The Sacketts is a series of Western novels written by American author Louis L’Amour. “Sackett’s Land” is the first novel that introduces the series. It was published in 1974 and became an instant success. The novels follow members of the Sacketts, an American pioneer family. They live a vibrant life full of adventure and spirit on the American frontier. The family faces the undiscovered wild places, as they ride westward with strong autonomy, carefreeness, and lust for life. Each novel in the series is a stand-alone story about a member of the Sackett family. They are thrust into an epic adventure with stronger opponents and difficulties but succeed by adhering to the Sacket family’s strong tradition of never surrendering.
The first novel in the series, “Sackett’s Land,” introduces Barnabas Sackett. He is the patriarch of the Sackett family in England. Barnabas discovers old Roman coins and sells them to an antique dealer, when things turn sour and he has to escape the country and flee to the United States, where he jumps from one journey to the next. His adventures bring him into contact with a diverse cast of characters. They range from shady traders, pirates, and moors, to native chieftains. Despite numerous failures, he continues to grow, always finding a way to overcome it all. The book exemplifies Louis’s excellent storytelling abilities, which have earned him prestigious awards.
Sackett Books in order
The Sacketts
- The Daybreakers (1960)
- Sackett (1961)
- Lando (1962)
- Mojave Crossing (1964)
- The Sackett Brand (1965)
- Mustang Man (1966)
- The Sky-Liners (1967)
- The Lonely Men (1969)
- Galloway (1970)
- Ride the Dark Trail (1972)
- Treasure Mountain (1972)
- War Party (1973)
- Sackett’s Land (1974)
- To the Far Blue Mountains (1976)
- Lonely on the Mountain (1980)
- Ride the River (1983)
- The Warrior’s Path (1984)
- Jubal Sackett (1985)
- End of the Drive (1997)
Similar authors
- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey tells the story of Jane Withersteen. She is persecuted by members of her polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church. Elder Tull, a church leader, wishes to marry her.
- Frontera by Jack Schaefer follows Shane, a mysterious gunslinger. He enters Joe Starrett’s and his family’s lives and finds a spot for himself in their hearts.
See also: Larry McMurtry Books in Order.
Most recommended books
- Sackett (4.23 Goodreads score)
- Jubal Sackett (4.22 Goodreads score)
- The Daybreakers (4.21 Goodreads score)
- The Sackett Brand (4.21 Goodreads score)
- To the Far Blue Mountains (4.17 Goodreads score)
Movies based on the series
In 1979, the sixth novel, “The Daybreakers,” and the eighth novel, “Sacketts,” were adapted into a TV series Sacketts.
Latest releases
The latest book in the series is called End of the Drive. It was released on May 5th, 1997.
Book summaries
The Daybreakers (1960)
Tyrel Sackett was born into trouble but vowed to justice. After having to kill a man in Tennessee, he hit the trail west with his brother Orrin. Those were the years when decent men and women lived in fear of Indians, rustlers, and killers, but the Sackett brothers worked to make the West a place where people could raise their children in peace. Orrin brought law and order from Santa Fe to Montana, and his brother Tye backed him up every step of the way. Till the day the job was done, Tye Sackett was the fastest gun alive.
Sackett (1961)
William Tell Sackett had followed a different path from his younger brothers, but his name, like theirs, was spoken with respect and just a little fear. Where Orrin had brought law and order from New Mexico to the plains of Montana, backed up by the gunfighting talents of his brother Tye, Tell Sackett’s destiny drew him to Texas after he had to kill a man. There, in the high, lonesome country, he came upon a vein of pure gold. All he’d wanted was enough to buy a ranch, but he soon learned that gold had ways of its own with men.
Lando (1962)
For six long years, Orlando Sackett survived the horrors of a brutal Mexican prison. He survived by using his skills as a boxer and by making three vows. The first was to exact revenge on the hired killers who framed him. The second was to return to his father. And the third was to find Gin Locklear. But the world has changed a lot since Lando left it. His father is missing. The woman he loves is married. And the killers want him dead. Hardened physically and emotionally, Lando must begin an epic journey to resolve his past, even if it costs him his life.
Mojave Crossing (1964)
Tell Sackett was no ladies’ man, but he could spot trouble easily enough. And Dorinda Robiseau was the kind of trouble he wanted to avoid at any time—even more so when he had thirty pounds of gold in his saddlebags and a long way to travel. But when she begged him for safe passage to Los Angeles, Sackett reluctantly agreed. Now he’s on a perilous journey through the most brutal desert on the continent, traveling with a companion he doesn’t trust . . . and headed for a confrontation with a deadly gunman who also bears the name of Sackett.
The Sackett Brand (1965)
Tell Sackett and his bride, Ange, came to Arizona to build a home and start a family. But on Black Mesa, something goes terribly wrong. Tell is ambushed and badly injured. When he finally manages to drag himself back to where he left Ange, she is gone. Desperate, cold, hungry, and with no way to defend himself, Tell is stalked like a wounded animal. Hiding from his attackers, his rage and frustration mounting, he tries to figure out who the men are, why they are trying to kill him, and what has happened to his wife. Discovering the truth will be risky. And when he finally does, it will be their turn to run.
Mustang Man (1966)
When Nolan Sackett met Penelope Hume in a cantina at Borregos Plaza, the girl immediately captured his attention. That she was heir to a lost cache of gold didn’t make her any less desirable. But Penelope isn’t the only one after her grandfather’s treasure; Sylvie, Ralph, and Andrew Karnes, distant relatives with no legal claim to the gold, are obsessed with claiming the Hume fortune for themselves. Their all-consuming sense of entitlement recklessly drives them to ambush and murder. Even if Sackett and Penelope are fortunate enough to escape this deadly trio and find the canyon where the gold is hidden, Indian legend has it that nothing will live there—no birds or insects. They say it is filled with the bones of men.
The Sky-Liners (1967)
In The Sky-Liners, Louis L’Amour introduces Flagan and Galloway Sackett, heading west from Tennessee to seek their fortunes. That’s when they came across an old Irish trader who offered them two fine horses if they would agree to escort his granddaughter, Judith, to her father in Colorado. Flagan saw nothing but trouble in the fiery young woman, but they needed the horses. Unfortunately, Flagan was right, for Judith had fallen for James Black Fetchen, a charismatic gunman whose courtship hid the darkest of intentions. Now Fetchen and his gang are racing the Sackett brothers to Colorado—leaving behind a trail of betrayal, robbery, and murder. Flagan and Galloway can only guess why Judith is so important to Fetchen and what awaits them at her father’s ranch. One thing Flagan knows for sure: The tough and spirited woman has won his heart. But can he trust her with his life?
The Lonely Men (1969)
Tell Sackett had fought his share of Indians and managed to take something of value from his battles: a deep and abiding respect. But that respect is lost when Apache braves kidnap his nephew, forcing Tell to cross the border into the Sierra Madres to bring the boy back. What troubles Tell more, though, is the boy’s mother: Could she possibly be inventing a rescue mission to deliver her husband’s brother into an ambush? Tell knows that the only things he can depend on are his wits and cold steel. But against such adversaries, even these formidable weapons may not be enough.
Galloway (1970)
Trouble was following Flagan Sackett with a vengeance. Captured and tortured by a band of Apaches, he escaped into the rugged San Juan country, where he managed to stay alive until his brother Galloway could find him. But the brothers were about to encounter worse trouble ahead. Their plan to establish a ranch angered the Dunn clan, who had decided that the vast range would be theirs alone. Now Galloway and Flagan would face an enemy who killed for sport—but as long as other Sacketts lived, they would not fight alone.
Ride the Dark Trail (1972)
Logan Sackett is wild and rootless, riding west in search of easy living. Then he meets Emily Talon, a fiery old widow who is even wilder than he is. Tall and lean, Em is determined to defend herself against the jealous locals who are trying to take her home. Logan doesn’t want to get involved—until he finds out that Em was born a Sackett. Em is bucking overwhelming odds, but Logan won’t let her stand alone. For even the rebellious drifter knows that part of being a Sackett is backing up your family when they need you.
Treasure Mountain (1972)
Orrin and Tell Sackett had come to exotic New Orleans looking for answers to their father’s disappearance twenty years before. To uncover the truth, the brothers enlisted the aid of a trailwise Gypsy and a mysterious voodoo priest as they sought to re-create their father’s last trek. But Louisiana is a dangerous land, and with one misstep the brothers could disappear in the bayous before they even set foot on the trail—a trail that led to whatever legacy their father had left behind . . . and a secret worth killing for.
War Party (1973)
Bud Miles was a boy when he crossed the Mississippi. But Bud buried his father after an Indian attack, and as the wagon train pushed on through Sioux country, the boy stood as tall as any man. . . . Tell Sackett killed cougars at fourteen and fought a war at fifteen. Now Tell was hauling dangerous freight—a soldier’s wife and a fortune in gold—knowing that someone wanted him dead. . . . Laurie Bonnet was a mail-order bride who thought she was a failure on the frontier. But when the chips were down, she was the only one who could save her husband’s life. . . .
Sackett’s Land (1974)
After discovering six gold Roman coins buried in the mud of the Devil’s Dyke, Barnabas Sackett enthusiastically invests in goods that he will offer for trade in America. But Sackett has a powerful enemy: Rupert Genester, the nephew of an earl, wants him dead. A battlefield promise made to Sackett’s father threatens Genester’s inheritance. So on the eve of his departure for America, Sackett is attacked and thrown into the hold of a pirate ship. Genester’s orders are for him to disappear into the waters of the Atlantic. But after managing to escape, Sackett makes his way to the Carolina coast. He sees in the raw, abundant land the promise of a bright future. But before that dream can be realized, he must first return to England and discover the secret of his father’s legacy.
To the Far Blue Mountains (1976)
Barnabas Sackett was leaving England to make his fortune in the New World. But as he settled his affairs, he learned that a royal warrant had been sworn out against him and that men were searching for him in every port. At issue were some rare gold coins Sackett had sold to finance his first trip to the Americas—coins believed to be part of a great treasure lost by King John years before. Believing that Sackett possesses the rest of the treasure, Queen Bess will stop at nothing to find him. If he’s caught, not only will his dream of a life in America be lost, but he will be brutally tortured and put to death on the gallows.
Lonely on the Mountain (1980)
Matthew Brennan was a big man, more suited to wrestling bears than sitting a horse. He lived in a valley they called Paradise, with his young, beautiful, dark-haired, fiery wife of Spanish and Irish descent and their young son. High mountains, with only one entrance, surrounded the valley, and that entrance was a small cave with natural hot springs that supplied the valley with water. Water ran in two directions from the cave, one small stream flowed to the outside world while the other flowed down the center of the first valley to the lake situated against the mountains, where the second leg of the valley branched north. The single-entrance cave was guarded by Bitty, an old man’s best friend and possibly the largest female grizzly bear in existence. You didn’t come calling on the Brennans. As a matter of fact, the entrance to the valley was a well-guarded secret, shared only by the few residents that occupied this paradise. One of those residents was a Cheyenne war chief with an Indian name no one could pronounce. But the literal translation in English would have been Rogue, and that was the handle Brennan hung on his good friend. Brennan had discovered the beautiful valley quite by accident. While wounded and running from those who had shot him, his Appaloosa horse Sob had stumbled through a blizzard to deposit his rider on the soft sand floor of a warm cave, somewhere in Northwestern Colorado. Matthew Brennan was found there by Val, the old self-appointed guardian of the valley, and nursed back to health.
Ride the River (1983)
Alone in the big city, a fierce young frontierswoman must outsmart a dangerous con man before she can stake her claim to the family fortune. Sixteen-year-old Echo Sackett has never been far from her Tennessee home—until she makes the long trek to Philadelphia to collect her inheritance. In the wilderness, Echo can take care of herself as well as any man, but she never imagined the challenge that awaits: a crooked city lawyer who intends to take advantage of her by any means necessary. Echo will need all of her wits to best this scoundrel and make it back home in one piece.
The Warrior’s Path (1984)
When Yance Sackett’s sister-in-law is kidnapped, he and Kin race north from Carolina to find her. They arrive at a superstitious town rife with rumors—and learn that someone very powerful was behind Diana’s disappearance. To bring the culprit to justice, one brother must sail to the exotic West Indies. There, among pirates, cutthroats, and ruthless “businessmen,” he will apply the skills he learned as a frontiersman to an unfamiliar world—a world where one false move means instant death.
Jubal Sackett (1985)
Jubal Sackett’s urge to explore drove him westward, and when a Natchez priest asks him to undertake a nearly impossible quest, Sackett ventures into the endless grassy plains the Indians call the Far Seeing Lands. He seeks a Natchez exploration party and its leader, Itchakomi. It is she who will rule her people when their aging chief dies, but first, she must vanquish her rival, the arrogant warrior Kapata. Sackett’s quest will bring him danger from an implacable enemy . . . and show him a life—and a woman—worth dying for.
End of the Drive (1997)
A veteran trail driver, who has survived thundering stampedes and Comanche raids, discovers there’s nothing so dangerous as courting a beautiful woman. A brutally beaten homesteader crawls off to die—only to stumble upon an ancient talisman that restores his will to live. A mysterious preacher rides into town to deliver a warning that leads to a surprising revelation. And in the full-length novella Rustler Roundup, the hardworking citizens of a law-abiding town are pushed to the edge as rumors of rustlers in their midst threaten to turn neighbor against neighbor. This treasure trove of stories captures the grit, grandeur, and glory of the men and women who wielded pistol and plow, Bible and branding iron, to tame a wild country. Each of these unforgettable tales bears the master’s touch—comic twists, stark realism, crackling suspense—all the elements that have made Louis L’Amour an American legend.
