Off the Mangrove Coast
By Louis L'Amour Random House Large Print, (2000)
ISBN: 0-375-43062-8
Genre: Adventure Stories
Reviewed by Herbert White - August 28, 2002
Writers are always admonished to write about what they know. This was an edict that Louis L'Amour took to heart - and why shouldn't he? He led such an energetic diverse life that he was a walking treasure trove of true life adventure stories. Not just a prolific writer, L'Amour was also a professional boxer (winning 51 out of 59 professional bouts!), he was a sailor, worked in a circus, he wandered around the Pacific and South Asia, and he was in Paris during World War II. In short, he seemed to have an uncanny knack for being the in 'wrong' place at the right time, plus an unerring knack for stumbling upon those things that most of us sit-at-home adventurers fantasize about.
In Off the Mangrove Coast you will find nine outstanding adventure stories - many of which may be more autobiographical than most people realize. These nine stories represent an eclectic mix of some of L'Amour's best short works. Stories included run the gamut from a story about a private eye to several stories in which boxing, or a boxer, takes center stage. If you're a fan of Indiana Jone's styled adventure movies, you'll notice that you've probably already seen several of these stories translated on the silver screen. One recent story translated onto the screen was L'Amour's story, The Diamond of Jeru, which is set in Borneo. Filmed in 2001, the movie version of this story starred Billy Zane, Keith Caradine and Paris Jefferson. The screenplay was written by Beau L'Amour, L'Amour's son.
The nine stories contained in this collection are:
Fighters Should Be Hungry
It's Your Move
Off the Mangrove Coast
The Cross and the Candle
The Diamond of Jeru
Secret of Silver Springs
The Unexpected Corpse
The rounds Don't Matter
Time of Terror
If you've never read any of L'Amour's short stories, this collection will give you a solid introduction to the breadth of subjects that L'Amour covers, as well as to his immense writing skills. These are great stories of high adventure that will mesmerize young adventurers who will one day go forth to have adventures of there own, as well as those adventurers who now restrict their travels to the armchair variety!
This is the second of four volumes of short stories by Louis L'Amour. The fourth book in this series has yet to be published, but the other two volumes are, Beyond the Great Snow Mountains and May There Be a Road.
Related Reviews:
May There Be a Road, by Louis L'Amour.
This collection features some of Louis L'Amour's best 'short' adventure stories, many of which have never before been published. (Large Print)
The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, by C. Northcote Parkinson
This fictional biography of the great Royal Navy hero, Horatio Hornblower, will have you asking yourself, "Was Hornblower really just a work of fiction, or did he really exist?" (Large Print)
