The Lone Star Ranger

What has traditionally been one of the best selling of Zane Grey's novels, and considered by some to be one of his best, I find far inferior to the two novels from which this book was created by the editors at Harper Brothers. The two novels, Last of the Duanes and Rangers of the Lone Star stand far above this book. There are too many missing events and characters in this version. The female love interest is completely missing in Part Two of the book and there are many other unanswered questions created by the melding of these two works. But, if one is to have a complete set of Zane Grey, then this book is collectable and readable; but NOT one of his best. It is however far superior to anything being published today. I'd say the content of this book is average, or little below average.

I have to congratulate Pinnacle Books for bringing out this Mass-Market Paperback in the face of the dwindling mass-market paperback market. This is the fifth Zane Grey title they have published in the last couple of years, and in my opinion, I believe there is still a broad-based audience for his work, so I wish someone would keep printing his novels in this format for the general public to purchase in hopes of reaching a younger generation. It has been twenty years since a major publishing house has made a concentrated effort bof publishing two or three novels a month of Zane Grey in an attempt to print all of his western novels; a collection of about 65 works. So, at two a month it would take almost three years to complete. As to "The Lone Star Ranger" itself: Despite having made the best seller list when it was published, and being considered one of Zane Grey's best works, I cannot appraise it that high. For one thing, this novel was actually the merging of two novels by Zane Grey's publisher at the time, Harpers. The front half is from a book titled, The Last of the Duanes, and the second half is from a book called, Rangers of the Lone Star. These two novels have been published as stand alone books in the last 20 years, and are far superior books. They also answer many unanswered questions the reader of The Lone Star Ranger will find themselves asking themselves as the book progresses. The premise of this work is a masterful idea: Does Buck Duane come by his deadly urge to kill because of his heritage, or does his environment cause him to be this way? Zane Grey was a believer is some of what Charles Darwin professed, and popularized the phrase, "survival of the fittest" in many of his books. This edition is a welcome site on the bookshelves in the stores. I hope there will be many more.