Robert B. Parker's The Bridge

By: Robert Knott

Narrated by: Rex Linn

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The next gritty, gun-slinging entry in the New York Times best-selling series, featuring itinerant lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch.

Territorial Marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are back in Appaloosa, where their work enforcing the law has been exceptionally quiet. All that is about to change. An ominous storm rolls in, and along with it a band of night riders with a devious scheme, who show up at the Rio Blanco camp, where a three-hundred-foot bridge is under construction.

Appaloosa's Sheriff Sledge Driskill and his deputies are the first to respond, but as the storm grows more threatening, news of troubles at the bridge escalate and the Sheriff and his deputies go missing.

Virgil and Everett saddle up to sort things out but before they do the hard drinking, Beauregard Beauchamp arrives in Appaloosa with his Theatrical Extravaganza troupe and the promise of the best in lively entertainment west of the Mississippi. With the troupe comes a lovely and mysterious fortune-teller who is set on saving Everett from imminent but indefinable danger.

The trouble at the bridge, the missing lawmen, the new arrivals, and Everett's shoot-out in front of Hal's Café aren't the only things on Cole and Hitch's plate as a gang of unsavory soldiers ease into town with a shady alibi, shadier intentions, and a soon-to-be-discovered wake of destruction.

As clouds over Appaloosa continue to gather, things get much worse for Cole and Hitch....

©2014 Robert Knott (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Rapid-fire dialogue and quick-paced action...a must read." (Historical Novels Review)

"Knott’s third shot at re-creating the Cole-Hitch partnership is by far the best...the two reflects the dry humor that helps bond them. There is also a very clever mystery mixed in, and the Seraphine subplot adds a Twilight Zone finish to an extraordinarily entertaining novel." (Booklist)

"For fans of the late Parker, this book is a refreshing reunion with these cowboy characters who choose their words and situations most carefully...much to enjoy." (Deseret News)

Not impressed/ but good story

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The Story it self is good

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would use fewer "god damms" they were interrupting and not properly used, just inserted to be inserted. did not add anything to the story, and was just used to many times. It's not necessary to use cruse words to make a good exciting story, the excitement was there with our them.

What about Rex Linn’s performance did you like?

Great performance with lots of characters. Good voice, He held my attention without loosing me.

Could you see Robert B. Parker's The Bridge being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

This is absolutely movie material

Any additional comments?

I hope there is enough Robert B. Parker material that the series can continue. getting ready to read the last one in the series. Thanks for all the listening enjoyment.

Interesting

Have to get used to the writing style,he said. Story had a few twists,he said, but mostly just a good light story to enjoy and then forget, he said.

Surprised me!

I got more comfortable with Rex Linn’s reading style with this book. I like the “he said, she said style, but I like when Virgil has more gun play. This book lacked gun fights but I enjoyed the story. It had a bit of mystery in this one.

It was "ok" at best.

The way RK writes is not the same flowing story that LL used. It also doesnt sound quite right, there is too much "Virgil said" "I said" going on. It interferes with the flow of the conversations. The narrator was kind of "meh".

Not entirely disappointing

Narrator almost killed it for me. Does represent characters well. Barely made it through. Disappointed.

Enjoyed it

If you liked the other ones you will enjoy this one. More if the same that I expect from a Hitch and Cole novel.

too much he said, she said

After every sentence it is he said ,she said, Virgil said, very boring could not finish story

Ugh...no more

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The book: This is Knott's "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull"..... OMG, really cowboys and aliens don't go together. Why oh why - I don't know what she is supposed to be --- a dream, an alien, a runaway..... but it is just not what a western novel should have in it. Keep the mystics, aliens, angels and fairies in sci fi and out of the beloved Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch novels.

Would you ever listen to anything by Robert Knott again?

I thought Knott would eventually get the grove of Parker's style....but not even close, actual getting farther away from it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Rex Linn’s performances?

The audio format: I know this is the second reading by Rex Linn....but I miss Titus Welliver and his style and diction. Linn's format is corny at best and most of the time a little annoying.

sadly below expectations

Not actually written by River Parker and simply low quality, rather boring. every sentence is prefaced or end with the words "he said" or "she said". I am disappointed.

Way too much foul language

Foul language used as filler and meaningless to the plot. I believe it takes away from the story and quality. I can’t recommend.