Review: 'Elmer Kelton's The Familiar Stranger' by Steve Kelton and John Bradshaw

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Today, I’m unpacking The Familiar Stranger, a posthumous collaboration by Steve Kelton and John Bradshaw, which marks the fifth entry in the "Hewey Calloway" series started by the late Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) in 1978 with The Good Old Boys. This series has seen a gradual evolution over the years, with The Smiling Country following in 1998 and Six Bits a Day in 2005. Elmer's son, Steve, wrote the fourth entry, The Unlikely Lawman, pub. in 2022. Tragically, Steve Kelton was in the midst of writing The Familiar Stranger ^[*] when he passed in March 2022, and his wife, Karen, entrusted John Bradshaw with completing the manuscript.

The plot revolves around Hewey Calloway, who intended to breeze through Durango, Colorado, on his way to a friend’s place northeast of the city. A year out from his home range with a herd of young horses, he expected a straightforward journey: deliver the horses, pocket the payment, and head home. However, fate plays a different hand, and a year later, Hewey finds himself still in Durango, sensing the pull to explore new territory rather than returning south.

It isn't long before his path leads him to a cabin amidst a biting rain. Inside, he encounters a sickly young man who desperately tries to shoo him away. This man, battling smallpox, ends up caring for Hewey when he himself contracts the disease. Just as Hewey starts feeling better, the young man vanishes, and the next morning, a Pinkerton detective arrives with a posse on the hunt for a wanted bank robber.

As Hewey heads north, he encounters both the ailing young man and the enigmatic detective, whose odd demeanor raises suspicions. When he reconnects with his friend Hanley, they become entangled in a complex web of mystery that puts their lives—and the young man’s—on the line.

At just 192 pages, The Familiar Stranger is a short read, yet I found myself grappling with a sense of disengagement that lingered throughout. The early chapters held promise, but rather than a cohesive narrative, it felt more like a collection of side stories strung together, as if trying to stretch a series of vignettes into a full tale. The shift in authorship is palpable, leaving the flow disjointed and uneven.

By the time the plot begins to knit itself together, about three-quarters of the way through, I had already lost much of my investment in the story. It’s as if several yarns were hastily stitched together to craft a single narrative. While not a terrible read, it certainly lands in the realm of boredom. Events unfold, yet I found myself indifferent to the outcome. I should note that I haven’t read The Unlikely Lawman by Steve Kelton, which I do own somewhere in my extensive collection. Interestingly, The Familiar Stranger ^[*] came to me via a chance find in the "new" books section at the library.

Overall, The Familiar Stranger ^[*] lacks a strong tonal cohesion, leaving me feeling disenchanted. If your expectations are low, you might extract some entertainment from it; for me, it was a lackluster experience—neither horrendous nor memorable, just comfortably mediocre. ╌★★½✰✰