Wayfaring Stranger

Starred review from May 19, 2014
Early in this epic American saga from MWA Grand Master Burke, Weldon Holland, the grandson of lawman and series character Hackberry Holland, has a chance run-in with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in Texas, shortly before the notorious bank robbers are gunned down in Louisiana. Weldon has another, more significant coming-of-age experience toward the end of WWII. As an Army second lieutenant, he rescues Sgt. Hershel Pine when both are trapped behind German lines. Weldon later saves Rosita Lowenstein, a concentration camp prisoner, who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. After the war ends in Europe, Weldon marries Rosita. Back in Texas, Weldon and Hershel build an innovative oil pipeline business, but their success creates an enemy, oil tycoon Lloyd Fincher, who as a U.S. Army major was known as “a dangerous idiot.” Lloyd attacks the entrepreneurs through their wives, most notably Rosita, smeared mercilessly for her leftist past. Weldon occupies the high moral ground, but he’s not above meting out his own brand of justice. His quest to save his wife generates some suspense, but this is more morality tale than thriller, the story of one man’s struggle to live with integrity in postwar America. Burke, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series (Light of the World, etc.), writes with great assurance and wisdom, as well as a kind of bitter nostalgia for lost innocence. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency.

Will Patton's narration of Burke's novel is notable for its energy. Mostly set in mid-twentieth-century Texas, the story starts with 16-year-old Weldon Holland's chance meeting with Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. It then moves to his heroism in the Battle of the Bulge, during which he saves his sergeant and his future love, Rosita, a Spanish prisoner of war. After the war he returns to Texas, where he gets into the oil business. Holland is a complex character listeners won't want to miss, and Patton's Texas accents are superb. The story becomes a bit unbelievable toward the end as Holland goes on the run, but all the major characters in the story--including Rosita and Holland's former commander--have demons that Patton ably brings out. This book and Patton's reading are outstanding. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine