Ugh. I doubt the author knew what co-dependence was, but this is a perfect example - a weak man and the friend who let him continue the totally wrong direction. Happy ending, but it took lies, or at least silence, to obtain it. Nice images of the wildlife (as usual), but the story is quite unpleasant. Jimmy never manages to redeem himself the way Helen(?) does - well, he dies too soon. Ok, but my least favorite of Stratton-Porter's books so far. ( )

"Romance" has changed a great deal in nearly a hundred years. Brilliant but drunken Jimmie Malone has cheated his friend Dannie Macnoun in nearly every way imaginable, up to and including persuading the woman Dannie loves to marry Jimmy instead; while Dannie never loses faith in his chum despite abundant reasons to do so. The result is a relationship that even the kindest reader can only label as dysfunctional in the extreme. While this sort of "hurt/comfort" story can have its appeal, modern readers are likely to want to send Jimmie to an AA meeting and Dannie and his love Mary to assertiveness training. ( )