Wayfaring Stranger

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

2015 Audie Award Finalist for Thriller/Suspense

From "America’s best novelist" (The Denver Post): a sprawling thriller drenched with atmosphere and intrigue that takes a young boy from a chance encounter with Bonnie and Clyde to the trenches of World War II and the oil fields along the Texas-Louisiana coast.

It is 1934 and the Depression is bearing down when 16-year-old Weldon Avery Holland happens upon infamous criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow after one of their notorious armed robberies. A confrontation with the outlaws ends as Weldon puts a bullet through the rear window of Clyde’s stolen automobile. Ten years later, Second Lieutenant Weldon Holland and his sergeant, Hershel Pine, escape certain death in the Battle of the Bulge and encounter a beautiful young woman named Rosita Lowenstein hiding in a deserted extermination camp. Eventually, Weldon and Rosita fall in love and marry and, with Hershel, return to Texas to seek their fortunes. There, they enter the domain of jackals known as the oil business. They meet Roy Wiseheart - a former Marine aviator haunted with guilt for deserting his squadron leader over the South Pacific and Roy’s wife, Clara, a vicious anti-Semite who is determined to make Weldon and Rosita’s life a nightmare. It will be the frontier justice upheld by Weldon’s grandfather, Texas lawman Hackberry Holland, and the legendary antics of Bonnie and Clyde that shape Weldon’s plans for saving his family from the evil forces that lurk in peacetime America and threaten to destroy them all.

©2014 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved. (P)2014 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mesmerizing!

This story transported me to a different time and place. The best books, for me, make me pause and think a while. This one did that. As usual, Will Patton helped make the story full bodied,and sensuous. He is, by far, my favorite reader.

Damn fine book

Listening to this book, whiled away the hours. great reader. great character development. a lot of twists.

A great read

James Lee Burke is simply a great writer. Do yourself a favor and give him a chance if you haven't listened to one of his books.

Money Is The Root Of All Evil

This is a novel about two men who met during wartime, beat the odds and survived horrific circumstances. They went on to partner in business and enter their own personal wars as oil tycoons. Throughout the book, the author refers back to an earlier time in Holland's life when he had a brief encounter with Bonnie and Clyde. I never understood why this was significant. This book did not seem to flow. At the end, I felt there were several unanswered questions.

Wonderful !

Penetrating prose, dark, thought provoking. Reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy. Loved narrator's southwest accent and meter.

Awesome

This was a great story, great narrator and characters.

I highly recommend this book if you like a good quality read.

Storm Seal of Approval

Burke is a master.

Burke is a master at painting pictures in your mind and here he does it again. Will Patton gives another awesome performance.

Different but excellent, suspenseful.

Would you listen to Wayfaring Stranger again? Why?

No, I do not listen to books twice. This was a good James Lee Burke novel, more novel than typical mystery/police of Hackberry Holland or Dave Robicheaux.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Holland is a thoughtful Dave Robicheaux

Which scene was your favorite?

Final scene was quite good, suspenseful to the end.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Great listen

Another terrific book by Burke. Well-developed characters read by maybe the best narrator in Will Patton.

Another Burke Winner

A very good book, interesting story and a great cast of characters, by Burke with an excellent narration by Will Patton. If you like James Lee Burke's style of writing you will like this book.