Product Description

After U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack is forced down in Russia and later escapes from a Soviet prison camp, he calls upon the skills of his Sioux Indian forebears to evade Alekhin, the Yakut native and legendary tracker, on his trail.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19547 in Books
• Published on: 1987-06-01
• Released on: 1987-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553280425
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Readers of L'Amour's Westerns and his recent medieval saga The Walking Drum will not be disappointed by this contemporary epic. Proving that he is above all a great raconteur, the prolific L'Amour sets his latest in Siberia where a downed American test pilot, Joseph "Joe Mack" Makatozi, has been taken after his capture by the Russians. Part Sioux, Joe Mack escapes prison only to face the seemingly impossible odds of getting across Siberia to the Bering Strait, where like his ancestors, he can cross into North America. Joe Mack is a classic American hero, thrown back into the wilderness and forced to rely on his wits and his ancestral skills to survive the deadly cold and elude his Soviet pursuers, including his nemesis, a Siberian tracker. L'Amour brings the same colorful realism to this sweeping adventure that has made his Westerns so beloved. 350,000 copy first printing; Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Once again demonstrating his versatility, the prolific L'Amour has written a contemporary adventure novel set in the "Wild East" of Siberia. U.S. Air Force Major Joseph Makatozi"Joe Mack"is shot down by the Russians, who intend to wring secret information from him before executing him. The catch in their plans is that Rambo-like Joe Mack is part Sioux, part Cheyenne, and a nearly Olympic-caliber athlete. Still, it takes all his native skills and endurance to survive and overcome Soviet Colonel Arkady Zamatev and his Yakut henchman Alekhin as they track the American across the Siberian wilderness. L'Amour's latest novel will be requested in most public libraries. Literary Guild main selection. William C. McCully, Park Ridge P.L., Ill.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
Here is the kind of authentically detailed epic novel that has become Louis L'Amour's hallmark. It is the compelling story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness. Only one route lies open to Mack: the path of his ancestors, overland to the Bering Strait and across the sea to America. But in pursuit is a legendary tracker, the Yakut native Alekhin, who knows every square foot of the icy frontier -- and who knows that to trap his quarry he must think like a Sioux.

Customer Reviews

Not typical Louis L'Amour

The late Louis L'Amour wrote mostly Westerns--specifically about the 'Old West'--for which he is justly famous. I may have read them all, but I hope not. I hope there are a few more out there, somewhere.

This book, however, is different. This is the kind of authentically detailed story that is his hallmark, but it is more modern. It is about U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, whose forbears were Sioux Indian. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in the USSR, he is captured, and no one but he and his captors know he is a prisoner. He escapes a prison camp, and is forced to survive the Siberian wilderness in an effort to make it to the Bering Strait, which he will have to cross to get back home. He is pursued relentlessly by a Yakut scout who knows the land intimately. Joe Mack must think like a Sioux to escape.

Louis Dearborn L'Amour (originally Lamoore) lived the lives that he portrayed. He was a roustabout, merchant seaman, boxer, cowboy, logger, miner, and an army officer during WWII in tank destroyers. He was shipwrecked in the West Indies, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, and circled the earth on merchant ships. He wrote a hundred books, and had more million copy best-sellers than any other author. I was personally desolated by his death. What a glorious man! He was a true troubadour in the original sense.

Joseph H. Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity

One of my all time favourite books
Louis L'Amour has never been one of my favourite authors because most of his books are Westerns but "Last of the Breed" is an exception to my rule simply because it isn't a Western. This is a brilliant novel that is both suspenseful and creative and it is a real shame that a sequel was never done.

Set during the hostilities between the Soviet Union and the USA Joseph "Joe Mack" Makatozi is a man trapped in enemy territory. He is a downed test Pilot who has been captured by the Russians and is seemingly at their mercy in the inhospitable landscape called Siberia; the only inhabited cold Hell in existence.

However Joe Mack isn't your ordinary test pilot. He is part Sioux and in his blood is the will to survive a savage land that was once home to his ancestors. He escapes his prison with the goal of crossing Siberia and making his way across the Bering Straits and into America, something that has not been done by modern man.

Joe Mack finds himself slowly merging with the wilderness, forced to rely on his ancestral abilities to survive the killing cold and elude the constant danger of his determined Soviet pursuers, including a man who is to become his nemesis, a Siberian Native Yakut tracker called Alekhin who knows that in order to trap his quarry he must think and act like a Sioux.

As we follow Joe Mack across the deadly landscape we become aware that he is changing, he is becoming what his ancestors once were thousands of years ago, trackers, hunters, killers, but ultimately survivors.

It is a slow transformation, and along the way we watch him struggle to hold onto his humanity, finding love in the guise of a woman who helps him and a fragile but brief friendship with a crippled furrier but all the time he is in the cruel wilderness Joe Mack is changing into something that can never revert back to what it once was.

He hungers for revenge against Alekhin and the jovial but brutal Soviet Commander who imprisoned him and the book ends on an eerie haunting note when the Soviet Commander receives the scalp of Alekhin and a gentle warning from the wilderness that he will be next...

This is a truly magnificent book about a man's ability to transcend his environment and upbringing and descend into savagery in order to survive.

Once you start reading this book you won't be able to put it down, this is no run of the mill pot boiler about the noble savage. There nothing remotely noble about Joe Mack, but you find yourself admiring him for his ability to survive against all the odds.

A very descriptive novel with lots of action
Loius L'Amour's book, "Last of the Breed" is one of his more longer novels, but it is also one of his better novels. The story follows U.S. air force test pilot Joe Mack as he gets forced down over Russia in the 1980's. He is sent to a prison camp to be interrogated, but he escapes before Colonel Zamatev, who is in charge of the prison, can interrogate him. The Soviets think they can easily capture the American, but they soon find out that is is a Souix indian knows how to live off the land.
The story follows Joe Mack as he travels thousands of miles from central Russia to the Bering Strait. Along the way, Joe must hunt game with the bow he made, and use the animal furs to make clothing to survive the cold. He must do all this while also watching his back for the soldiers who are following him trying to recapture him. Besides the soldiers, there is also a Yakut named Alekhin who is an expert tracker, and who follows him throughout the story.
As Joe covers mile after mile, he becomes more and more like his Souix ancestors. Joe comes to realize that he was born out of time, and that he belongs 200 years earlier with the rest of the Souix people.
"Last of the Breed" is so well written that you feel like you are actually wading though the snow in Siberia with Joe as you read the book. By reading the book you learn about how Indians survived in cold weather, how they hunted game, and how they survived. The whole story is not just about Joe. The book follows a man and his daughter that Joe meets who are trying to escape from Russia. The book paints a good picture of what life was like in Communist Russia.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Loius L'Amour books, or anyone who likes a good adventure novel. This book has plenty of suprises and a very intriging ending that will keep you thinking.