The Guns of Frank Eaton

By: David Althouse

Narrated by: John Burlinson

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

"My boy, may an old man's curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father!"

Answering those words, young Frank Eaton determines to settle with each of the six men who had riddled his father full of lead. Frank's thirst for a reckoning takes him across the lawless Indian Territory, to Southwest City, Missouri, to the wide-open mesa lands of eastern New Mexico and, finally, to Albuquerque. Curses hide behind every corner of the devil and death trail as Frank rides hell-bent on a quest that will send him into legend either as an outlaw, or a hero.

©2017 Wolfpack Publishing (P)2017 Wolfpack Publishing

An authentic western about family & revenge

I don’t listen to a lot of westerns, although I grew up with John Wayne films set in the wild, wild west. Even so, I was surprised to learn that Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton is an actual historical cowboy (1860 – 1958). There’s something thrilling about mixing fiction with fact to add authenticity to the story and author David Althouse does it well.

The story is told retrospectively as a story-within-a-story. Jesse Stamper of Oklahoma retells what 97-year-old Eaton had told him. It’s Eaton’s reminiscences of getting revenge for his father’s murder when he set out as a boy not long after the Civil War to take down The Regulators – a gang of 68 killers – in New Mexico. From gun slingers to gypsies, this is a tale of family and revenge. How much of it is real, I don’t know, but Althouse convincingly depicts details of the Wild West that goes beyond the superficial. One example of his detail, which adds so much to the telling of the story, is when one character explains how to load a musket gun.

John Burlinson does a great job narrating, particularly with his accent but unfortunately, the recording itself isn’t the sharpest. If you listen to the sample on this page, you’ll hear the reverb. The clarity is acceptable enough to keep the audiobook enjoyable, but if you prefer your sound quality to be of the highest level, you may want to take note of the sample.

I was provided a copy of this recording for review about a year ago but, due to an accident, was unable to fulfil that promise. Relistening to it again 12 months later was still enjoyable. If a book is worth a relisten, then it’s well worth recommending.

A Real Page Turner!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Guns of Frank Eaton to be better than the print version?

It took me a few minutes to get into the character, but once I was in, I was REALLY into this tale of honor , blood and revenge. I couldn't turn it off and hated for it to end. Hoping for more from this writer and this character.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Frank Eaton himself. At one point I thought I was listening to a western version of John Wick. Yes...Everyone is going to die! LOL

What about John Burlinson’s performance did you like?

The tone and inflection took me right to the period and made the whole story come to life. Great work!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Revenge is best served cold..........

Any additional comments?

When they are casting the movie they need to look to a younger version of Timothy Olphant. I cannot wait to see this story come to life on the big screen.

kind of a good story. Seems like most of it is BS

It's only kind of a good story. It repeats itself several times to the point it becomes annoying. The story itself seems to be mostly bs.