Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 19, 1993                   TAG: 9309190212
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: F-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by MARY ANN JOHNSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ON THE TRAIL WITH CALL, BUT MISSING GUS A LOT

In "Streets of Laredo" Larry McMurtry takes us on another unforgettable trail ride with Captain Woodrow Call.

Like the earlier ride with Call and the Hat Creek Outfit in "Lonesome Dove," this one, along the wild dusty and dangerous Rio Grande, is filled with hardships and mishaps, men of courage and men of evil, brave women of undaunted loyalty and the unvarnished truths of an untamed land and passing time.

The taciturn Call is still stern when he speaks and even more stern when he doesn't, but he realizes, as he tracks the young Mexican bandit, Joey Garza, that arthritis and fading eyesight are more of a threat than ruthless Joey or even the psychotic Mox Mox, who burns people alive.

Twenty years have passed since the cattle drive to Montana, and Call has become more philosophical. He recognizes that the adventure of exploring the West is over and that men like himself do not fit into the settling of it. He hears echoes from the past and becomes attuned to changes in the land and in the people around him.

Lorena is back, recovered from her abuse at the hands of Blue Duck and now married to Pea Eye. Other characters from "Lonesome Dove" reappear, and new ones replace those who were lost.

Brookshire, a Brooklyn accountant for the railroad that hires Call, is "so green it is painful to see," and the image of him in ill-fitting new Western clothes tagging along with his ledger books provides both humor and pathos. Maria, the gritty Mexican woman who is Joey's mother, becomes, by twists of irony, a central figure in the book's conclusion.

Many other distinctive characters people the novel, but the problem is that there is no Augustus McCrae. His sharp tongue, his humor, his philosophy and his honest heart gave special spark to "Lonesome Dove." Replacing him might prove impossible, and McMurtry sensibly does not even try.

Given another chance to ride into the Wild West with any of McMurtry's characters, I would mount up in a minute. He sets a forward pace that may switch from jog to gallop in a single sentence, and he captures the West as no other writer has.

But I miss Gus.

Mary Ann Johnson teaches at Roanoke College.

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