Dead Man's Walk (Lonesome Dove, 1) Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1996

4 and 1 / 2 starsIn this novel, Woodrow Call and Augustus “Gus” McCrae are just young men who have joined the Texas Rangers. On their first ride out to survey a new road, they meet up with Buffalo Hump, one of the fiercest Comanche warriors on the plains. They lose two men, and are lucky to make it back safely to San Antonio.On their next adventure, the troop heads out for Santa Fe, New Mexico – over a thousand miles away! They meet up with a tornado. Gus falls in love with practically every woman he sees. Gus loves to embellish his stories with outright fibs. Call has a cooler head and thinks Gus is more than a little lazy and spends too much time whoring and drinking. Call intends to save his money for better weapons. They finally get to the meeting place for this expedition and meet Caleb Cobb and his sidekick Billy Falconer. Caleb is not as Gus presented him and Billy is mean. Along for the ride is General Lloyd. He is a drunk and so out of it that he cannot ride his own horse, so he rides in a wagon.Riding through the plains, Call had plenty of time to think about getting lost. The desolate countryside was daunting. The reader has to remember that there were no streetlights and no guardrails to help them along their way. There was nothing but blackness and the fear of losing one’s way at night. The fear of Indians and a horse going lame was another consideration.I simply wouldn’t have made it. I’m not tough enough.All of their little party is shocked when Caleb Cobb invites Buffalo Hump into camp to eat and parley. The men absolutely hate him and want to kill him. But they stay their feelings during the meeting. When Caleb wants to give Buffalo Hump Billy Falconer’s fine Holland and Holland rifle as a present, Falconer balks and threatens to quit. Cobb “resigns” Falconer and gives the rifle to Buffalo Hump who rides off without another word.Later the Comanche set fire to the plains from three directions when the soldiers have their backs to a steep and deep canyon. Caleb Cobb dithers and the men just have time to leap over the edge of the canyon in order to save themselves. Several men die in the attempt and the horses run off. When the fire dies down, the men find themselves afoot with no food and very little water. The desert is unforgiving.Call, Gus and Bigfoot are captured by the Mexican army. They are shackled and walking across the plains when the little camp was attacked by a grizzly. It scattered the frightened Mexicans, killed Captain Salazar’s horse and ran rampant through the camp. Call, Gus and Bigfoot got away and were lucky enough to find Caleb Cobb and a diminished troop of men. They marched without food or water for a while and were met by the Mexican army – hundreds of men, mounted soldiers and cannon. Captured once again, Caleb Cobb surrenders. Call is absolutely furious with Cobb.They are escorted and on their way to Mexico City over a thousand miles away. The problem is that they have to cross an area called the dead man’s walk. Through sleet, bitter cold and without much food or water they march on. Then handed off to a humorless major and his soldiers for the remainder of their walk, they are told to bathe in the Rio Grande. It is very cold. Some of the younger of the Texans panic and start to flee. The Mexican soldiers run rampant on them, killing several despite the major’s yelling at them to stop, and Bigfoot as well yelling at the Texans.When they get to the little town which is surrounded by feral dogs, they are told to pick blindfolded from a jar of beans. There are ten men left – and Mattie- and if they pick a white bean they will live. If they pick a black bean, they will be shot.Gus and Call make it and then they meet a Scottish Lady Carey and her Viscount son Willy. The Lady has leprosy, but her son and maids do not. She proposes to the five men that they take her to Galveston. Since they are now housed in a leper colony and there are no soldiers about, they decide to go.What follows is perhaps the most amusing and inexplicable journey yet. It is brilliant.What a good novel this is. Across the plains of Texas and New Mexico and down the Dead Man’s Walk, Gus and Call manage to survive against all odds. It is a harrowing and scary journey of several thousand miles. (I wouldn’t have made it one in that environment.)

The late Larry McMurtry was a brilliant and prolific novelist, and this is one of his best. Newly minted Texas Rangers confront various hardships, including bears, snakes, Comanches, Apaches, and the Mexican Army, on an expedition from Austin to Santa Fe. It is the first book in McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series and is as exciting as a book can be.

I am working my way through my reading “bucket list”. I was about to start Lonesome Dove when I noticed a reference to Dead Man’s Walk which is the first volume of McMurtry’s four volume series. This is a great story. Picture mid 1800s, a mixed bag of Texas Rangers, traders, and assorted frontier types set out to explore parts of West Texas and New Mexico. They left 200 strong and only three returned. Along their journey they encountered Comanche Indians, flat, dry country with no game , and no food or water sources. The Dead Man’s Walk refers to the last part of their journey across a desert flat plain with no food or water.The story introduces us to Gus and Call, two young Rangers,,. Who are two of the survivors. This book was such adventure that I immediately acquired the following volumes to be read in this order Comanche Moon, Lonesome Dove, and Streets of Laredo. I am into Comanche Moon, and Larry McMurtry’s magic continues.McMurtry is an excellent wordsmith and knows how to forge a great tale. He is excellent with dialogue, with plot structure , and it was hard to put this book down. If you like adventure stories, especially ones that extend into additional volumes, this is a good choice.

This book in the Lonsesome Dove series in the first, in chronological order. Gus and Call, called 'young pups' by their elders, have joined the Texas Rangers, hoping for some adventure (and for Gus, a little brothel action and card playing). Soon after their expedition begins, they discover they are in way over their heads. The Commanches are, literally, on the warpath, and hate white people (with good reason, considering the way the white men treated them). They are also very smart, very fast, very skilled in riding and fighting, and VERY bloodthirsty. The main Chief, who even the most hardened soldiers are scared of, is Buffalo Hump, and he is introduced in an unforgettable lightning storm on the prarie, in one of the most vivid, terrifying scenes in the entire series (and if you've read the series, you know things can get VERY ugly). The men in charge of the expedition are either crazy, stupid, drunk, have a very short fuse, or all of the above. The trek starts out rather confident, looking forward to the challenges to come, but soon realize they are no match for the Indians. The Commanches set up a variety of clever, deadly, devastating traps, and soon their ranks are halved, then quartered, then...then it gets REALLY ugly.This book was a page-turner, and had all the entertaining characters a reader comes to expect from the series. All of the books treat death as an everyday thing, but I think this is one of the most cold-blooded; do not read if you're sqeamish. There's not just one or two nasty scenes, either, they count many and come fast. This is an entertaining book, one that I couldn't put down, but not especially pleasant. A good read, don't get me wrong, but one that is emotionally gruelling.I guess if you wanted to read the books in chronological order, this would be the one to start. I had planned to do that originally, after I read LD, but have found reading them in the order they were written is actually more satisfying; backstory is filled in, and you get a better perspective.If you loved LD, read this and the other books in the series. If you're just starting out, read LD first; it may be the strongest, but it will give you an idea of just what a treat you're in for. No ccomplaints here-I put the bok down after reading the last page, and promptly walked right over to my new copy of Commanche Moon (I wisely bought them at the same time) and started in.This author was born to write.

Mr McMurtry has a unique quality ofTransporting us to the Wild West in times that life worth very little. The amount of things that I learned and the pleasure that unhas reading makes Larry one of my favorite authors

I've have decided to read the entire Lonesome Dove saga in chronological order which means I kick off with Dead Man's Walk which was actually the third book published following Lonesome Dove (chronologically the third book) and Streets of Laredo (a direct sequel to Lonesome Dove and chronologically the fourth and final book in the series) . I'd previously read the Pulitzer Prize winning, Lonesome Dove but the rest of the series were new to me, though I had seen all the TV movies based on the book. And to be honest now that I've read Dead Man's Walk I can say that the TV mini-series was pretty damn faithful with only a few cosmetic changes.To clear things up the order of publication for the series:Lonesome Dove (1985)Streets of Laredo (1993)Dead's Man's Walk (1995)Commanche Moon (1997)Though in chronological order the series goes:Dead Man' walkCommanche MoonLonesome DoveStreets of LaredoDead Man's Walk then gives us the very early years of Gus McCrea and Woodrow Call and depicts how the boys first became friends and of how they joined the Texas Rangers. The book starts with Gus and Woodrow signed on as rangers with a road scouting expedition led by the inept Major Chevallier. During the expedition they are repeatedly attacked by Indians led by a deformed commanche called Buffalo Hump. During this early section of the book we get to know the important characters, especially Gus and Woodrow - their personalities are sketched out over a number of brilliantly written set pieces, usually involving the war chief, Buffalo Hump. Gus is the talkative, whore loving easy to get along with type, which his best friend, Woodrow is solid, dependable, serious minded and not all together likable. When Gus visits a whore he is in love with her and treats her with genuine affection, while when Woodrow visits he gets his business done and then gets out of there without a wasted word. The two men are polar opposited but they live and breath as real people on the page and the chemistry beteen them is excellent.There are several other secondary characters who are equally well drawn - Matty, known as the Great Western, is the whore who throws snapping turtles at them men and generally allows them a poke on tick, Bigfoot Wallace is a mountain man with a fine line in storytelling, Shadrach is another mountain man, an aged character in the final years of his life. Then we have Long Bill Coleman and Johnny Carthage, two everyman types who provide one or two moments of comic relief as well as several truly poignant scenes.A truly excellent book with a story that is richly drawn and truthful to the period - there is much cruelty that the author doesn't avoid in order to build up this very real story.

Larry mcmurty has blown me away. I know a lot of folk say there is no character depth but I see plenty. Larry has touched upon something special in this book, he's touched on pure , raw human emotion and feelings.These boys that the story follows ,are so well write and real, Larry describes fear perfectly , he describes love perfectly, he describes what makes us human. I particularly sympathise with Gus MCcrae , he has displayed the most emotion and true human actions. I.e knees knocking when the commanches first made an appearance. His love for the girl in the store in Austin. His strive to impress his fellow men. His whole journey has made me fall in love with Larry's style of writing.It's an amazing read and it's truly deserving of its awards. Can highly recommend

The most exciting book about the old west and how the rangers and pioneers who went there and to start a new life and tame the west against lived their life’s. They endured all sorts of dangers, not just wild Indians, but the weather, the unlawfulness, and civilisation it’s self. The characters are so endearing and the story is told with such detail, compassion and truth you feel their pain and joy. A very exciting read that I couldn’t put down and just had to get the follow up book.

I am working my way through these wonderful books for the second time, it's like returning to an old friend. Now I have retired I have the time to read these at my own pace. I have given a five star rating, if I could give more I would. Please enjoy reading these wonderful books.

Usual McMurtry fodder eminently readable, nasty violence, boring when he spends to long on the thoughts and motivations of various characters. Don't know if the book reflects the real world of that time and place but it's McMurtry's slant on it and that's o.k. because he is an excellent descriptive writer. I suppose that "Lonesome Dove" is the best known and for me the best read of the quartet and having read that you will be very interested in "Gus" and "Woodrow" the main characters. This is the story of their earlier adventures and how they became Texas Rangers, a motley bunch if ever there was one! There is a wealth of other characters, some stayers some fall by the way but all interesting. Like the other books in the series this is a 'meaty' read and not to be undertaken lightly by the casual but for others well worth the effort.