Hell Is Empty

A Walt Longmire Mystery

By: Craig Johnson

Narrated by: George Guidall

Spur Award-winner Craig Johnson has garnered critical acclaim for his Walt Longmire mysteries. In this riveting seventh entry, Wyoming’s Absaroka County sheriff, Walt Longmire, is pushed beyond his limits.

When three hardened convicts escape FBI custody in a mountain blizzard, an armed psychopath leads them up Big Horn Mountain. As Longmire struggles to track their treacherous ascent, he’ll need all the help he can get from the tribal spirits of the towering summit.

Listen to all of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire mysteries.©2011 Craig Johnson (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Walt is such a stubborn man...

Why do I like this? It's like a very long description of snow, blizzards, winds, snow, cliffs, rocks, snow, bad guys, snow, good guys, snow, snow and more snow... followed with a very large dollop of spiritualism.

Longmire should never have gone ahead to chase the bad guys - but we aren't actually surprised that he did. He shouldn't have survived several number of events, but we aren't surprised that he did. He's like an understated superman - complete with mystic sidekicks (are they real? are they spirits?)... he gets the job done and, even though logically he should not be able to, we all know that he will... and we are content with that.

That's the key I guess: lots of books have human superhumans (or superhuman humans?)... see James Bond, Mark Greaney's Grey Man, Jack Reacher, and etc., and we are okay in accepting that Walt falls into this category, even if the setting, story and plot are completely different from where you usually find these kinds of heroes.

If you didn't like the other books in the series, you won't like this one. And, while you don't need to know what went on in the other stories in order to follow this one, you really do need to know Walt to appreciate it. The narration is spot on. There isn't any graphic content.

Walt is back!

I love George Guidall and he is Walt. I could listen to him all day and have bought books just because he was the narrator. With that being said, I was bit disappointed that the full cast of characters did not have a bigger part in the book. It is the whole cast that make these books so entertaining. This is also the first book I actually questioned some of Walt's actions. It seemed that the book was a little on the short side but that may be because I never want them to end;. Still worth the time and money.

Craig Johnson has a Fantastic Imagination!

Where does Hell Is Empty rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the top 10

Who was your favorite character and why?

Walt Longmire. It was when Walt was alone that the author used his imagination the most. So vivid and never boring or slow.

Which character – as performed by George Guidall – was your favorite?

Walt but he also does a wonderful job with the deep tones for Virgil too.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I listen to audio books to fill the time on my way to and from work.

Any additional comments?

This particular book was filled with so much imagination. All the references to "Dante's Inferno" made me want to read that too. This is a book I could read again (and again.)

I love love love this series!

Makes me want to move to Wyoming and befriend people similar to who he writes about. No one is too complicated and no one appears to be full of themselves or full of crap. The narrator is perfect!

Least favorite in series, but still good

I don't think this is much of a spoiler, but warning that I do describe vaguely a scene of the story.

In the first book in this series, there was a scene where he is in a snow storm on a mountain and I thought it was handled perfectly. Not too heavy-handed and still quite believable. This book takes that idea and stretches it into nearly the entire book. Although from a writing experiment perspective it had some interesting ideas, as a story it felt too drawn out. Even so, I love this series and if you're a fan, you'll want to read it.

Narration as always is excellent.