Dead Man's Walk

By: Larry McMurtry

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

In Streets of Laredo, McMurtry brought the story ahead, giving us Call in his old age. Now, in Dead Man's Walk, he takes us back to the days when Gus and Call were young Texas Rangers, first experiencing the wild frontier that will form their characters. We also meet Clara Forsythe, the unforgettable young woman whose effect on Gus McCrae is immediate and unshakable. Danger, sacrifice, comradeship, and love give them the strength and courage to survive against the almost insurmountable odds of the frontier.

In Dead Man's Walk, Gus and Call are not yet 20, young men coming of age in the days when Texas was still an independent republic. Enlisting as Texas Rangers under a land pirate who wants to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans, Gus and Call experience their first great adventure in the barren great plains landscape, in which arbitrary violence is the rule -- whether from nature, or from the Indians whose territory they must cross in order to reach New Mexico.

From the Indians defending their land with unrelenting savagery, to the Texans attempting to seize and "civilize" it, and the Mexicans threatened by both, the reckless men of the untamed frontier make this at once a riveting adventure story and a powerful work of literature.

©2000 Larry McMurtry (P)2000 Simon & Schuster

Great book

Will Patton was an awesome narrator. I couldn't see it happening, but it did!

GREAT!

A very good story read by a superb narrator! Don’t miss this one....you won’t be sorry.

One of the best

I believe this to be an underrated classic Western. Narration is artful, editing is nearly perfect. Story is a classic journey presented grippingly in the a realistic and harsh environment of the time. Can't wait to finish out the series.

Wow

Epic story that leads to lonesome dove. I do like a good yarn. Listen to it it is a grand adventure.

Good book but...

I’ve always been a fan of the Lonesome Dove miniseries, after watching it one day I decided to listen to the books in chronological order. Dead Man’s Walk does a good job of introducing Gus and Call, like you would expect characters that are important to the story line are killed. This all keep the story line interesting, however I found myself wishing that the author gave Gus and Call and little more fight, and maybe an opportunity for them to kill a couple of the characters that made things so difficult. I guess the first of the series is to show Gus and Call’s youth and inexperience, it certainly did that.

Excellent narration

I really enjoyed the narrator and how he told the story. I sure wish that he would narrate Lonesome Dove because I cannot tolerate the person who they have reading that book.

Fabulous!

All time great by one the greatest authors of all time. The narration was exemplary. I wish he'd read more of the series.

Good but not great

The story drags a little, but serves as a good introduction to McMurty's characters, Gus and Call, and what will ultimately be a series of fierce Indian antagonists.

Dead Man’s Walk

Great book, well read! Great story!

“I’d never trust any man that didn’t want a poke bad enough to lie for one!”
~Augustus McCray

another McMurthy classic

Good development of characters. Smart & funny dialogues. Enjoyable read. even my dog was listening carefully..