This was a great book and made me want to read more Westerns. It's about a young man whose family was on the losing side of the American Civil War. Like a lot of families, they were doing well as ranchers before the war but are pretty much just getting by after. And of course they resent the Yankee control of their Texas territory.

Such resentment leads to occasional violence and Talbert "Tall" Cameron already got in trouble for punching one such Northern official in a moment of anger.

He's a young man who doesn't really want any trouble. He's going to continue as a rancher and marry his sweetheart from a neighboring ranch.

But all this gets thrown out the window when one of his peers, Ray Novack, also assaults an official and the ensuing commotion threatens to include Tall as well.

To avoid a prison sentence of several months' hard labor, they decided to ride off into the night to a relative's ranch and hide out for a few months.

They never make it. On the way there they run into an older man who's an infamous outlaw named Pappy Garrett. Novack's father used to be the Marshall and Novack recognizes the man from wanted posters. Despite being on the run from the law himself he decides it's his duty to kill this desperado. Tall objects to Ray's intention to shoot the man while he's sleeping and calls out a warning.

Novack gets wounded and is told to leave or die, so he leaves. Tall sticks with Garrett and the rest of the book is a series of terrific Western set pieces, from shoot-outs and cattle drives to ambushes and stampedes.

As the old and young man travel together, a sort of friendship develops, as well as a mentorship and the hint of a father and son bond. Garrett teaches Tall how to shoot, but really shoot, and Tall finds a use for the unusally clear focus he's always had in moments of conflict.

Westlake described the book perfectly when he said it was about a "character adapting to his forced separation from normal society". He also noted its economy and understated treatment of violence. I have to agree. Adams's writing reminded me of the efficiency and beauty of Hammett's.

Westlake also cautioned that Adams wrote a sequel that's so bad it almost ruins the first book. I'm going to find out!

The first line is, "I awoke suddenly and lay there in the darkness, listening to the rapid, faraway thud of hoofbeats".