Killdeer Trail

By: David R. Lewis

Narrated by: David R. Lewis

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

Thirteen people are dead from the savage poisoning of a church well at the zealous hands of a vengeful old woman. With warrants in hand for murder and flight to avoid prosecution, Ruben, Homer Poteet, and Marion Daniels take to the trail of Blanche Boggs. She has crossed the Mississippi River into the primitive wilds of Southern Illinois to return to her old home place. Back among friends and family, Blanche knows she is safe. She isn't. Nobody is on the Killdeer Trail.

©2015 David R. Lewis (P)2015 David R. Lewis

Amazing story and performance, another brilliant work by the master

Lewis outdoes himself on Killdeer Trail. Having listened to all the previous trail series, this one is certainly one of my favorites. With several of the Lewis's characters on tap, Lewis ups his game and brings to life additional characters with a more intriguing dialogue along the way. The story continues to pick up steam and has a great deal of emotion to the end. The protagonist Rubin Biehler develops quite well and has matured from his earlier incarnations.
Highly recommend this book for the western lovers.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

A Trip to Southern Illinois

This is my first book written by David R. Lewis. This book was published in June 2015. Most of the westerns I have read recently have been published in the 1930s to 1940s. It is great to see current writers venture into this genre. What triggered me to read the book was the comment about the wilds of Southern Illinois. I was curious as to what the wilderness would be like.

Our Heroes U.S. Marshals Ruben Beeler, Homer Poteet and Marion Daniels are on the trail of Beulah Boggs. She poisoned a well at a church and thirteen people died. Apparently Boggs was after vengeance. Boggs crossed the Mississippi river into the wilds of Southern Illinois where she has family and friends at their old home. The author mentions the City of Alton, Illinois and the Union POW prison where thousands died of small pox during the Civil War. Lewis also mentioned there are ghost stories in the area. I looked this up to see if it was true and it was. I wished I had known about the Civil War monument to the prison when I visited the area last year. I enjoy finding true facts in fiction stories; these days it is so easy to quickly verify facts. Before the 1980s I had to keep a list until I could get to the library and without the reference librarian to help me it was difficult to find the information. I think this hunt for true facts is half my fun in reading fiction.

The story is character driven so we have a great time getting to know Ruben, Homer and Marion and Mrs. Boggs. The book is well written, fast paced, lots of action and some suspense. The author narrated his own book. I will look for more books by this author.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

IT WAS A FINE EVENING, THAT'S WHAT IT WAS

HOW THE HELL ARE YA, GOD DAMN IT?
This is the best feel good book I have ever read. It don't matter if your a western fan or not, if your looking for something to make you laugh and warm your heart, this is the book. Don't worry about it being book 6 in the series. I have only read book one, which was good, but no where near as good as this. Reading the previous books is not necessary. I am serious, if there was a feel good category, this would be book one. The main character is a sheriff, who is married and who has a young son. The young son, his mule and his new saddle, had me grinning from ear to ear.

SHE WAS LOOKING AT ME LIKE I TRACKED HORSE SHIT ALL OVER HER FAVORITE RUG.
I reckon I was going to commence to write a spell about all the cowboy talk, which dern near makes this a masterpiece. I was a scaret that I would ruin the beauty of this book with my childish fumbling. THE MORE I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, THE MORE I GOT TO GRITTIN MY TEETH OVER IT. I worried something FEARSOME over it. I hope I have not KILT your enthusiasm for this great book.

YOUR THE BOSS, BUT THAT DON'T MAKE BULLETS BOUNCE OFF OF YA.
Lewis does his own narrating and I don't believe another could have done better.

44 of 56 people found this review helpful

Awesome tale, well told

Where does Killdeer Trail rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the best westerns and best listens ever on audible.

What did you like best about this story?

Great story.
Compelling characters.
Stunningly good narration.
Great musical interludes between chapters.

What does David R. Lewis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His tremendous narration of his own work.

If you could take any character from Killdeer Trail out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Probably the main protagonist, Reuben, but it is a tough call with so many winning characters.

Any additional comments?

If you like oaters give this series a try!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The Great Western's Reborn

Would you consider the audio edition of Killdeer Trail to be better than the print version?

David Lewis is as good an audio performer as any you will find. Amazing that such a great author can also narrate with an authentic dialect and pleasing tone.

Who was your favorite character and why?

A new and memorable character, Fayrow Dunlap, shows up in this episode of the Trail Series. He is a jewel like so many of Lewis' characters and I will let the story tell the rest.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Ruben first meets Fayrow.

Any additional comments?

Lewis' strong suit is his ability to confront his engaging main charters with a difficult, dangerous and complex problem and then you'll be amazed at the solutions they find using imagination, daring and determination. If you like westerns and have not read the Trail Series by David R. Lewis you owe it to yourself to download it and listen to or read it. Lewis is an amazing author and his growing list of books offers a broad spectrum of great literary entertainment.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Trail books are like visiting your best friends

I am engrossed with the Trail books - every single one of them. The characters are bigger than life and I love them dearly. The parts that describe family life is heartwarming, funny and interesting. The parts that describe the friendship on the trail is touching. I envy their friendship and freedom. The action scenes are intense. My husband and I listen together in the evening and we laugh out loud in many parts. This is a wonderful series. The writing and storytelling are fantastic and David Lewis is the best possible reader for this series. He brings the stories and characters to life with his many voices, inflections and accents. I predict that any reader, regardless of age or genre preference will love these books.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Can't get enough.

My addiction to this series is a guilty pleasure. Rube is back on the trail to help Marion go after a crazed, vengeful woman who has taken refuge in the back hills, where strangers are not only, not welcome, but usually don't make it out alive. Love these characters and the Authors narration. Series should be started at the beginning.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Author, Narrator and a future Movie Director

David R Lewis is one of the best ever Western Author's with his Trail Series. His narrator skills are about the best. "Audible, please produce and be current with all his Trail Series novels" I reckon your pards are ready for a movie or three using Lewis's great trail story lines. God speed...and thank you for bringing our great past alive.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Another great book and great performance

Mr. Lewis hits it out of the park again with another great adventure by Rubin and pals.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Thank Goodness!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Mr. Lewis is an excellent author and terrific reader. I have listened to this series over and over and don't seem to tire of the characters and the way in which he makes each of them come to life. I only hope he will continue with the series until "Little Bill" grows up!!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I can't seem to choose one over the other. They are all very colorful!

Which scene was your favorite?

It's hard to choose just one scene. They are all great!

Any additional comments?

Mr. Lewis, PLEASE keep these stories coming!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful