Hombre

By: Elmore Leonard

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Grand Master Elmore Leonard is justifiably acknowledged as “the best writer of crime fiction alive” (Newsweek)—and, in fact, one of the very best ever, alongside other all-time greats like John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Robert Parker. But he has also many acclaimed masterworks of American western fiction to his credit—including Hombre, the basis for the classic Hollywood motion picture starring Paul Newman. Set in Arizona mining country, Hombre is the tale of a white man raised by Indians, who must come to the aid of people who hate him when their stagecoach is attacked by outlaws. As thrilling as his contemporary novels of crime, double-cross, and murder in Detroit and Miami, Hombre is Elmore Leonard at his riveting best—no less than one would expect from the creator of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Justified).

Classic Elmore Leonard Western

The performance of the story by Richard Poe is simply outstanding in every way, it’s dramatic without being overblown and he clearly delineates the voices of the many characters. The book is short, more of a novella, so when it was made into a great film by Martin Ritt not much had to be left out of the movie version. However there were many subtle changes from the book, some characters were consolidated and new ones created for the film which was all very fascinating to discover from hearing this original version. I enjoyed it immensely.

Even better than the excellent movie.

Great book. Great narration. The kid and Russell were voiced to perfection. Hombre is one of greatest characters in Western pulp fiction!!

Early Elmore Leonard starts slow, gets really good

What made the experience of listening to Hombre the most enjoyable?

Suspenseful, surprising.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Actually listened to it all in 2 sittings

Any additional comments?

Early work by Leonard very different from his later books but still really good.

excellent tale of morality, the banality of evil

Excellent. Absolutely worth the listen. if you liked the movie this is for you. Gritty.

Great story, great narration.

Road-trip ended but we kept listening… sitting in the car at the rented cabin in the mountains! Yeah it’s that good. Narration is A+.