Appaloosa

Other Options

Available for Rent

Suggested Titles

Overview

A richly imagined novel of the Old West, as spare and vivid as a high plains sunset, from one of the world's most talented performers.
"It was a long time ago, now, and there were many gunfights to follow, but I remember as well as I remember anything the first time I saw Virgil Cole shoot. Time slowed down for him. Always steady, and never fast . . .
When it comes to writing, Robert B. Parker knows no boundaries. From the iconic Spenser detective series and the novels featuring Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone, to the groundbreaking historical novel "Double Play, Parker's imagination has taken readers from Boston to Brooklyn and back again. In "Appaloosa, fans are taken on another trip, to the untamed territories of the West during the 1800s.
When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary-one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.
This is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best.

Selected Reviews

Violent - with a cause

by Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Book Rating: 3/5

Appaloosa

by Nancy Parker
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 7

Reviews (7)

Violent - with a cause

Written by Southeastern Wisconsin on February 8th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Pretty good cowboy yarn. Very interesting plot development, especially at the end.

Appaloosa

Written by Nancy Parker on February 5th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I am a Spencer fan as well as a Robert B Parker fan. That being said, I just loved this book. I usually don't care too much for westerns but I have to tell you, this was awesome! I wanted more. I was sad when it ended. I hope Mr Parker writes more westerns and possibly a sequel to this one. It was a delicious book to listen to. I couldn't wait to get in the car and listen.

Appaloosa

Written by Raven Okeefe on December 28th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

is there any genre that Robert Parker CAN'T write? as a long-time fan of Spenser (and later of Jesse Stone), i found it difficult to imagine that Parker could translate his street-savvy heroes and anti-heroes into the old West... but of course i was wrong. times change, people's natures stay basically the same, and it's the people Parker knows so well and writes about so flawlessly that make "Appaloosa" as good as any of his other work. if you're looking for a great long, complex Western with a lot of backstory and history, read "Lonesome Dove." if you're looking for a short character-driven Western, you can't do much better than "Appaloosa." the keen insight into the relationship between men, and between men and women, that Parker has so thoroughly mastered in the Spenser books is here in full force. the action is fast, but the thoughtful exploration of the characters stays with you long after the action is over.

RIDE INTO THE SUNSET

Written by Lee Werley from Chapel Hill, NC on August 13th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

It has been a long time since I read a western. I was very entertained. Great job by the reader. Best I have read in weeks. The entire tale was different from most of his books or others out there. I just sat back and enjoyed. I do not give very many 5 stars but this was gets my vote. I ordered this on the strength of the reviews and sometimes I am disappointed but not this time.

Appaloosa

Written by C Anderson on February 14th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This was my first Robert Parker book, but will not be my last. This was a great western. The characters and story line were very well developed. The narrator did a great job as well. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good western.

A Stunning Tale

Written by dlct on August 24th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 5/5

OK, I'm a Parker fan. That said, this is one of Parker's forays into Western literature and this tale is beautifully written and completely drew me in. The friendship between Cole and Hitch is akin to Butch and Sundance and their adventures unfold slowly and are always interesting. The drama builds and you simply can't help but want to know what happens next. The narrartor did a wonderful job conveying all the varied characters and has an ideal accent for Western stories. Rumor has it that a movie is being made of this novel and I will be first in line to see it. I loved this book.

Appaloosa

Written by Jeff Johnson from Brownwood, TX on April 11th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 5/5

A great western. Robert B Parker pulled this off in his typical fashion. Great character development. I had my doubts at first but none now. I wish he developed this series as he did the Spencers. A++++++++++

Selected Reviews

Violent - with a cause

by Southeastern Wisconsin
  • Book Rating: 3/5

Appaloosa

by Nancy Parker
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 7

Author Details

Author Details

Parker, Robert B.

Robert B. Parker has long been acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction. His novel featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye Spenser have earned him a devoted following and reams of critical acclaim, typified by R.W.B. Lewis’ comment, “We are witnessing one of the great series in the history of the American detective story” (The New York Times Book Review). In June and October of 2005, Parker had national bestsellers with Appaloosa and School Days, and continued his winning streak in February of 2006 with his latest Jesse Stone novel, Sea Change.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Parker attended Colby College in Maine, served with the Army in Korea, and then completed a Ph.D. in English at Boston University. He married his wife Joan in 1956; they raised two sons, David and Daniel. Together the Parkers founded Pearl Productions, a Boston-based independent film company named after their short-haired pointer, Pearl, who has also been featured in many of Parker’s novels. He and Joan live in the Boston area.

Parker began writing his Spenser novels in 1971 while teaching at Boston’s Northeastern University. Little did he suspect then that his witty, literate prose and psychological insights would make him keeper-of-the-flame of America’s rich tradition of detective fiction. Parker’s fictional Spenser inspired the ABC-TV series Spenser: For Hire. In February 2005, CBS-TV broadcast its highly-rated adaptation of the Jesse Stone novel Stone Cold, which featured Tom Selleck in the lead role as Parker’s small-town police chief. The second CBS movie, Night Passage, also scored high ratings, and the third, Death in Paradise, aired on April 30, 2006.

Parker was named Grand Master of the 2002 Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an honor shared with earlier masters such as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen.