Review: Excellent and gripping story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
"Death Valley Scotty" by Robert Carter is an excellent story as well as a brilliant piece of story-telling.It gives a very authentic feel to the setting, the US West between Death Valley and California, at the beginning of the 20th century. With great command of language and well researched historical details Carter transports us to the past with amazing ease.The story follows Walter Scott, or Death Valley Scotty, an actual real historic figure; a cowboy, trickster of sorts, entertainer and friend of Albert Mussey Johnson, a rich but disabled business man.'Scotty' happens upon a dead man with some gold on him and with a series of confidence tricks and high risks - plus the financial aid of Albert Johnson - he led a life of gaming and media manipulation that is truly unbelievable.Spinning the rumour mill he built himself a reputation as rich entrepreneur, and amongst other tricks he became a legend for convincing the locals that he had build the infamous Death Valley Castle in the Grapevine Canyon with the proceeds of his alleged gold wealth.The books sparks with great dialogue and more amusing tales about the life of Scott and Johnson, while adding true historic detail.Scenes in the court room, descriptions of life and travel in death valley before air conditioning, press culture are amongst many strong points of the book.The two main characters, Scott and Johnson, are an unlikely pair of friendsm and Carter does an excellent job at exploring their bond. One has the charisma, the other the money. Two men as different as night and day, from different worlds and with different visions - who shared a dream.This was a true find for me, an interesting read and good entertainment.