The Haunted Mesa by Louis L’Amour (review)

376 Western American Literature erations, as well as tears and prayers. Where point of view creates psycho­ logical suspense, language adds a realistic touch, especially in western phrases and imagery. The book combines narrative technique with ideological message in such a way that the young reader can both enjoy a good story and be imbued with major ideas of the American creed. PETER BISCHOFF University of Munster, Germany The Haunted Mesa. By Louis L’Amour. (New York: Bantam Books, 1987. 357 pages, $18.95.) This is Louis L’Amour’s 86th novel (and 102nd book), and is in the tradition of his supernatural novels The Californios and The Lonesome Gods. But it is unique, with a grounding in science fiction and Latin-American mythology as well: its hero, a present-day illusion-debunker, must jump through a kiva time window—out of L’Amour’s beloved Four Corners area and into “the Other Side,” populated not only by good Indians whom the Navajos called the Anasazi but also by evil ones with Mayan connections. The good Indians have survived the mysterious disappearance of the Mesa Verde cliffdwellers, or are L’Amour’s beautiful heroine Kawasi and her ilk timewarpers from the thirteenth century? Hero Mike Raglan’s mission is to storm the City of the Forbidden and rescue his friend Erik Hokart, kidnapped from his mesa digs by Kawasi’s foes because they want his electronics expertise to update their telepathic powers. Does my teasing summary make L’Amour’s 43-chapter novel seem excit­ ing? It is not, that is, not until its real beginning, perhaps in ch. 9 or ch. 13. No, make it ch. 20. Mike obtains and sporadically reads Erik’sdiary (chs. 3-7), shuttles tediously from condo to mesa (until ch. 29), tells us a dozen times that he should return to Denver and civilization, rehashes his options a score of times, and presents innumerable lectures to himself about “parallel worlds,” inexplicabilities he has noted in Tibet and China (and elsewhere), and the inevitability of intellectual advances. The Haunted Mesa is flawed fiction. It has only four important white characters, and in addition only four important Indians from “the Other Side” of time. (I should not reveal who are which.) Of the whites, Mike speaks to only one in the first half of the novel;further, he meets two of the important Indians tardily. The story lacks its author’s usual painterly rendering of natural scene. There is too little dialogue, and what there is comes often in the midst of action awkwardly suspended. A final weakness is L’Amour’s convert­ ing his hero’shunches into foreshadowing almost instantly validated. L’Amour should speedily return to his Sacketts, Chantrys, and Talons. ROBERT L. GALE University of Pittsburgh ...