The Lightning Runner: A Western Story

(Paperback)

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Description

Notorious outlaw Lawrence Grey has been captured near El Paso. Marshal Neilan has a proposal for him. Neilan will set Grey free if he tries to locate John Ray, a man who was last known to be living in San Vicente, Mexico. The men Neilan sent previously have disappeared or quit the job. Brick Forbes of Pittsburgh is worth millions. Ray once did him a kindness. Now that Forbes is desperately ill, he wants to leave his fortune to Ray rather than to his own relatives.

Grey agrees to Neilans proposal and goes to San Vicente, where he promptly saves the life of Mexican general Miguel ORiley during a bombing attempt. The general makes inquiries and learns that the stranger who saved his life is called John Lawrence and that he is studying Spanish. Another American named Dickson Jarvis, employed by Forbess relatives, informs ORiley that Lawrence is actually a wanted outlaw on both sides of the border. Later, Jarvis is murdered. Lawrence has his own audience with General ORiley and asks him for a guide into the mountains. ORiley sends for Oliver Slade, a man who strangely resembles the one who killed Jarvis. This proves only the beginning of an intrigue in which Lawrences life is threatened continually from all sides.

Reviews

Brandpractices his art to something like perfection. --The New York Times
MaxBrand is the Shakespeare of the Western range. --Kirkus Reviews
Brand practices his art to something like perfection. --The New York Times
Max Brand is the Shakespeare of the Western range. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Max Brand is the best-known pen name of Frederick Faust, creator of such beloved characters as Destry and Dr. Kildare, among others. Eighty motion pictures and many radio and television programs have been based on his work. Faust went to Italy as a war correspondent during World War II after the United States entered the conflict, and he was killed during a night attack on a hilltop village held by the German army. His literary output was so prolific during his life that he averaged three new books per year for seventy-five years, including many years after his death.