SHALAKO by Louis L'Amour

It's a rewrite of LAST STAND AT PAPAGO WELLS, which was a rewrite of HELLER WITH A GUN, but I'm not complaining. I think L'Amour liked the story and wanted to see if he could improve upon it. SHALAKO makes a good case for itself. The writing is above-average quality for L'Amour and he gives us some great action scenes. The love interest, Irina, isn't too shabby a characterization. (If I had been L'Amour's editor, I would have encouraged him to write an argument that Irina wins or at least ties with Shalako.) Like LAST STAND, there is a sandstorm at the climax of the story, but it's nowhere near as good. Page breaks whenever the POV changes would have helped the reading experience, too.