THE BROKEN GUN (audiobook) by Louis L'Amour





Originally published in 1966.
Audiobook published in 2011 by Random House Audio.
Read by Jason Culp.
Duration: 4 hours, 35 minutes.
Unabridged.

My synopsis:

The Broken Gun is the story of a writer named Dan Sheridan. Sheridan is kind of a stand-in for Louis L'Amour himself. L'Amour was a prolific author, but he before he was a writer he skinned cattle, worked in mines and lumber camps, was a professional boxer, and was a merchant seaman. Later, he served in World War II in Europe.

His character Dan Sheridan worked on ranches, lumber camps, and served in the Korean War where he was captured and escaped back to the American lines. Later, he was trained in guerilla warfare, served as an advisor in South Vietnam where he was captured again and escaped again.

Sheridan researches a topic thoroughly before he writes. It is the early 1960s and his latest interest is a large cattle drive in the 1870s that was led by two brothers named Toomey from Texas to Arizona. They were looking for a fresh start and brought a herd of 4,000 cattle with them. They were looking to settle down and build a massive new ranch in the middle of Apache territory. But, they disappeared without a trace. 

It is assumed they were massacred by the Apache, but Sheridan has a solid lead that something else happened.

When he gets an invite to visit the ranch that was built on the land that the Toomeys had intended to claim, Sheridan decides he has to visit and take a look for himself...

My review:

The story is entertaining, even though it stretches credulity at several points. That's okay, it's not a documentary, it's an adventure story.

The first hour of the audiobook is a bit slow, but once it gets going the action rarely slows. 

It's not a great novel - it's not complex or full of great themes, but there are fistfights, desperate chases, climbs up and down cliffs, nighttime horse rides, car crashes, pretty girls, and gun play and that's what I was looking for.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Broken Gun by Louis L'Amour. 

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