The strength of L'Amour's fiction lies in its action, its use of detail, and its description. Hondo begins tensely with a group of Apaches tracking Hondo.

L'Amour increases the tension by writing short, bare sentences. The typical pattern of a L'Amour plot is a building of tension to an action-packed, violent encounter which resolves the tension and then a new build-up of tension every three or four pages.

L'Amour is also known for packing his novels with factual detail, in Hondo's case with information about the desert, Indians, ranching and weather.

These details are interesting, and they also validate the moral pronouncements of the narrator. If the narrator knows so much about life on the frontier, then he must also know much about life in general.

Perhaps L'Amour's greatest power as a novelist lies in his evocation of scene.

He describes the Arizona desert as a land of...