The Haunted Mesa

Customer Reviews

• The last 100 pages are well worth the wait!  Jul 27, 2000 (13 of 13 found this helpful)

  The Haunted Mesa is an extremely convincing, well-written and underrated book, and is certainly the most unique in the long, distinguished career of Louie L'Amour. After reading the last 100 pages of this novel I find it difficult to give it anything less than five stars. However, the development of the plot in the first 250 pages does drag on for a while, but I feel most of it is necessary to the story once Mike Raglan crosses over to the Other Side. If you start to get a little bored in the beginning, don't stop reading. All of this about the logbook, the "hairy ones" and Eden Foster does become important later on. Personally, i enjoyed the book all the way through, but I know some people think L'Amour stalled too much before getting on to the parallel world of the Anasazi.

  L'Amour does an excellent job of convincing the reader that this story could indeed happen, even though you may think the plot is far-off at first. This book is an incredible combination of history, science fiction and fantasy, and is a must-read for anyone interested in ancient Indians, time travel, or the unknown. Despite the bad rap this book has always gotten, it is definitely one of L'Amour's best, and contrary to popular belief, L'Amour's health was NOT failing when he wrote The Haunted Mesa. The book was originally written ten years before it was published, but Bantam refused to print it at first because they didn't believe anyone would buy a science fiction story by a western writer. Boy, were they wrong. The book got to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list once it was finally published, and proved to be one of L'Amour's most popular among his fans, even though all the critics seemed to hate it. So give The Haunted Mesa a chance, and I think you will be glad you did.

• "haunting read"  Feb 15, 2005 (9 of 9 found this helpful)

  
  This book is a "haunting read" to the degree it is unforgettable. I've read many Louis L'Amour books down through the years, but this one is certainly the most atypical of the entire lot.
  
  Released in September,1987, little less than a year before he died in June, 1988, it has as its locale the contemporary Southwestern frontier. His subject is the cliff dwellers, the Anasazi, who left very little trace of themselves after the year 1250 a.d. The setting is the four-corner area of Utah and Arizona, in the San Juan river area of southern Utah, with mysticism and Indian lore in abundance.
  
  There is not too much to say, for fear of undercutting the suspense filled reading contained in these pages. One cannot quite be sure in what direction the plot will next flow. Especially when reading of the Varanel, a strong arm group to hold their own with any modern day swat team. It can be said with certainty there are no other characters in Louis L'Amour's books to match those found here.
  
  New books by Louis L'Amour are greatly missed by his thousands of readers. But since his second home seemed to be the desert, having a lifetime's knowledge about and love for desert existence, it allowed him to leave his readers one swell final book to read.
  
  Semper Fi.

• The Haunted Mesa  Jun 29, 2000 (9 of 9 found this helpful)

  I picked this book up a few weeks ago at 8:00 pm and didn't stop until I had finished. This book combines elements of the western, Indian lore, science fiction and fantasy, and is unlike any other L'Amour novel. A fantastic read!

• A Differnt angle  Jun 22, 2004 (5 of 5 found this helpful)

  Louis L'amour Is an author who has accomplished a great feat he has written a book so good I had to read it three times just to grasp the full meaning of this book. It has a plot that I dont know how he thought up thisnstuff but I give the guy credit he is a great writer. IF you want to know about the plot read the other reviews but this book is a definte buy and you will read it 3-4 times if you have any brains at all....

• Not at all what I expected of a L'Amour book.  Aug 24, 2000 (5 of 5 found this helpful)

  Growing up near this story's setting, it really hit home. Makes anybody stop and wonder...

  The beginning is slow moving but the last 1/3rd of the story is very exciting. It took me 2 weeks off and on to read the first 2/3rds of the book. It took me about 2 hours to finish it. You won't put it down once the plot has been built.

  I would rate this book 5 stars, but some characters whom I was interested in were left out of the ending. The book finishes without even making mention of what becomes of them and leaves you to guess as to their fate.

  If you like Westerns as well as Science Fiction, you will love this book. L'Amour does seem to steal a little from Star Trek as well as Star Gate.