El Paso

August 29, 2016
Groom’s (Forrest Gump) expansive, rich novel is set in the harsh deserts and mountains of northern Mexico during the 1916 Mexican revolution, with sharply drawn fictional characters in a bloody mix with Gen. Pancho Villa and a cast of true-life personalities. When Boston railroad tycoon Col. John Shaughnessy, his adopted son, Arthur, and their families visit the colonel’s vast Mexican cattle ranch, the ranch is attacked and his grandchildren are kidnapped by Villa and held for ransom. Frustrated and angry that President Woodrow Wilson refuses to help recover the children, the brash colonel and reluctant Arthur lead a party of hired cowboys on a rescue mission. As Shaughnessy’s Partisan Rangers pursue Villa’s army, a Mexican bullfighter and his four brothers also track Villa, hoping to rescue the bullfighter’s captive wife, resulting in a most unusual and vicious bullfight. Adding intrigue and suspense are a motley collection of real-life characters traveling with Villa, such as socialist journalist John Reed, cowboy movie star Tom Mix, cynical satirist Ambrose Bierce, and a mysterious German hoping to use Villa to ignite a war between the United States and Mexico. Battles, a tense prisoner exchange, and clever ransom negotiations round out this historically vivid and marvelously complex tale.

Robertson Dean's rich, earthy voice makes him an ideal choice to narrate Groom's first work of fiction in three decades, a sweeping saga set in the Southwest and Mexico in the early twentieth century. Bandit/revolutionary Pancho Villa earns the ire of The Colonel, one of the rich gringos Villa despises, by kidnapping his two grandchildren. Dean is a skillful guide for listeners as Villa's bandits battle rival armies and multiple parties who aim to rescue the hostages. Dean's subtle shadings and accents enable listeners to easily differentiate among the novel's many, largely male, American, Mexican, and German characters. This satisfying ride through this territory shines a much-needed spotlight on this little-known area of history. D.E.M. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine