Passin' Through
Written by Louis L'Amour ⎮ Narrated by Oliver Wyman
Author: Louis L'Amour
Narrator: Oliver Wyman
Length: 7 hours and 37 minutes
Series: Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures
Publisher: Random House Audio
Released: Jun. 30, 2020
Genre: Thriller
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Synopsis
As part of the Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures series, this edition contains exclusive bonus materials!
It seemed the perfect place to lie low. The owner of the ranch was an attractive, gray-haired lady who had once been an actress. The other woman was a beautiful, fragile-seeming blonde. They needed repairs done, and he needed to disappear for a while.
The first sign that things were not as they should be was when a Pinkerton man questioned him about a missing woman. Then he accidentally found a will belonging to the previous owner of the ranch. After that, a young lady showed up in town making claims that the place belonged to her.
Worried that his hideout was turning into a battleground, he didn’t know what would be more dangerous, staying or leaving. For a man interested only in passin’ through, he suddenly found himself entangled in a deadly struggle....
Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author’s more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives.
In Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures: Volume 1 and Volume 2, Beau L’Amour takes the listener on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. L’Amour’s never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, faithfully completed for this program, is a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas.
Additionally, many beloved classics will be rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions have come to know and cherish.
Sophia's Review
4 Stars
This audiobook was provided by its publisher, Random House Audio, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Thanks, Random House!
A lone man goes into a town just wanting a drink and ends up in a desperate adventure for his life. Louis L’Amour has a gift for capturing his audience with the opening sentence and keeping the tale exciting through the end.
Passin’ Through is a standalone western-story of the quintessential man with no-name coming to town and finding trouble he didn’t ask for, but in addition he finds a ranch with two mysterious women that need his help, a Pinkerton agent looking for a deadly killer, another woman who seems vulnerable and ripe to be conned, a hired killer and a whole posse after him. In the middle is this never named man and his spooky death horse who are fighting to survive each deadly encounter.
I thought it was fascinating that the author chose to give this man no past and yet it is a first person narrative strictly from his perspective so the reader/listener gets to know him well. The mystery element wasn’t that difficult to work out and, in truth, I thought Passin was slow on the uptake especially since a few times he was handed the answers and he ignored that.
The action and survival moments were fabulous. It was gritty and Passin didn’t have it easy. He was definitely the underdog, but he just kept getting back up to survive and fight some more.
I enjoyed all that was going on in the story, but, at the same time, there were several times when I felt it was churning up the same ground and not moving forward. There were also lots of philosophical moments which were interesting, but there was a repetition at times of some of the points that I wearied of. Tightening up on these things would have really made this story work a whole lot better for me.
L’Amour describes the setting and situation, the historical backdrop of the Old West, and the unique characters so well that I felt I was right there in the middle of it all. He researched it all so well and knew his stuff which showed.
In addition, this is a Louis L’Amour Lost Treasures edition so there are author notes and a discussion from Beau L’Amour about the book.
The narrator of Passin’ Through, Oliver Wyman, was new to me, but he was a superb match for the story. He voiced the various characters so well even the women. He caught the pace and tone whether it was an intense gun battle or a quiet moment of consideration. The production was polished. I would definitely listen to his work again.
All in all, Passin’ Through was an entertaining story and satisfying Western Fiction that I can easily recommend.
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.
Sophia has been devouring books for decades and the love for audio books in particular probably started with the portable turntable record player and hearing, ‘when the chime sounds, please turn the page’. In the last five years of reviewing, she has started listening for review and honing her narration tastes. Sophia is an equal opportunity genre lover though history and mystery, sci-fi and romance will always be the front runners.