THE MUSTANG HERDER

This is a masterfully presented early Max Brand Western, with reader Will Osborne sliding effortlessly into character after character, his nearly drawling narration exuding true Western ambiance. The tale concerns a smallish man gone West to seek his fortune, planning to return to the East, but then the East betrays him even as the West seeps into the deepest parts of his soul. Will Osborne reads magnificently. His voice is nearly a drawl, but not quite, fitting nicely with the locale. His geezers sound like Walter Brennan and Gabby Hayes. Oral character development is also excellent--the bad guy sounds elegant, bored and deadly. The good guy sounds naive, at first, and then more mature as the character grows and changes. D.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 98]