Kirkus评论
Following Whispering Sands (1981): another nine Western-melodrama stories originally published in Argosy magazine, again featuring narrator-hero Bob Zane, a middle-aged prospector. This time, in tales that first appeared between 1931 and 1933, Zane is frequently pursued by gangsters, solves a few crimes, works briefly as a lawman, avoids some poison springs, and rescues a damsel-in-distress or two. He also indulges--though not quite as frequently as in the earlier collection--in lectures or the ""code of the desert"" and the ""law of the desert."" (""Say what you want to about the desert. Say what you want to about ruthless cruelty which strikes with deadly aim and baffling speed. But you'll have to admit one thing, Take desert trained men, men who have lived with the desert and know her ways, and you'll find men who have thrown aside the cloak of mediocrity and have developed character."") Still, when not on this self-congratulatory podium, Zane is a good, bare-bones narrator--and Gardner's uninspired but tight little action/plots will still, after 50 years, appeal to aficionados of desert-suspense. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.