The Adventurers

by Ernest Haycox
Category: "Fiction - Western"
Pages:249
Year of Publication:1954
Date Added:01/26/2025
Date Read:01/26/2025
Notes:Lumberman Mark Sheridan is in a shipwreck off Portland. In the confusion, he manages to save Clara Dale. They spend a night together in the woods and become close. But there's something about Clara's character that keeps Mark from committing. Not so for George Revelwood, one of the few other survivors. The three spend a night with the poor Morvain family before finally making it to their destination. While Mark gets work at a mill outside of town, George marries Clara. Mark struggles to make a go of it — he loses his job at the mill because his boss cheats him, another mill he buys burns down in a fire, and a stage line he starts is taken over by another that gets a permit to carry the mail. Clara has an affair, and George kills his rival and is hung. When Clara still can win Mark, she kills herself. Mark refuses to give up and, after some hesitation, Katherine Morvain admits that she loves him and marries him. They open a mill and make plans for more.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for The Adventurers

Review - Adventurers, The

Not as compelling as some of his other stories. Even the heroic characters — Mark and Katherine — were frustrating, and Clara and George were just not nice people. The action was fairly slow, except for fighting the fire and a few fist fights, there was none. Haycox's last novel, and he may have been running out of steam.

Reviewed by Roger on 2025-01-26 07:04:22

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