One of Best Westerns I ever encountered.

if any book demonstrates the genius of Zane Grey THIS one does. First Zane is a master of Western history of the west in the late 1800's which in this book spans from Colorado to Missouri and South to Texas. The reader is quickly brought up to speed on the main range wars and an overview of the era of cattle wrestling on enormous ranches. The story has a multifaceted highly intelligent mystery plot, addresses the deep striving for morality in dealing with "good vs evil" battles that revealed the hearts of people, and has fairly minimal gun play but what is there is bold and realistic and not exaggerated. The book provides great character development and all are authentic to the story. All this combined into a well woven masterpiece. This is a very believable story and seldom shallow. Only a few coincidences that in other books drive me nuts because they are too frequent and aren't necessary. But for me, best of all is how Zane inserted an entirely different approach to romance that totally caught me off guard being light but heart wrenching at the same time. Imagine twin 19 year olds that nobody can tell apart attracting every man for miles around and the frustration, jealousy, and heartbreak that could cause to everone, including the twin girls themselves and especially to the main character.And yet it grips your soul. The main character has to be one of the best combinations of maturity and boyishness I've seen portrayed. Of course he's nearly super human in his past exploits of ridding the worst cattle barrons and hes intense and women fall over themselves for him. But it's his wisdom not brute force that drove his successes. And yet the story focuses most on how he's just an honorable human being. The narrator is perfect because you don't notice him at all but forget it's him reading. You'd swear you were walking around in the story. THAT is the key to a good narrator. 10+ hours blew by. Just excellent. Hard to believe it's written in the 1940's it's such a breath of fresh air.