave this book at any time—🤔I think because it was more of an action book than about maturing relationships, which would’ve been far more interesting to me.
March 5, 2021
This Sackett story takes place in the 1840s, about 200 years from the last one, Echo is the 5th generation from Kin-Ring Sackett. She is a powerful female protagonist, way before such a thing was demanded.
The story has it flaws, L’Amour isn’t perfect, but easily forgivable as he is such a great story teller with principles.
Still no word on what happened to the Sackett branch who went back to England.
The story has it flaws, L’Amour isn’t perfect, but easily forgivable as he is such a great story teller with principles.
Still no word on what happened to the Sackett branch who went back to England.
Read
February 24, 2025 Bookclub read (and we haven't met to discuss it yet). I like to read a L'Amour every other year or so, therefore I had no complaints.
The book started off well. I was instantly drawn into the plot and characters. But it ended L'Amour style with a lot of gunslinging and "wild west speech" and reminded me that this is why L'Amour is not a staple in my reading diet.
It's good to read westerns every now and then. Not my favorite genre, but I don't mind it every once in a blue moon.
The book started off well. I was instantly drawn into the plot and characters. But it ended L'Amour style with a lot of gunslinging and "wild west speech" and reminded me that this is why L'Amour is not a staple in my reading diet.
It's good to read westerns every now and then. Not my favorite genre, but I don't mind it every once in a blue moon.
June 28, 2013
I'll admit to having put off picking up this one, even though so far the Sackett books have pretty much been a sausage fest (for all that each one of them is about the winning of a wife as awesome as each novel's hero deserves), partly because I wasn't sure how well Louis L'Amour could really do a female voice, mostly because it seemed from the opening paragraphs, that his version of said female voice was in backwoods dialect, and I'm still getting over the wounds dealt to me on that score by one Mr. Stephen King (see the footnote to my reaction to fan unfavorite Wizard and Glass). So, though I've been loving the Sackett novels as nice, somewhat wistful entertainment, I was not eager to plunge into Ride the River as I had been into its predecessors.
I'm glad I finally got over my aversion, though. Fans of The Hunger Games and whatnot take note: Echo Sackett is the spiritual ancestor of Katniss Everdeen and lots of other plucky young tomboyish heroines (Kaylee from Firefly and Amy Shaftoe from Cryptonomicon come to mind as well).. As in Echo was huntin' and killin' and feedin' her family long, long before la Everdeen volunteered as a replacement tribute in some young adult fiction. Except Echo uses guns. And an "Arkansas toothpick." And, yes, the power of her last name.
Ride the River takes place some two hundred years after the last Sackett story. Echo is a descendent of Kin-Ring, one of the the heroes of The Warrior's Path, and so also presumably of his stupendously badass wife Diana. Moreover, she is the youngest of those descendents, which means she's about to come into a special legacy. For back in the days of Barnabas Sackett, Barnabas had a great friend. And said great friend did well for himself. And felt that he owed so much to Barnabas that he instructed his heirs to make sure that if his line ever died out, all the money and a special puzzle box with a secret inside would go to the youngest descendent of Barnabas' first-born son, Kin-Ring.
Only problem is, Echo lives in Tennessee, and the lawyer working the inheritance case is in Philadelphia. So to the big bad city goes our little paragon, only to learn that the lawyer is more than a little crooked, and he's not the only bad guy after her windfall.
Enter the Chantry family, heroes of another Louis L'Amour series (of which I've only read one book, Fair Blows the Wind, and that reading was back in my early teens). These writers just can't resist the urge to link all their series and characters together, eh? And here it seems a tad gratuitous, but what the hell. Finian Chantry, octagenarian lawyer who can still kick ass, proves himself a more than worthy descendant of Tatton, and so, eventually, does his strapping (and yes, handsome) nephew Dorian, whom he sends after Echo to keep her safe on her journey home with a carpetbag full of gold.
But this is Echo, and she is a Sackett, so who do you think winds up rescuing/taking care of/worrying about whom? Even as she "sparks" on him.
But so basically this novel is fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff. I'm relieved to discover that later Sackett novels will take up with earlier generations again as a Sackett in the years after the War of 1812 is a bit boring even if she is dinky and cute and never misses with a rifle or a pistol and isn't above clocking you with the butt if you get into close range. I wouldn't mess with her, sho nuff.
I'm glad I finally got over my aversion, though. Fans of The Hunger Games and whatnot take note: Echo Sackett is the spiritual ancestor of Katniss Everdeen and lots of other plucky young tomboyish heroines (Kaylee from Firefly and Amy Shaftoe from Cryptonomicon come to mind as well).. As in Echo was huntin' and killin' and feedin' her family long, long before la Everdeen volunteered as a replacement tribute in some young adult fiction. Except Echo uses guns. And an "Arkansas toothpick." And, yes, the power of her last name.
Ride the River takes place some two hundred years after the last Sackett story. Echo is a descendent of Kin-Ring, one of the the heroes of The Warrior's Path, and so also presumably of his stupendously badass wife Diana. Moreover, she is the youngest of those descendents, which means she's about to come into a special legacy. For back in the days of Barnabas Sackett, Barnabas had a great friend. And said great friend did well for himself. And felt that he owed so much to Barnabas that he instructed his heirs to make sure that if his line ever died out, all the money and a special puzzle box with a secret inside would go to the youngest descendent of Barnabas' first-born son, Kin-Ring.
Only problem is, Echo lives in Tennessee, and the lawyer working the inheritance case is in Philadelphia. So to the big bad city goes our little paragon, only to learn that the lawyer is more than a little crooked, and he's not the only bad guy after her windfall.
Enter the Chantry family, heroes of another Louis L'Amour series (of which I've only read one book, Fair Blows the Wind, and that reading was back in my early teens). These writers just can't resist the urge to link all their series and characters together, eh? And here it seems a tad gratuitous, but what the hell. Finian Chantry, octagenarian lawyer who can still kick ass, proves himself a more than worthy descendant of Tatton, and so, eventually, does his strapping (and yes, handsome) nephew Dorian, whom he sends after Echo to keep her safe on her journey home with a carpetbag full of gold.
But this is Echo, and she is a Sackett, so who do you think winds up rescuing/taking care of/worrying about whom? Even as she "sparks" on him.
But so basically this novel is fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff. I'm relieved to discover that later Sackett novels will take up with earlier generations again as a Sackett in the years after the War of 1812 is a bit boring even if she is dinky and cute and never misses with a rifle or a pistol and isn't above clocking you with the butt if you get into close range. I wouldn't mess with her, sho nuff.
December 22, 2025
I've read this before, but this time I listened to the book on Audible. It's definitely an old fashioned book, written in a very unique way. It jumps from first person to third person, has jumps in narrative to intersplice a different piece of story... But it works. Set around 1830-1840's and mingling the youngest Sackett (Echo) from mountains of Tennessee with the posh town of Philadelphia, it paints a unique slice of history. It also weaves a strong sense of Independence, hard work, and strong Family ties. You hurt a Sackett, the rest will come a-running to even the score or help Family out. I love it.
March 2, 2023
Guys, I’ve found it. If you’re wanting a western with a female main character who is not turned so “gruff” you cannot feel for her then this is it. Echo is one of my new favorite characters and I love her. This book was action packed, had a subtle (and adorably hilarious) romance, and a fantastic main character. Have I mentioned that I love Echo?
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