Pale Horse Coming

Earl Swagger, Book 2

By: Stephen Hunter

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s 1951. The Thebes State Penal Farm in Mississippi is up a dark river, surrounded by swamps and impenetrable piney woods. It’s the Old South at its most brutal - a place of violence, racial terror, and even more horrific rumors. Of the few who make the journey, black or white, even fewer return.

But in that year, two men will come to Thebes. The first is Sam Vincent, the former prosecuting attorney of Polk County, Arkansas who, with great misgivings, accepts a job to investigate a disappearance. Before he leaves on this dangerous trip, he confesses his fears to his former investigator Earl Swagger, now a sergeant of the Arkansas State Police. Earl pledges that if Sam is not back by a certain time, he will come looking for him.

What they encounter there is something beyond their wildest imagining of evil. The dying black town is ruled by white deputies on horseback who are more like an occupying army and the only escape is over the wild currents of the dark river that drowns as many people as it liberates. But nothing in town compares to the prison. Run by an aging madman with insane theories of racial purity, it is administered by a brutal sergeant known as Bigboy. The convicts call him The Whip Man - he can take a man’s soul with his nine feet of braided catgut.

Both Sam and Earl will be challenged to the limits of their strength by this place and will struggle not only for their own survival, but with the question: What does a man do when confronted with evil?

©2008 Stephen Hunter (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Interesting Book

Having lived in the South all of my life I have met persons that could have walked off the pages of this book. Thankfully, the majority of the people do not suffer this blind, stupid hatred. Anyway, the book does have some rough language as well as rough depictions but given the setting of the story seems accurate to me.

An exciting suspenseful book

Not what I expected - much more suspenseful than I anticipated. One of those books that starts off slow that your'e not sure that you want to read the next chapter, but a story that builds and has an exciting ending with a "feel good" last chapter.

Hunter never fails

No detail is left out it allows the reader to see the story as it develops. Earls stories are great but don’t miss out on the Bob Lee stories.

Best of the series.

I've read all of the books in the series and this is my favorite. Great.

The Review

Outstanding, especially the way the narrator captured Audie Murphy's voice an mannerisms, for I'm old enough to remember his western movies on tv. All an all great writing. 😎♠️👍🙏🏿

Great story! Great narration!

Great story! This book held my attention from beginning to end. The book was made even better by the outstanding narration!

spell binding and captivating!

I loved it. great story line and awesome narrator. Stephen Hunter's books are ingenious. Thanks

A fantastic epic

This book is a fantastic epic in the vein of Homer's Odyssey. If you are at all interested in firearms history from the early to mid 20th century, you'll love this little piece of historical fiction. I bought this book years ago as a physical copy and it has consistently been one I come back to every couple of years. The performance by the narrator is second to none. It is lively and the characters based on real people were hit perfectly based on video recordings we have of them. Highly recommended.

Epic story

Another page turning, can’t put it down novel. Mr. Hunter is a master story teller.

Good Story with Strong Characters

The story will keep you interested. It is a little slow in the middle of the book, but it picks up well and finishes strong. Characters are very well-developed. The narrator is fantastic!