The Goodnight Trail, Ralph Compton
The Goodnight Trail, Ralph Compton
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The Goodnight Trail
The Trail Drive, Book 1

Author: Ralph Compton

Narrator: Scott Sowers

Abridged: 3 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/24/2011

Categories: Fiction, Western

Synopsis

Former Texas Rangers Benton McCaleb, Will Elliot, and Brazos Gifford ride with Charles Goodnight as he rounds up thousands of ornery, unbranded cattle for the long drive to Colorado. From the Trinity River brakes to Denver, they'll battle endless miles of flooded rivers, parched desert, and whiskey-crazed Comanches. And come face-to-face with Judge Roy Bean and legendary gunslingers like Clay Allison. For McCaleb and his hard-riding crew, the drive is a fierce struggle against the perils of an untamed land. A fight to the finish where the brave reach glory—or die hard.

About Ralph Compton

Ralph Compton stood six-foot-eight without his boots. His first novel in the Trail Drive series, The Goodnight Trail, was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best debut novel. He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist before turning to writing westerns. He died in Nashville, Tennessee in 1998.

About Scott Sowers

Scott Sowers has narrated numerous audiobooks, including books by Douglas Preston, Robert Ludlum, John Hart, and Nicholas Sparks. He was named the 2008 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense by AudioFile magazine. AudioFile also awarded Sowers an Earphones Award for his narration of John Hart’s Down River, writing, “[providing] a bewitching rhythm and pace, expertly capturing and elevating this story of redemption. The combination of Hart and Sowers provides the perfect marriage of prose and voice. Together they enable the book to transcend genre fiction and become something exceptional.”  Sowers is also an accomplished actor of both stage and screen. His theater credits include roles in Inherit the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire, Bus Stop, and A Few Good Men. His many television credits include guest roles on Law & Order, The Black Donnellys, Six Degrees, All My Children, and the Hallmark Channel’s Season for Miracles. He has also appeared in the films Trust the Man, The Village and The Ten.

Reviews

Goodreads review by AndrewP on July 05, 2019

This author was recommended to me some years ago and I remember picking this up in the final days of Borders 90% off liquidation sale. Book 1 of the 'Trail' series, and I believe it was the authors first published book. That probably explains the faults I found with it. The writing was adequate but......more

Goodreads review by Sequoyah on June 19, 2019

This is one of those books that when you think it can’t possibly have more to one character something else comes around the bend. I did wish it went into more details as to how the actual trail drive went and more about Charles Goodnight. The latter could be because I picked it up expecting it to fo......more

Goodreads review by Mark on July 16, 2012

Good audio book to listen to on the trip to Gettysburg. This was Book I in the "Trail Drive Series." I'll have to try some of these stories in print and see if they read as good as Elmer Kelton. My favorite character was "Goose", a Lipan Apache scout saved by the drovers from the Comanche. He carrie......more

Goodreads review by Jon on March 05, 2015

Got better as it went on... but there was never any real sense of danger or anxiety. Sure there was a climactic point in the story, but no real "fear" that Bent wouldn't get out of it... He's probably too awesome of a cowboy, literally nothing is too complicated or dangerous for him to get out of it......more

Goodreads review by Justin on March 07, 2013

First real Western I have ever read, and it had its good and bad moments. Book's first half dragged, then picked up. The latter half of the book was better, but skipped around in time too much, losing its flow. Altogether, not a bad book.......more

Quotes

“Lovers of Louis L'Amour–type Westerns will welcome [this] series.” —Nashville Banner

“A sweeping, historically accurate [series] that makes America's trail drives come alive.” —Artesia Daily Press (New Mexico)

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