Over on the Dry Side: A Novel

Talon and Chantry #6

by Louis L'Amour

The abandoned cabin seemed like a good place to settle down . . . except for the dead man in the front yard. But Doby Kernohan and his father had traveled a long way seeking a new start, and they were in no position to be choosy. Unfortunately, the mysterious man’s violent end was an omen of darker events to come, for a cycle of violence that had begun long ago was about to reach an explosive conclusion. Caught in a tangle of murder, greed, and blood vengeance, the Kernohans have no choice but to get involved. And when a mysterious beauty from deep in the surrounding hills and a deadly stranger named Owen Chantry arrive, what had at first seemed like good fortune suddenly becomes a terrifying fight for life itself.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Action, Adventure, Historical

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1975

About the author

Louis 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".

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dead body, an empty cabin, a mysterious girl, a lone rider, and a gang after a treasure make for a very exciting western adventure. I was looking forward to a tale told alternating by a sixteen year old boy with lots of grit and a hard man with cold gray eyes from two talented narrators splitting the audiowork.

Doby Kernohan and his pa find a murdered man and a deserted cabin. They are tired of drifting so settle in to work the land. Doby worries there is trouble coming and he isn’t wrong when a savvy man rides in and claims the man is his murdered brother, word is carried that the dead man knew the source of a treasure, and there is a beautiful girl who seems tied-in to the Mowatt outfit driving people away so they can get to the treasure.
Meanwhile, Owen Chantry knows his brother and the treasure isn’t some hoard of gold and gems, but he also knows the lure of treasure so is not surprised when the greedy Mowatts and their hired gunfighters won’t be persuaded to clear out and leave the Kernohans alone. A confrontation is coming and he has to get that girl away from the worst of that group and keep Doby and his pa safe even while he determines to stop drifting and plant roots on Clive’s land and that cabin up high in the lovely, but lonely forest.

Over on the Dry Side is a nice blend of characterization, mystery, historical background, and western action. It was exciting to listen to, but it also felt choppy with the blend of Doby and Owen’s stories in one book since the tension piece between the two that was building never got addressed and just petered out at the end. To be fair, maybe the big fight at the end gave Doby perspective so he could stop resenting Owen for his prowess and for getting the attentions of a certain lady. Owen could wax long on philosophical ideas and their shared Irish heritage and history which could slow the pace down a bit. But, I still enjoyed it because Owen was that fascinating contradiction of educated, polished, but also wild and raw. One moment he’s teaching Doby and the next he’s in a gun battle. There is the mystery about Clive’s treasure and a hint of romance to round it all out.

This was a Lost Treasures edition so it also included an explanation from Beau L’Amour about the story and where it fit in to his dad’s series on the Chantry family. It also included a partial, never-finished prequel story about Owen Chantry that shares his background and the beginning of an adventure. I wish that Louis had finished that one.

Kirby Heyborne does fabulous as an uneducated, but wise in the ways of hard work and frontier living young man and Oliver Wyman matched him as Owen and his perspective. I enjoyed both their sides of the story and how they voiced the other characters and caught the tone and rhythm of the story. Jason Culp read the extras.

All in all, it was a good western adventure with the treasure hunting twist. Those who enjoy frontier stories or western shoot ‘em ups should give it a go.

My thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid L'Amour novel. Only rated it 4 stars because I found the character Doby to be slightly annoying throughout most of the book.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to believe but this was my first sampling of Lamour. Most definitely won't be my last.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good L'Amour tale as Owen Chantry must revenge his brother's death while fighting off bad guys and hunting for a supposed treasure. And at the same time he must win fair maiden's hand. Well told with lots of action. Recommended to western fans!

[Gregory Mele · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unpublished novel about a later generation (post Civil War) members of the Irish Chantry family, this novel is about a mystery and a more typical (for Westerns) "traveling stranger arrives to set things right" story. The narration is split between a third person PoV and a first-person narrator, and I'm not sure that works, or at least gains much which may be why L'Amour hadn't submitted it at the time of his death.

L'Amour spent a lot of time building tension between his two main characters, only for it to fizzle out at the end. The mystery is one we can't solve because we aren't given what we need to solve it so it is more of a McGuffin, which serves to push the story forward.

The novel ends a bit abruptly, and feels like it was likely in final revisions, but overall, a good, quick read.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

We got a free stack of L'Amour paperbacks about a year ago and every so often I pick one from the pile to read. Maybe I've gotten spoiled by T.V. Olson, Lewis Patten, Elmore Leonard, Clifton Adams and others but, man, this was torture to get through. The story is fine but L'Amour insists on sabotaging the pace by having Chantry, the lone gunman hero, always lecture the other characters, and the reader, about life in the west. He's the most longwinded gunman to draw a shooting iron. Also making the book awkward is the shift in pov from 16 year old Doby Kernohan to Chantry via 3rd person. I've read good ones by L'Amour and some not so good ones too. This one was as fun as wet cap gun.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but in saying that, I think I will finish the last couple of books in this series that I skipped and then take a break for a while. I’ve read a lot in a row and everything is pretty familiar with his other books.

[Bo Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Can I Tell You? It's Great Book.

[Heidi McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well thought out story.

[Barbara Lee Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE CABIN

Another great fast moving twisting western by a great author. A man a d his so come upon a cabin, with the body of a dead man laying in the door way. They check the man to see if there's any identification on him, and of course there isn't. The cabin was in disarray, dusty, but we'll built with sturdy homemade furniture.
The father and son clean the cabin and bring in their few items.
I think everyone who likes Louis L'Amour books should read this adventure. It's an intriguing mystery that won't let you put it down until you've finished the finished the book.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy and his father arrive at a home with a body at the front door. The house and the barn are in good shape and they move in. A young girl shows up and the story of the murdered man is slowly revealed. Another man shows up and they discover he is the brother of the murdered man. The murderers are still looking for a treasure, but is the treasure a monetary one? The story is developed from there.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doby Kemohan and his father settle down in an abandoned cabin. Except for the dead man in the front yard, it is an idea location, or so it seems. They get caught in a fight involving murder, greed, and vengeance and have to deal with a circle of violence.

[Paul F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Over on the Dry Side" by Louis L'Amour was an okay, not great, novel. Doby Kernohan and his father find an abandoned cabin and decide to move in. Problem is, there was a dead body in the front yard. Brother of the dead man, Owen Chantry, shows up and has no problem with the Kernohans occupying his deceased brother's cabin home. Evil villain Mac Mowatt and his gang are convinced there is hidden treasure on the Chantry/Kernohan property and they are determined to find it, at least as much as Doby Kernohan and Owen Chantry are determined to keep them from finding it, if it's even there. Beautiful Marny Fox is there as the damsel in distress window-dressing addition. Problem for Doby is that he is 16 while she is in her early 20s, too old for him, but not for Chantry. This all plays out somewhat clumsily.
There were several problems with this novel. First, L'Amour again uses the awkward first person-mixed-with-third person narration. I'm not a fan of first-person narration to begin with, and it's worse when an author such as L'Amour combines it in the same novel with traditional third person narration. I got the impression that when writing the novel L'Amour initially wanted the story to be about Doby Kernohan, but then he got more interested in Owen Chantry, and allowed the Chantry character to eclipse and run past Doby and his father. Moreover, there were some scenes where credulity is stretched to the breaking point, such as when Chantry asks Mowatt if it would be okay for him to ask Marny to marry him, because, villain or not, Mowatt is Marny's closest male relative. Protocol courtesy, you know.
The plot line is vintage L'Amour, but I've read a lot better from him than this somewhat "take care of business" story line.
Let me add that L'Amour's use of the word "taken" in place of "took" is getting tiresome, as in, e.g. "I taken my rifle", "We taken our horses" etc. I have never seen this misuse of "taken" in any pioneer/frontier/19th century diary, letter, newspaper article or whatever. I've only seen it in L'Amour's novels.

[Brittney Reisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Over on the Dry Side, Doby Kernohan and his father found an empty cabin but when they walked up to the house there was a dead body on the front steps. They are looking for a new start away from the city and people so they took the cabin. After about a month of living in the cabin a man shows up, it is the owner's brother, Owen Chantry. When Owen comes around some trouble starts with this cowboy gang and Owen, they come around and try to find some treasure they think is there. Which leads to violence and fights. Take a trip with Doby and find out if there is treasure or not.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this book was the way it was written. It was written like how people in the west back then would have talked. There were slang words and if you aren’t used to it you might have to go back and reread some things. The way it was written though was very interesting, so if you want to change the type of dialect and dialog I would recommend this book.

Another reason why I liked this book was how detailed it was. The fights were gun fights and they were written very well. I could picture the fight in my head as I was reading it. It explained the horses they rode, the geography, where the person got shot and a lot more. It was very interesting because they way it was described I actually thought this would've happened back the in the 1900’s.

I liked this book so much that I read it in three days, which is really fast for me, every time I had a free moment I picked it up and read. I recommend this book and I hope you will like it too.

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that the treasure that the bad guys were looking for wasn't what any of them would consider treasure. I also thought that L'Amour pointing out that book reading was not a common thing in the west. None of these people could fathom that a manuscript from an ancient civilization would have any value. To them it was just a book and of no importance. I often think that many still feel this way and it is very sad. Reading can take to so many times and places that most of us will never be able to see or experience. This is especially true with Louis L'Amour stories. He has done so much research into the life of the western way of life that you know that he is giving the gift of living in the time even if it only for a little while.

This story takes place not long after the Civil War. The beginning of the great migration from the cities of the East is just beginning. Doban "Doby" Kernohan and his Pa are just some of the first to arrive in the Colorado territory. The property they find to settle on had someone there first but the man was killed and left on his doorstep. These two don't realize that they have just stepped into a search for a treasure that a bunch of really bad men will do anything to get. They might have been run off if it isn't for the dead man's brother showing up looking for what happen to the dead man, Clive Chantry. What follows is a race to find what Clive Chantry found in Mexico.

This is another every quit read that would be great for a relaxing say at home with some coffee and chocolate. I love these stories more and more.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louis L’Amour is usually a lovely storyteller, but in this book he attempts to jump back and forth between two points of view and one of them (a young teenaged boy) never quite worked for me. I guess L’Amour is just better at bringing to life his typical loner heroes who are good with a gun.

The plot here, though, was worthwhile. The story opens with a father and son discovering a man who has been killed in his front door. After burying him, they decide to take over his farm and that leads them to trouble. As it turns out, the man was killed by brigands who believe that he brought a great treasure out of Mexico. When the man’s brother shows up, things heat up. But what makes this book so good is L’Amour’s ability to slowly circulate the idea that there can’t possibly be a treasure in the conventional sense. And watching the more intelligent and sane of the brigands come to this realization really worked for me. As they abandon the search, that leaves the worst sorts of men to continue trying to force the secret of the nonexistent gold out of the hero.

There’s also a woman. It’s almost mandatory in a L’Amour novel that there be a beautiful woman to instantly win the heart of his hero. I rarely find his romances convincing, but I did like the way in which the existence of this woman permitted us to see more of the character of individual brigands.

The real treasure of the story comes in the last pages where we finally learn what the treasure is.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine L'Amour story about the wilderness and survival and part of his running Fallon/Chantry/Sackett family series. A teenaged boy and his father come upon a cabin in a fine valley with a long-dead man on the porch. What happened to him? Was it the local Apaches? Outlaws? All they knew is that his name was Chantry.

Along comes Chantry's brother Owen, and things get complicated. There's a girl, there's hidden treasure, and there are bad men hunting the treasure. But what if the treasure isn't gold as they think? And what is the relationship of that girl with the men?

Over On The Dry Side is rich with outdoor description and beautiful landscapes, all real places. Chantry is a thoughtful man who tries to teach the young man Doby about things is father can't, but Doby has his eyes on the same girl Owen likes.

A few times it gets a bit preachy and a few times L'Amour seems to forget who's hurt and who is healthy (the copy I had had a few formatting issues as well, missing quotation marks and paragraph breaks in key places forcing me to read through lines a few times to see what was going on). But its a well-told story by a master.

[Peter Sidell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep expecting L’Amour’s books to be less enjoyable. Its been a long time since I read the first one. I just finished two I had as paperbacks - wanted to clear out my paperback backlog. Now I wish I’d reqd them sooner. My reading habits are inclining towards reading everything written by an author I have enjoyed. With L’Amour that would/will keep me busy a long time.
The stories are simple.
I recall years ago telling my father that L’Amour’s stories were too simple. My father had become a big L’Amour fan - he belonged to the book club called the Louis L’Amour collection. When he got older he used to read them at night if he awoke.
He was in his 80’s by then. He said L’Amour always told a good story, and usually it involved the struggles a guy went through to win the heart of a woman.
True - and in a way that describes an awful lot of story telling.
L’Amour’s characters are clearly drawn and often seem true to life. He is describing a ‘simpler’ time 150 years ago. His characters likely wouldn’t have called it a simple time.
I find the books are a good escape and make me feel good about being human. Not something you can say about a lot of books.

[John P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over on the Dry Side is light interesting reading but fails to deliver.

On the plus side, we are transported to a time long gone and a place forever changed. The characters use a dated non-standard form of English that adds charm and an air of authenticity. The "good guys" are likable and interesting; the "bad guys" not so much. There are a couple intermediate characters that could be considered both good and bad - a nice touch.

On the negative side, as with most fictional mysteries, the contrived plot and clues are simply too obvious. The pace of the action is unsteady becoming too compressed near the end. This reviewer, approaching the final few pages of the novel, didn't see any way the storyline and loose ends could be resolved without additional chapters. But, resolve it did, and not in a satisfying way.

If you are looking for a quick weekend read set in the lawless old west with murder, hidden treasure, and a lukewarm romance, this book may be for you.

[Ward G · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the move west.
The Kernohans come across a homestead.
With the owner laying shot dead across the threshold.

The father falling in love with the well made home.
After tending to the owners remains.
Decides it is to well made, just to fall into abandon and decay.
Father and son end up making it their own. Here they will stay and put down roots.

A stranger arrives, kin to the slain man.
An outlaw gang also wanting the land, for their own reasons.
A possible secret treasure, concealed by the dead man.

Have some good elements, to draw to.

A second cabin, with a mystery woman visiting it.
Simply put, just to many things to work with.
A decent read. Yet again, the climax.
Just seems rushed, and not as satisfying as it could have been.
Great build up, then a quick bam it's over.

Still it is entertaining.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy books written by Louis L'Amour. I have read many of them so they tend to have the same format- strong tough guy- wins out in the end- kind of thing. This story is about a boy and his dad coming upon a nicely built homestead. They find the owner dead on the step. Since they are out in the middle of nowhere, they decide to clean the place up and try to make it a home. In the meantime, the man who owned the cabin's brother comes on the place. He allows them to stay because of all the work they had done. He means to settle the problem with who killed his brother and he deals with some pretty tough guys who want the new settlers gone. I like the good vs evil story lines. I like the cowboy, rough and ready characters. It always seems to have some good moral lessons mixed in on what makes a good person and what does not.

[Jacob Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another great L'Amour story! I've found that I struggle to put his novels down once I start them. Few authors can get a plot up and running within 10 pages quite like he can. I've also noticed a pattern with Louis L'Amour where he has a tendency to name a character based on their personality, in this case, a character named Fenelon (Felon) is one of the antagonists.

While his stories tend to be a bit formulaic, they are always a great read and this one is no different. A story of Father and son travelling in search of a new start, only to find that it's not as easy as it seems. A helpful stranger appears and a battle between good and evil ensues, though I would argue many of the antagonists in this story are not truly "bad guys". The characterization was nuanced and overall it was a quite enjoyable story!

[Patrick Stirling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading Robin Hobb's Fitz and The Fool trilogy, and started the final one (Assassin's Fate) immediately after finishing the second volume. These are great books but quite intense and I felt a little OD'd on them. And, fortuitously, bookbub had this book on sale. I loved L'Amour as a kid so knew what to expect and grabbed it, and read it in one sitting. He was a great writer - not in the literary sense but in the page turning, story telling sense. In the vein of H Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle, he writes fairly simple action adventure stories. The goodies are Good, the baddies are Bad, and there's enough grey in between to keep thing interesting. No worries about how things will turn out, either! If you want a light, quick and exciting read, look no further.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buon romanzo, ambientato nella parte sud occidentale del Colorado, vicino alla Mesa Verde e Grand Mesa a quello che è dato capire. La storia è una riflessione su cosa sia un tesoro. Per gli ignoranti se non è oro o gioielli, non vale nulla. Per uno studioso, magari dilettante, una raccolta di leggende di una tribù che sta scomparendo vale più dell'oro.
Alla fine la soluzione dell'enigma sta in come ci si approccia alla vita, a quali sono i valori.
Non un capolavoro ma un romanzo estremamente scorrevole, veloce eppure profondo, con i personaggi ben costruiti e delineati (anche quelli secondari e persino alcuni di contorno) come L'Amour mi ha abituato a leggere.
4 stelle.

[Harron68 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give any book five stars, but this beautiful novel rises above L'Amour's normal fine yarn-spinning. It's told from multiple perspectives, third person and first person in the name of a sixteen-year-old eager to prove himself a man.
The story puts the beauty of Nature on display as much as the human experience. Wisdom of being prepared in the wilderness comes thru too. All together the novel reads much like a parable, designed to teach and entertain. That skill, that morality is to be saluted. And a five star rating is the result.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murdered for treasure yet the treasure was still waiting to be found

They found the body and a pencil marked number 10, but no other clues. A dangerous gang was searching the nearby hills and wanted no interference with their hunt for the gold. Always the stories of gold from Mexico drove men crazy. Greed with this hard lawless bunch came easy so when a man and his soon settled in the ransacked cabin and took over the ranching in this lonely remote area, it wasn’t long before gunmen shadowed their door. Well worth the time.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed a quick and easy book so I pulled this one from my bookshelves. I own the book so I know I've read it before but I had no memory of the plot. Louis L'Amour books can kind of run together after a while, but I liked that this one was a little different with the dual protagonist. The older, wiser, more experienced hero and the teenager who likely reminds him a little of his younger self. Did L'Amour ever write more about Doby? I'd love to read what happened to him ten years later.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty much the L'Amour formula defined, which is always enjoyable but nothing too special once you've read it a few times. What bumped this up from 3 to 4 stars for me were the sections from the perspective of the 16-year old Doby, which were quite entertaining and (from what I recall) quite accurate in terms of the thoughts, longings, and dreams of boys that age and the less than wise actions that can follow as a result!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of L'Amour's 1970s books. He was really hitting his stride here. A straightforward novel, where homesteaders, find the land they are working is claimed, but the owner really doesn't want the land. However a gang of hoodlums believe there is treasure on the land. A woman, and fighting ensue.

Well written, straight forward novel told through the eyes of a young man, the son of the homesteader.

[M. O'Gannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over on the Dry Side – A Western Novel – Published 1975 – **** - Another quick entertaining read from the western master – L’amour. Chantry is the tough good guy this time around and he takes on a ruthless gang that is after a treasure his brother supposedly left. Lots of great western scenery, plenty of bad guys, a beautiful women and loads of shootem ups. What could be better for a rainy afternoon read.