Book Review: Catlow by Louis L’Amour
(A)bijah Catlow and Ben Cowan grew up together, fighting together and against each other. As so often happens, their lives have taken different paths since. Ben is now a deputy U.S. Marshal, and Bijah is an outlaw rustler. Now, admittedly, Bijah was initially framed for rustling by a crooked cattle baron and the sheriff he shot getting out of that mess was bought and paid for. But he hasn’t exactly tried very hard to go straight since. Ben knows it’s only a matter of time before he and Bijah will have a showdown.
It’s mostly coincidence that brings the two men back together. Marshal Cowan is tracking a man named Miller who stole an Army payroll into Arizona. At the same time, Bijah Catlow is courting Cordelia Burton, Miller’s niece by marriage. This is inconvenient for everyone involved. Now that Ben knows where Bijah is, he’s duty bound to arrest him, despite their past connection. Bijah can’t afford to get arrested any time soon as he’s planning the biggest score of his life and doesn’t want to seriously hurt Ben. Miller hates both of them, and the Burton family just wants to not be involved in any crime or violence.
After some shenanigans, the story shifts south of the Mexican border. Bijah has learned of a legendary treasure in silver and gold that was hidden for decades, but that the new Mexican president is having moved to pay some government debt. With the right group of outlaws to assist him, Bijah means to steal that treasure and retire a rich man. The plan has a few problems, of course. Neither Marshal Cowan or Miller was meant to be on his trail, and the escape route goes right through the worst of the Sonoran desert. No water, no shelter, and plenty of hostile natives. Plus, of course, there’s little honor among thieves.
Ben would really rather not follow a few steps behind, but American bandits stealing the Mexican government’s money is not a good look and could lead to war. He makes his own allies in the southern land, but also faces great danger.
Bijah Catlow is more sympathetically portrayed than the outlaws in most L’Amour books. He’s pushed into being a criminal by bad luck and having the wrong enemies, and tries hard to do as little harm as possible. That said, he doesn’t agonize over any killing he feels required to do. His general good nature gets him into trouble a few times, but is also an asset in dealing with others.
Ben Cowan is more your standard-issue L’Amour Western hero, stalwart, taciturn, self-reliant, but with a strong reservoir of sense of justice.
Given the lovingly detailed action scenes and descriptions of the landscape, the romantic subplots seem especially rushed in this one. I know L’Amour wasn’t big on slow burn relationships, but wow. (This part also allows him to tie the book into his Sackett saga via one of the characters being a distant relation.)
Content note: One of the Native American characters is named “Nigger Jim” which is not meant to be a slur in context but is jarring to see.
Overall: Not one of the great Louis L’Amour books, but still middling good and with more ambiguity than he normally used. Also got made into a movie with Yul Brynner as Catlow, Richard Crenna as Cowan, and Leonard Nimoy as Harris. (Nimoy considered it one of his favorite movies to work on. Recommended to Western fans.
