Reilly's Luck

by Louis L'Amour

Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reilly-a gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years the each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the cities of Europe-until the day Reilly's luck ran out in a roar of gunfire. But it wasn't a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Will's fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would uncover, one that touched upon Val's nearly forgotten childhood, the woman who was Will Reilly's lost love, and the future of a growing country. In the meantime, Val would make sure no one forgot Will-least of all the men who killed him. But he need not have worried, for Will's enemies were now his own....

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Novels, Audiobook, 19th Century

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Val, we live in a harsh world. Always give yourself an edge, boy. You may never need it, but it saves a lot of worry. Learn to depend on yourself, and if you expect nothing from anybody else then you will never be disappointed." -- words of advice from the title character to his protege, on page 4

Decent L'Amour frontier tale was slightly marred by a bloated length - his brisk paperbacks typically run 150 to 160 pages, while this was 200+ - Reilly's Luck is not so much about gentleman gambler Will Reilly as it is about his young ward Valentine Durant. After being callously abandoned as a child by his mother one snowy night, Durant is raised by family acquaintance Reilly to be a strong, shrewd and decent young man. Moving through the 1880's like a sagebrush Forrest Gump - he has a few fleeting interactions with such real-life figures as outlaw William 'Billy the Kid' Bonney, lawman 'Wild Bill' Hickok, and early private eye Allan Pinkerton - Durant honorably attempts to track down a trio of shotgun-wielding desperadoes responsible for Reilly's shocking murder. After a solid opening the narrative falters a little when it becomes episodic in nature or vignette-based, but I liked that Durant is shown to attract good people in his orbit - such as the homesteading Bucklin family - because he himself is a virtuous (but certainly not naive) young adult, bringing a bit of class to a rough territory.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made my top 5 fiction books that I read in 2021, check it out!: https://youtu.be/H5FI-0nySwQ

After previously reading the relentlessly dark and pessimistic Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr., L’Amour’s ‘aw shucks, man raises orphan because it’s the right thing to do’ coming of age story has been the perfect panacea.

No, it’s not an epic like Lonesome Dove, and the prose is straightforward and unremarkable, but gosh darn this is a ripping yarn. A simple, pleasant, reassuring read; like an old pair of slippers.

It’s possible that I have some bias, as I love the American frontier time period, but this story is excellently paced, features compelling character work, and really captures the danger, excitement, and variability of the Old West.

The titular Reilly is a gambler. He’s also an accomplished gun fighter, gentleman, and ladies man. He’s handsome, strong, cagey, and despite being a bit gruff he has a heart of gold. If he sounds too perfect, don’t worry, L’Amour straightens that out quickly. The book begins with Reilly doing the noble work of raising Val, a child orphaned by an S-tier evil prostitute and dumped on him by a weak willed friend.

Val does his best to learn from Reilly and to help him get out of sticky situations. He learns to be an accomplished card shark, gun fighter, and serendipitous business man in his right. As the story develops it becomes Val’s show, and he’s a worthy actor. I won’t spoil much about the story but I’ll just say it has everything you’d want: love, loss, revenge, hijinks, and redemption.

Why did I like this book so much? Not only does it tell a slim and stimulating story, but it’s populated with great characters. There are at least 3 noteworthy villains, all with their own distinctive flair for wrongdoing. There are plenty of morally grey characters as well, although most do tend to lean the right way. Reilly and Val are both excellent protagonists and the people they cross paths with are not only interesting in their own right, but they add one of my favorite moral fibers to the story: you should be good to people, not for your own benefit, but rather to just feel good about helping, and don’t be surprised later on down the road if that good catches up with you. This sort of boomerang morality pops up several times in this story, and I love it.

Also, just as a bonus L’Amour gives us cameos from Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, and even name drops Doc Holliday.

I’ve had a hard time locating L’Amour books, but I could see myself reading many more of his books.

Story-9, Language-8, Ideas-8, Characters-9, Enjoyment-9, Overall-8.7

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books by Mr. L'Amour. I have read almost all of them but I keep coming back to this one over and over. I guess in many ways it is a coming of age story. Valentine "Val" Darrant is a boy of four years at the start of the story and it follows him into adulthood. There are the typical characters for a western the gamblers, cowboys and outlaws. There are mentions of some historical characters which is very much L'Amour style, The West was a wild place and Mr. L'Amour brings all the grit and color to his stories.

Val is raised by a man named Will Reilly. Will is mostly a gambler but as with so many men in the West he has done a number of jobs to make ends meet. Will educated himself through reading and observation and he passes that education on to Val. Will and Val travel the boom towns and cities of the West, the population centers of the East and parts of Europe. They fight Indians and outlaws and avoid as much trouble as they can.

Unfortunately the trip to Europe is the beginning of end for Will and it is left to Val to take down the men that take down his friend and mentor.

This is a quick read and I find it is hard to put down once I start, even though I have read the story a number of times. For those that love these types of stories I think you will like this one.

I love this story. I have read more than any of the other of Mr. L'Amour's . It is a very moving story and spans most of the life of Valentine Darrant. It is sad in places and happy in others. It is a story of vanity, ruthlessness, redemption and love. The only other books of Mr. L'Amour that I have read almost as offend is the Sackett stories. These were some of the first books I read by Mr. L'Amour and they have followed with me wherever I have traveled. I can't recommend this story highly enough.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had fond memories of this novel & should have kept them. Beau Bridges read the book. His gravelly voice was OK for some parts, but the women's voices were horrible & a couple of women had very important parts in the novel. Still, he was OK for the adult male parts & was acceptable for the boy's.

Unfortunately, the plot was full of convenience. OK, the end needed to be a convenient great meeting, but there were far too many others scattered throughout the story which skipped through time like a thrown stone. It could have used fleshing out in more than a few places. Instead, we're just told that "it was so" & usually that was the achievement of some skill that took a lot of practice, but there never seemed to be the time for it. Perfect heroes give me a pain, too.

For all the spare writing & speed of the story line, L'Amour managed to repeat himself endlessly on the attributes & motivations of the characters as if the repetition would make them more believable. Didn't work.

Overall, the story is a good one, but the execution just failed in this format & time.

[Eva-Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I aspire to write books like this.

While I didn't love everything about Reilly's Luck (the ending, in particular, felt a little too abrupt), it is still a grand and gripping adventure novel (set in the West, the East, and--briefly--in Europe), one filled with excellent characters. Will Reilly himself...I love him so much. An honest gambler doing his best to raise a kid suddenly left on his hands. Val, the main character, was also pretty good: a typical Louis L'Amour hero, but at times there was a loneliness and a vulnerability to him that felt unique (I was moved, I tell you).

I also really enjoyed the writing itself. There were many quotes I would have highlighted if I was the type of person who did that kind of thing. ;) Overall, Reilly's Luck is probably one of my top five favorite Louis L'Amour novels.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Louis L'Amour books. A gambler takes in an abandoned child and raises him in the old west. Eventually, Rielly, the gambler is ambushed and killed. The boy goes east, and gets an education, but eventually returns to the west, ultimately finding himself up against a formidable opponent--his birth mother, a ruthless womanh.

I don't go to Louis L'Amour for deep, world changing thought, but fun, adventure, and some history lessons on the old west. This is a title I go back to again and again and again.

[Brian Fagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the 8 or 9 L'Amours I've read over the years. He wrote Reilly's Luck in 1970. Will Reilly is a loner, like most L'Amour heroes. A friend comes to him asking an incredible favor - take this four year-old boy whose mother wanted him left out in the prairie to freeze. The boy actually remembers being around Will Reilly in the past:

"Val ... remember(ed) him, a tall, wide-shouldered young man ... He was a man who rarely smiled, but when he did his whole face seemed to light up. Val ... liked him. Maybe more than anybody, but he could not have said why that was so."

Reilly ends up raising Val as he travels throughout the country and even in Europe. Val grows up wanting to be just like his adopted father, and takes on his lonely lifestyle as well, perhaps the core conflict of the novel, an existential one:

"He felt a growing irritation with himself. He had a right to practice law, but he had done little of it, and then merely as an employee. He owned a part of a ranch which he would soon visit, but he had no taste for ranching. He had a good deal of experience with railroads and investments, but not enough to qualify him for the kind of a job he wanted, nor was he very interested in business. ... He liked the drifting, but it was no use. Beyond every trail there were only more trails, and no man could ride them all. He had known a few girls in passing, but had never been in love. Within himself he felt a vast longing, a yearning for something more ... he did not know what."

As a young man, Val becomes the protagonist of the story. I've noticed that in most of his books, L'Amour is obsessed with rubbing our faces in the goodness of his heroes. He was not a believer in complex or stained heroes, and I feel that is one of his shortcomings as a writer, although his sales would say otherwise.

The plot is excellent and compelling. I noticed similarities to the opera Carmen, and a striking similarity of L'Amour's woman antihero Myra to Steinbeck's Cathy Ames of East of Eden. I love L'Amour's evocation of the West and characters' relationships with it:

" ... this here country has a pull on a man. You get to looking at the mountains, and at the stretches of wide-open, empty land ... and it gets to you."

And "Tascosa was born of a river crossing. It thrived on trail herds; and died, strangled with barbed wire. Its life was brief and bloody, and when it died there were left behind only a few crumbling adobes, the ghosts of dead gunmen slain in its streets, and Frenchy McCormick, the once beautiful girl who had promised never to leave her gambler husband and who never did, even in death."

Bill Hickock and Billy the Kid put in brief cameos. The story builds to a climax in Denver, where Val has three separate enemies coming for him for different reasons.

[Kelly Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second book by Louis L'Amour, this was a terrific read. I research most of my choices pretty well and I expected this to be pretty good after reading Shalako last year. When it comes to my fiction reading, I wasn't really interested in the Western Genre. But I found out that my dad enjoyed reading old Western paperbacks in the last years of his life. I was never close to my dad, my parents divorced when I was six years old. So I had picked up Shalako in a bit of an effort to maybe connect with my dad. I can see from these first two books how he might have been interested in the self-reliant loners in the books.
The two main characters in Reilly's Luck, Will Reilly and Val Darrant, are both good men who look to do their best in the 'Wild West.' I understand L'Amour wrote a few series of books with some of the same characters. I would pick up in a minute another book about Will or Val.
The first half of the book would get a big '5 Stars.' The second half was enjoyable and kept me turning the pages, but not quite as great as the beginning. So overall, 4 to 4.5 Stars!

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to my database, this is the 104th Louis L'Amour book I've read. That's mostly novels but also counts several short story collections as well. And despite all that, this one ranks in my top 10, and quite possibly in my top 5 of all time. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got into classic westerns in the past year and surprise myself with my enjoyment for every page turned. This book is no exception. I truly loved all the characters, the plot, setting and adventures.

[Alyssa DeLeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really a 5 star book for me until the ending. I wanted more insight on pretty much every angle and I have to say…the titular character dying several pages in was kind of unexpected. But it worked for the story. In many ways this was a predecessor to The Lonesome Gods. I liked Val, but he had the typical L’Amour “slightly too perfect” aura. Capacious and smooth under pressure, unless the plot calls for him to get shot (not fatally, OF COURSE.) But isn’t that why I love L’Amour? Predictable, 6 foot in their stocking feet, and lovers of the poets. What would a L’Amour book be without those identical cowboy-boxer-academic boys?

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

i done reckon this a good read for my first western 🫡 really quick pacing but not a bad adventure at all

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Louis L'Amour page turned with multiple storylines to keep this old wild west thriller moving. From page one I was unable to accurately guess where the story was heading next; were the protagonists going to prevail? ...or even survive!
Crooked wild west gunplay and revolting matters of the heart pitted the good guys and gals against the bad guys and gals -- alternately winning and losing. I didn't know how the story was going to end until it ended. L'Amour's prose paints a vivid picture of the Colorado and Montana wild west that even includes appearances of Bily the Kid and Wild Bill Hicock.

[John Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm biased about Louis L'Amour, so take my review with a grain of salt, but I love everything about his stories. They're easy and predictable and they're romantic and reassuring. You know who the good guy is and you know he's gonna triumph in the end. But he also creates a rich world that you can get into and pretend you're in this rose tinted wild west where there's hope and good feels all around even when the situation seems bleak. I grew up reading these western fairy tales, and this has always been a favorite of mine.

[Nancy Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started my love affair with Louis L'Amour westerns. I received this book as a Christmas present from my grandmother when I was in junior high. This was the perfect story for me to start with, Val was abandoned with Will Reilly when he was 4 years old. The education that he received from Will set him up to be well rounded and successful in life. Love this story and I highly recommend L'Amour's westerns to anyone who enjoys morality tales with horses, cows, gunfights, and poker.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the age of four Val Durrant is abandoned by his mother in a strange Western town in the middle of a blizzard. He is taken in by a gambler named Will Reilly who raises him. When Reilly is brutally murdered by several men, Val tracks down the killers and then begins a new life in the East where he gets rich. When a Eastern doctor tells him that he is dying, he returns West to die in solitude but circumstances intervene.

[Scott Lyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The library was dimly lit, which irritated him. One cannot make a dramatic entrance into a darkened room. He was announced, and he strode in.

[Tyler Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's easy to pick apart the weaknesses in a book like this. I mean for one thing L'amour does not know how to write a four-year-old character, he talks and thinks more like a fourteen-year-old. And the pace was sometimes blurry, hard not to be when you're writing a two-generation epic tale in 200 pages. But whatever, this was fun. The characters were likeable, with some historical figures thrown in for added interest. Easy read, good story.

[Rebecca Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. A bit of everything...the old west, famous people, strong male and female characters, adventure to the max, and lots of emotion. I can now add this book to my list of L'Amour favorites... the Sackett books, Last of the Breed, The Walking Drum.

[Andrew Troske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read many times. Will probably do so again.

[Scott Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not deep, but not shallow either. The "mom as the villain" plot worked well; and she did well in that role. Pleasant quick easy read.

[Anna Richey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining and quick read!

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I began reading this book, when Reilly had Val handed to him, and asked to take care of him” Reilly didn’t struggle much to take him in. I immediately began to like Reilly as a character, and t was so sad to see him pass😞.

Val and Reilly grew closer, Reilly taught him more about functioning as an adult for when he became one. But like all the greats! Reilly was gone too, Val learned too survive on his own and continued on by himself. Until complications with his mother arose.

This was a really solid read and I loved every second of it, a great story of a boy who went through a hard life but persevered and continued to grow. Solid 5 stars.

[Madelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never having read a Louis L'Amour book before, I thought I would try this one I found in an antique store. I do love westerns although I seldom read them. This was well written, kept the pages turning, had more twists and turns than I could have imagined and a satisfying ending. Val Durrant was just four years old when he was abandoned on a cold snowy night. He was rescued by Will Reilly, a gentleman, a gambler and the best rifle shot in the West, who then educated Val about everything he needed in life to take care of himself. You take it from there.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

LA has penned a western that crosses many years of the west. It begins with a woman telling her friend to lose her son in the snow. The man takes him to a friend and they abandon the child the next day. The young boy grew up in normal environments except when it came to gambling. The father figure is murdered and the boy goes on his own. He has the ability to survive and survive he does. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[Kc7dna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of L'Amour's best.

Very engaging story line that follows the growth and development of a young man. Hated and abandoned by his scheming mother, he is rescued and raised by an intelligent and highly respected gambler. When the gambler is murdered by a trio hired by a vengeful prince, the young man is left alone to face the world. He ultimately makes good, gets the beautiful girl, and kills his friends' murderers.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reilly's Luck was a good read. It had a character to draw the reader in. The plot was inciting, even if you could tell what was going to happen. This is the first western book that I have read, and I think I will read a few more in the future. :)

[David Colwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book (4 stars is actually a bit high, but 3 wasn't enough, so I rounded up). It covers a long period of time (20+ years in this case) which is a thing I like in a book. The funny thing is that the main character is NOT Reilly (he's Val), and I'm not real sure where the "luck" comes from other than that Reilly made his living essenially by gambling. The book starts with Val when he was just 6 years old. Reilly, who is no actual relation, ends up with the boy and raises him as his nephew. This book is possibly unique in the Louis L'Amour panteon in that some bit of the story takes place in Europe. I know some other books that start in either Ireland or England, and then come to America, but this one start in America, then there's a bit in Europe, and then they come back to America. Val (which is actually short for Valentine) eventually "leaves" his so-called uncle and takes off on his own. In the end he gets the girl (as usual for a L'Amour book).
I though the book went along pretty well for about half, mabye three quarters, but then sort of rushed to the end. He does some name dropping by including the characters of Bill Hickok and Billy the Kid in small cameo roles. A lot of it, maybe more than some times, seems to take place in town, or maybe it's just that the author doesn't use as much time describing the surroundings as sometimes.
I would likely read this again, if simply for the span-of-time aspect.

[wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished 23rd march 2025 good read four stars i really liked it kindle library loaner and this is one of what they call "lost treasures"...the story of which must be an interesting one...as "manuscripts" and "family of" are words used to describe in not much detail their origin. maybe they'd not been published during l'amour's life which would make them all the more interesting as the story is a good one. thought i'd read something to the tune of 'not is normal fare' not in those words but that was the gist of it.

anyway, really liked it...story of a four-year-old boy abandoned by his whore mother...and the following many years, couple decades worth, following his survival due to an unwillingness on the behalf of a man commanded by his mother to get rid of him. story travels to europe for a time, back to the american west and includes the realistic characterization of a truly evil women successful in business, ruthless, and one ca easily make an analogy to characters in the news of today. or i'm sure, to characters alive when l'amour was writing.

and you do not get a fanciful poke in the eye from some now-famous writer with a passion for whatever fashionable ideology he or she holds dear. you get a story and that should satisfy any reader.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A five year old boy is taken by his mother's current beau to be abandoned in the wilderness to die. But despite being down on his luck and a drunkard, the man cannot bring himself to simply kill the child so he leaves little Valentine Darrant at a friend's place, for the night. Reilly is the man, a gambler and a gunslinger, a man both feared and admired. When the woman and man pull out before Reilly rises the next day, he's not surprised. But the boy is lucky for Reilly and he comes to like the child.

For years, Val grows up under the rough, but caring tutelage of this man, learning cards, guns, people, wisdom, and life. Then a decade later, he's suddenly and violently alone, and must face the world too young but well-raised.

This is a pretty solid L'Amour outing, one of his better stories. A later tale, it is less linear and direct than most, wandering slightly just as the character wanders, from the Alps to New York City to New Orleans, Denver, New Mexico and more. It weaves a wide band of tales and characters to a finale which if not quite as satisfying as some of L'Amour's writings, is different and interesting.