The Lone Star Ranger

By: Zane Grey

Narrated by: Lawrence Skinner

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

"The Lone Star Ranger" is a Western novel that takes place in Texas, the Lone Star State, and several main characters are Texas Rangers, a famous band of highly capable law enforcement officers. It follows the life of Buck Duane, a man who becomes an outlaw and then redeems himself in the eyes of the law.

©2018 Audioliterature (P)2018 Audioliterature

Predictable Oater

Looking for something different to listen, I decided to give a Zane Grey novel a try. Of course, I have heard of Zane Grey with all the movies and tv series based on his work, but had never read or listened to a story. I picked The Lone Star Ranger since the reviews were pretty solid.

The storyline follows the lead, Buck Duane as he is thrust into the world of outlaws due to killing another man. While it was self defense, he was advised that the law at the time was more likely to hang him than listen to his plea. On the run, Duane runs into a number of other outlaws and his adventures are interesting, if not predictable. As a minor spoiler alert, Duane eventually comes back on the side of the law as an undercover Texas Ranger. He is assigned to the far western Texas territory to help uncover a notorious cattle rustling and land grabbing scheme. As would be expected, Ranger Duane comes through in the end.

The storyline was slow moving and predictable. Narrator Skinner tried his best, but the simplistic dialogue came across in a very monotone delivery. Perhaps I am being a little unfair as the Zane novels were written in the early 20th Century. Who knows, perhaps most of the predictable dialogue was new and fresh when he wrote it. Nonetheless, it will be awhile before I venture into the world of Zane Grey again.