Tackett

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

With a nod to Louis L'Amour, Nofziger serves up simple fun in his fifth spoof of the Old West (Tackett and the Indian, etc.) as a herd of B-movie characters shoot up the scenery and say "dang" too much. Former press secretary to Ronald Reagan during his California governorship, a former White House aide and newspaperman, Nofziger now spins western yarns where the bad guys really do wear black hats. This is a typical tale of the outnumbered heroes and heroines battling the evil-smelling and murderous band of owlhoots who try to take over a town by stealing everything in sight, including the land. Nofziger adds his own bit of irony and sarcasm, however, by slipping in a feminist theme, offering characters named Orey O'Cooksie, Chris Whitman and Hacken Sackett (both of New Jersey), and providing a hangout called the Gay Cowboy Saloon. Del Tackett and his Pa, Ben Bill Tackett, are a couple of fun-loving cowboys who can't say no when a friend, Annie Laurie, asks them for help in saving her saloon from an illegal takeover by Sam Websterby, the blowhard leader of the bad posse. Del and Annie Laurie are old friends, but Del's fianc e Esme is furious that he's putting off their wedding to help a damsel in distress. The town of Shalak Springs, N.M., is the battleground as Del and his Pa, aided by a couple of handy saddle pals, a wild female gunslinger and a passel of gun-toting hookers shoot it out with Websterby and his gunslicks. Fortunately, plenty of bushwhacking, head bashing and stabbing keep the action moving through dusty clouds of corny dialogue and silly humor--plus a clever whiff of political parody. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

With this brisk first novel, Republican political operative Nofziger launches a projected trilogy of westerns revolving around cowboy Del Tackett. The eponymous hero is your typical pulp fiction knight errant: drifting through the West, perhaps righting a wrong or two, then ambling off into the sunset. Here he takes a job as foreman of the troubled R Bar R ranch, which is short-handed and besieged by rustlers. Esmeralda Rankin, who has run the spread since her father's death, catches the cowboy's eye (she likes him too), but the call of the trail is too strong, and he must move on after solving her problems. Louis L'Amour is Nofziger's literary hero and the book's dedicatee, so the similarity of Del Tackett to L'Amour's Tell Sackett is intentional, leading to much forced humor as Tackett is repeatedly mistaken for the more famous man. Near the novel's end, the Sacketts, thinking one of their own is in jeopardy, even show up to help, complete with a New Jersey cousin named--you guessed it--Hacken Sackett. Gratuitous sexual allusions (including lesbian rape) aside, this is competently plotted and written, though it never transcends the limitations of the genre, as does L'Amour at his best. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Tumbleweed Press begins its venture into publishing Westerns with the ``Tackett Trilogy,'' written in the manner of the popular Louis L'Amour novels. In the 1880s, Tackett, a reluctant gunslinger who prefers fists to guns and kills only when forced to, takes on a job at the RbarR Ranch. The ranch is owned and operated by the beautiful Esmeralda Rankin, whose person and ranch are desired by a villainous neighbor who is already stealing her cattle. Tackett moves successfully into action, but he is left bruised and full of lead. An illiterate cowboy, he yearns for education and a family, which he is scheduled to encounter in the next volume, Tackett and the Teacher . The author effectively handles both the narrative (related by an educated man) and the cowpunchers' dialog. In a modern touch, the lady villain is a lesbian. Like his model, Nofziger has trouble with his romances, but L'Amour fans will be pleased.-- Sister Avila, Acad. of the Holy Angels, Minneapolis

Wes Lukowsky

The first installment in a proposed trilogy is an unabashed and acknowledged tribute to Louis L'Amour's Sackett novels. Nofziger, a one-time Republican campaigner for Richard Nixon, even annoys his hero--Del Tackett--by having other characters confuse him with various members of the Sackett clan. True to the Sackett formula, Del Tackett is a loner and a drifter. He's quick with a gun and quicker with his fists, but he has never enjoyed killing. He treats women and kids with respect. He hires on at the R Bar R ranch. The owner, Esmeralda Rankin, was raised out East and inherited the ranch from her father. Rustlers have been thinning her herd of cattle and scaring off her hired help. Short of money and more than a little attracted to Esmeralda, Tackett makes the R Bar R his home, at least until the rustlers are subdued and Esmeralda is secure. Plenty of action and western atmosphere create a suitable and satisfying substitute for readers who've been pining for the years when L'Amour produced two novels annually. Readers will eagerly anticipate installments two and three.