21 JULY 1923, Page 20

Alcatraz. By Max Brand. (Putnam. 7s. 6d.)

Alcatraz is the story of a horse. Not a gentle, trustworthy horse like Black Beauty, but a ferocious, man-killing creature of the prairie. His reluctance to be tamed is more under-. standable than the yearnings of the cowboys to tame him ; even the inducement that Marianne Jordan, the wealthy rancheress, " goes with " the horse scarcely explains their zeal. The narrative is vigorous and exciting, however, and if real horses have a tithe of the intelligence credited to Alcatraz a good film might be made of the book.