The Fall of Abilene, Johnny D. Boggs
The Fall of Abilene, Johnny D. Boggs
List: $16.95 | Sale: $11.87
Club: $8.47

The Fall of Abilene

Author: Johnny D. Boggs

Narrator: Nick Sullivan

Unabridged: 7 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/04/2019

Categories: Fiction, Western


Synopsis

Noah Benton, a teenager with a great memory, a head for arithmetic, and dreams of excitement, is hired along with his older brother to help drive a herd of Texas longhorns to Abilene, Kansas. But Noah’s trail boss happens to be John Wesley Hardin, a notorious killer who thinks Texas lawmen won’t look for a fugitive in a crew of hardworking cowboys. After Hardin sees a profit in Noah’s ability to count and memorize cards in gambling dens, Noah’s dreams of excitement quickly turn into nightmares—for Hardin will kill with little provocation.Earning the nicknames “Counting Boy,” “The Abilene Kid,” and “Abilene,” Noah survives the bloody journey to Kansas, only to learn that Abilene rightfully deserves its nickname as a Sodom or Gomorrah. In a town where anything goes, the marshal, legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, reluctantly forms a truce with Hardin—leaving Noah caught in the middle. As summer stretches into fall, Noah finds another friend, a special deputy named Mike Williams, who tries to keep Noah from stumbling on his way to manhood.In this well-researched historical novel, eight-time Spur Award–winning author Johnny D. Boggs chronicles Abilene’s last year as a cattle town, 1871, while humanizing Hardin and Hickok and painting sobering portraits of a city undergoing rapid change, and the never-changing challenges teenagers face on their path to adulthood.

About Johnny D. Boggs

Johnny D. Boggs has worked cattle, been bucked off horses, shot rapids in a canoe, hiked across mountains and deserts, traipsed around ghost towns, and spent hours poring over microfilm in library archives—all in the name of finding a good story. He has won nine Spur Awards, making him the all-time leader in Western Writers of America’s history.

About Nick Sullivan

Nick Sullivan has narrated audiobooks for over twenty years and has recorded over four hundred titles. An Audie Award winner, he is also the recipient of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards. His TV and film credits include The Good Wife, The Affair, Bull, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, Our Idiot Brother, and Private Life.


Reviews

A fun read for western lovers and interesting enough for the rest. Typical teen with card-counting skill meets up with the gambler John Wesley Hardin (note the 3-names) and his life goes as all who think life will be easy goes... well and entertainingly narrated by Nick Sullivan (who kept a plethora......more

Goodreads review by Gerald

I am working my way through all the books from Johnny D. Boggs, it can be a challenge to find them since he is a prolific writer. His is a newer approach on writing about the frontier. This is a cattle drive story from Goliad, Texas to the RR/cow town of Abilene, Kansas. The friendships the narrator......more

Goodreads review by Robert

Not much has changed in the Western genre, this book could've been written 50 years ago. Except maybe for the coming of age element. Noah meets two legendary gunslingers his first time away from home. Wild Bill Hickock doesn't match the legend though the author claims it's historically accurate.......more

Goodreads review by Frank

A enjoyable yarn about well-known characters -- some of it may even be true? Boggs has a nice touch with cowboy lingo. The story paints a picture where there are now heros and lots of villains. At times it's hard to tell them apart.......more