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Appaloosa

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About this listen

 A richly imagined novel of the Old West, as spare and vivid as a high plains sunset, from one of the world's most talented performers.

It was a long time ago, now, and there were many gunfights to follow, but I remember as well as I remember anything the first time I saw Virgil Cole shoot. Time slowed down for him. Always steady, and never fast . . .

When it comes to writing, Robert B. Parker knows no boundaries. From the iconic Spenser detective series and the novels featuring Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone, to the groundbreaking historical novel Double Play, Parker's imagination has taken readers from Boston to Brooklyn and back again. In Appaloosa, fans are taken on another trip, to the untamed territories of the West during the 1800s.

When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary-one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.

This is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best.©2005 Robert B. Parker; (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc. Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Fiction Suspense

Critic reviews

Praise for Appaloosa

“Like the Spenser books, it’s a study of Parker’s enduring themes: buddy relationships, the weight that honor and responsibility put on a man, the consequences of violence, the way good can shade into bad and vice versa…a melancholy and sometimes moving tale of a lost but fascinating era.”—The Seattle Times

“Dryly amusing…a conclusion that had to make Parker smile as much as his readers will.”—Los Angles Times

“[Parker] takes total command of the genre, telling a galloping tale…[a] classic western… magnificent. As always, the writing is bone clean. One of Parker’s finest.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“For…readers with a hankering for the Wild West, including a high-noon shootout and all the accoutrements.”—USA Today

“Beneath the trappings of this gunfighter novel, Parker really has something to say about the nature of men and women in the Old West. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal

“As always, [Parker] is a master…his plot gallops to a perfect, almost mythical ending. Like a great gunfighter, Parker makes it look easy.”—St. Petersburg Times

“If Spenser and Hawk had been around when the West was wild, they’d have talked like Cole and Hitch. Wonderful stuff: notch 51 for Parker.”—Kirkus Reviews
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This story is one of the best westerns ever. The narrator was perfect for the story. Now I'm gonna have to download the next book in the series.

Brilliant western

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Awesome narration by Titus Welliver but I found the story a bit simplistic, opting for loads of descriptive prose over depth of story. I also found the characters rather two-dimensional. I don't think I will continue with this series.

Disappointing story but first class narration

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This story grabs you from the very start. The two main protagonists engage in quirky monosyllabic conversations, which are delivered excellently by a superb narrration. It is a buddy story about two lawmen who have their own rules they live by. The story bowls along at a good pace, with outlaws, shoot outs, indians and everything else you want in a wild west story.
I highly recommend this to all those who love a good story.

mean and moody

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If you wish to start a western thid Is a great introduction.
it's a classic.

A classic Western

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In 1882 the small town of Appaloosa in New Mexico hire two lawmen Virgil Cole and his deputy Everitt Hitch to tame a town being terrorized by a local rancher and his gunmen. The narrator brings the Old West to life with an excellent atmospheric reading of the action. Some may remember the 2008 Hollywood film starring Ed Harris and Vigo Mortensen . Well worth a listen although short it is the unabridged book

Brilliant Classic Western

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