Briefly

LORDS OF THE EARTH
By Patrick Anderson
B.I Publication
1986

A TEXAN, living a quiet life, feels the stirrings of greatness in him leaving his good but unglamorous wife and two sons he goes to stake his fortune in an oil-boom town bristling with men who would kill and climb for the black gold. Somewhat expectedly our hero strikes it rich and soon becomes a smart, suave and handsome (what else!) oil tycoon. He encounters a fierce, green-eyed beauty whom he has desired for years and marries her (having of course conveniently got rid of his previous family).

The generation changes. One of our oil tycoon’s sons is after his father’s heart, tall and manly. He soon dies in the war. The other son is just a nice human being. Constantly under his father’s shadow he takes to drink and wrecks his marriage with a pretty but middle class girl who has borne him a son.

Enter the grandson of our original hero. This boy has grown in adversity. He has the sensitivity of his father and the spirit of his grandfather. The grandfather hates him but cannot deny that the boy has what it takes. The inevitable confrontation follows… all linked up to the Kennedy assassination.

A story which has been worn thin. This is just another of those heavy paperbacks which weigh down the bookstands until somebody reckless enough to pick them up comes along. It can only be recommended, if at all, for an extremely boring train journey.