The Last Man ~ Audiobook Review

 

THE LAST MAN

A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery

by THOMAS GOODMAN

Narrated by Eric Priessman

Historical Fiction / Heist Thriller / Texas History

Publication Date: August 28, 2023

Publisher: Mainsail Media

Print Length: 312 pages

Audiobook Length: 8 hours, 52 minutes

~Literary Awards~

*2023 Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 Chanticleer Laramie Award for Americana Fiction*

*2024 Spur Award Winner for Best Western Historical Novel*

*2024 Will Rogers Medallion Award Winner*

ABOUT THE BOOK: When Santa Claus enters a Texas bank just before Christmas in 1927, no one expects him to pull a gun.

The fake white beard hides his identity from his neighbors while he and three others take everything. But their easy heist goes sideways fast when armed lawmen and citizens assemble to claim a new reward for dead bank robbers.

Taking hostages, the gang forces a path through a frenzied and bloody shootout, setting the whole Lone Star state on their trail.

One bandit dies in the getaway. One is executed in the electric chair. One swings from a rope in a mob lynching. The last man finds a life he always hoped for … if only he can keep it.

Closely based on a true story, The Last Man is a gritty Prohibition-era crime novel filled with flawed characters and second chances.

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BOOK REVIEW

HALL WAYS AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: 4.5 STARS. I became familiar with the 1927 Santa Claus robbery of Cisco, Texas, in 2019 when I read the nonfiction, aptly titled Santa Claus Bank Robbery by Tui Snider. It's a fascinating and horrifying true crime story, and Snider's interpretation of facts is one of several on the subject, and certainly the most recent -- until Thomas Goodman's The Last Man hit my radar in 2023. My interest was certainly piqued, but it wasn't until I won an audiobook copy in 2024 that I was able to finally get to reading, and it was worth the wait.

The Last Man starts with what we know historically happened, and Goodman’s description of it is excellent. Readers are on the edge of their seats as one by one, the fugitives are dropping. This is the mark of great writing when even though we know how it turns out, maybe even some of the details, the story is still suspenseful.

I went into the book without real expectations since it is a fictionalized account of what happened all those years ago, and Goodman fleshes out the characters and brings the action to life. There is more time spent in courtrooms and jails than I prefer, but those scenes also reflect the reality of what happened post-robbery.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: Narrator Eric Priessman does a great job with pacing and delivery, and he places emphasis on just the right words at just the right time to draw listeners in. His narration is storytelling, not story reading, and is a good complement to Goodman's text. There were several mispronounced words (including "Brazos," which a Texan would tell you is wrong, though it's correct in Spanish), and those definitely caught my ear and took me out of the story a bit.

The Author’s Notes section at the end of at the end of The Last Man is outstanding and shows the depth of Goodman's research. I appreciate his explanations of how he fills in blanks between fact and fiction, providing logical fiction for readers to enjoy.

I have The Last Man on my to-buy-in-print list because I'm particularly interested in the bibliography that I'm assuming is there, and I would happily lend it to friends. I also think it would make a terrific, unique gift for lovers of Texana and the offbeat, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tales that Texas offers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas Goodman first ran across the story of the Santa Claus Bank Robbery when he lived in the small Texas county where it all took place. He currently lives in Austin, where he has been able to conduct extensive research on the true crime at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The Last Man is his first novel.

I'll Be Seeing You ~ Book Review

 

I'LL BE SEEING YOU

by

Joanne Kukanza Easley

Virtual Voice Narration

Family Saga / Women’s Fiction / Addiction & Recovery / Historical Fiction

Publisher: Red Boots Press
Pages: 227 pages

Audiobook length: 8 hours, 37 minutes
Publication Date: August 28, 2022

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ABOUT THE BOOK

A saga spanning five decades, I’ll Be Seeing You, explores one woman’s life, 

with and without alcohol to numb the pain.

Young Lauren knows she doesn’t want to be a ranch wife in Palo Pinto County, Texas. After she’s discovered by a modeling scout at the 1940 Fort Worth Stock Show Parade, she moves to Manhattan to begin her glamourous career. A setback ends her dream, and she drifts into alcohol dependence and promiscuity. By twenty-four, she’s been widowed and divorced, and has developed a pattern of fleeing her problems with geographical cures. Lauren’s last escape lands her in Austin, where, after ten chaotic years, she achieves lasting sobriety and starts a successful business, but happiness eludes her.

Fast forward to 1985. With a history of burning bridges and never looking back, Lauren is stunned when Brett, her third husband, resurfaces, wanting to reconcile after thirty-three years. The losses and regrets of the past engulf her, and she seeks the counsel of Jane, a long-time friend from AA. In the end, the choice is Lauren’s. What will she decide?

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REVIEW

I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the About the Book section above.

HALL WAYS AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Since I was in the thick of running my business, I didn’t get to read any of Joanne Easley’s books when she toured them back in November, 2022, when I was the owner of Lone Star Literary Life. I wanted to get in on this series because the LSLL blogger team reviews were so positive. 

When I saw that a sequel was on the horizon, and that LSLL would be doing a book campaign for it (Higher Love – I’ll be sharing my review on Friday, 6/13/25), it was the perfect time to get up-to-speed. BONUS, I’ll Be Seeing You is available now as an audiobook with virtual narration that was pretty darn good (more on that below). It is a free download with an Audible subscription, or you can buy it for seven bucks.

“The whole thing seemed like a raw deal for girls, and my heart broke a little. No. A lot. Being demoted to household chores, women’s work, chapped my hide.”

I’ll Be Seeing You is the story of Ruby Lauren Eaton’s life from age sixteen to sixty-plus, and from the moment we meet her, the drama begins. Sixteen-year-old Lauren, goes from Mineral Wells, Texas, farmgirl to living in Manhattan as a Powers Girl model?! I’m sure you can imagine. Over these decades, some of the toughest topics and harshest realities of life are covered via Lauren’s poor decision making, lack of parental guidance, and the often-tumultuous world around her.

“I asked for a Coke. The blond stewardess didn’t ask me what kind, and I was too shy to ask for a Dr. Pepper.”

You can take a girl out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texan out of a girl. Despite Lauren spending a good chunk of time in Manhattan, there is plenty of Texana to enjoy, and the above quote in particular gave me a knowing giggle. In Texas, a Coke is the generic for sodas and can mean a Dr. Pepper, an RC, or GASP – even a Pepsi! There’s liberal use of “might could,” as in, “Might could be we’re heading that way,” which further reinforces the West Texas vibe.  Also included in I'll Be Seeing You is some interesting background on iconic Texas businesses, like HEB grocery store, and Neiman Marcus, which has just recently shuttered its original Dallas location.

“It’s alcoholism, not alcoholwasism.”

It’s impressive how Lauren recognizes and overcomes, again and again, her alcoholism and keeps things in check – until she doesn’t. Frequently, the authors who include this level of raw reality get deep in the nitty-gritty details, but I’ll Be Seeing You is never gratuitous or graphic. It doesn’t need to be: in I’ll Be Seeing You, the events in Lauren’s world will evoke a wide range of emotions from readers, which is the mark of exceptional writing. Easley makes us feel the gut punches and victories as if they are our own.

In the last fifth of the book, there’s a huge re-cap of Lauren’s life as she tells it all to her AA mentee, who’s also a psychologist in training. This is done more through dialogue, which makes it fresher, and readers also get new information that provides closure. A couple of chapters later, we get more of it, and we have more historical context in 1950s Austin and forward. But at this point, it’s a bit much and somewhat repetitive, which made it feel like the author doesn’t trust readers to remember.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: The book is narrated by virtual voice, and I don’t know much about how much control there is with that. I’ve heard really good ones and some so painful I had to stop listening. In I’ll Be Seeing You, the virtual voice is done with a midwestern accent which conflicts with this solidly, small-town-Texas girl. Nonetheless, it has remarkably good pacing and narration and only a few odd pauses. Easley’s writing must have helped direct the pronunciations because “darlin’” is perfect, but AI doesn’t live in Texas and wouldn’t know that the character of Imogene is not pronounced Emmajean. It’s definitely easy to read this one with your ears, and I’ll take virtual narration over having the book languish in my TBR for years on end.  

The story meanders to the conclusion, but a satisfying conclusion it is in how it carries the readers to an ending that’s full of hope. I highly recommend I’ll Be Seeing You as a thoughtful, realistic, and powerful tale of redemption. I really am looking forward to the installment of Lauren's life in Higher Love, that picks up not long after where this story ends. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanne Kukanza Easley, a retired registered nurse with experience in both the cold, clinical operating room and the highly charged world of psychiatric hospitals, lives in the Texas Hill Country, where she writes fiction about complicated, twentieth-century women. Her multi-award-winning debut, Sweet Jane, was named the adult fiction winner at the Texas Author Project and shortlisted for the Sarton Award and Eric Hoffer Award, among others. Just One Look, Joanne’s second novel, was a May 2022 Pulpwood Queen Book Club Pick. I’ll Be Seeing You, her third novel, features characters from Sweet Jane. Look for her fourth novel, Higher Love, a sequel to her third book, in Spring 2025. Her prize-winning short stories and poetry have appeared in several anthologies.

 

Runners: The Oakley Series, Book 2 ~ Lone Star Lit Campaign & Book Review!

RUNNERS

BOOK TWO IN THE OAKLEY SERIES

By Phil Oakley

Historical Fiction / Depression Era / Family Saga

Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing

Pages: 206

Publication Date: March 31, 2025

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SYNOPSIS

From the author of Little Hatchet, this gripping historical saga continues—a powerful story of resilience, family, and the price of ambition. Perfect for fans of epic generational tales and action-packed historical fiction.

Walter Oakley and his wife, Ada, used the westward expansion of America to establish themselves as model citizens in the town of Telegraph, Texas. Now, they watch in despair as their children lurch from one crisis to another — rum running, train-hopping outlaws, shattered dreams. With one child dead and another on the wrong side of the law, Walter and Ada struggle to keep their younger children on the straight and narrow. But trouble and temptation beckon as Prohibition and the Great Depression give way to the horrors of World War II. Will hope survive the chaos?

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REVIEW

HALL WAYS REVIEW: History, hardship, and a whole lot of heartache make Runners a riveting read. 

Runners is the second book in the Oakley series, a family saga based on  author Phil Oakley’s family history. Characters within the pages parallel the names of the author’s real family members, and the narrative is based on the stories they told over the years.  Books one and two span the Civil War, the Prohibition era, and World War II.

I knew I was jumping in on the second installment in the series, so I read the synopsis and some reviews of Little Hatchet, book one, before getting started. It helped. From that, I gathered that Walter, a primary character from book one, grows up, and he and wife Ada (the author’s actual grandparents) and their seven children are the focus of Runners.  

I recommend reading this series in order, and here’s why. Even coming in with some information from the prior story, I still struggled a bit because I didn’t truly have the big picture, know the details of what each character brought to the story, or understand the relationships. Though Walter and Ada have seven children, Runners really focuses on two of the sons, secondarily, two of the daughters, and many references to a deceased son. I was left wondering about the rarely mentioned other two daughters. Add to this the quantity of peripheral characters (including several characters with the same name), it is a lot to manage. A family tree or even a short bring-to-date placed at the beginning of the book would have been immensely helpful in keeping all the characters straight, and I think that would help all readers, not just those who missed book one.

Despite my confusion, Runners kept me deeply immersed in this family’s stories. Case in point: at one point, I had given myself an hour to read, and when I looked up, two hours had passed! And I decided to read another hour…hour-ish. Rich descriptions and factoids (Thirty-five cents for a meal?! Monthly rent for $22.75?!) will place readers right in the middle of the stories and time period, and interestingly, the narrator jumps in throughout to tell readers how things turned out. It feels very much like author Phil Oakley is telling family tales as we sit around the kitchen table together – a reminder that this is barely a fictionalized story. It is an efficient device because we want to know more, and I’d have been happy to have the author show, rather than tell, us more.  

“The behavior of their children was a persistent puzzle troubling Ada and Walter.”

Walt’s and Ada’s collective pain and helplessness are palpable as their children make one poor decision after another. Worse, even as the children grow into adults, they seem slow to understand the heartbreak they’ve inflicted on their parents. This passage was particularly poignant:

“Again, Ray missed the irony of what was going on around him. There were more rules in these camps than in his mother’s kitchen, and at her dining table. The work was harder than any Ray had ever done on his father’s farm, or at football practice. Most of the money Ray was earning wound up in someone else’s pocket. Half-a-dozen times since Ray had been riding on freight trains, he had been arrested, almost arrested, or beaten by men with clubs. This information didn’t take root in Ray’s mind. All he could see was that he was free and having a grand adventure.”

I bought the eBook so I’d have the final copy and am pleased it’s so cleanly edited, which seems to be the exception, not the rule, these days. The very few errors I noticed aren’t enough to distract most readers (in the unlikely event they'll be noticed at all). Oakley's writing is smooth and has a natural flow; he's clearly a natural storyteller.

At the book's conclusion, I was unsure of how many years had passed between the final chapter and the epilogue, and Runners ends somewhat abruptly. However, it does end with a small ray of hope (and that’s a double entendre), and the final page after the About the Author section assures us that a third book, titled Longhorn, is coming. I’ll definitely go back to Little Hatchet and read this family’s fascinating story from the beginning so I’ll be ready.

To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLRunners on your preferred social media platform.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Oakley is a novelist and veteran journalist with experience in the motion picture industry. He is a retired regional executive with The Walt Disney Company (ABC News), a former director of the Louisiana Film Commission, and a retired editor with the Dallas Morning News. He covered presidents and presidential campaigns beginning with Lyndon Johnson and ending with George W. Bush. He was a television and radio anchor and reporter with national awards from Columbia University, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, and a National Headliner Award. He began work on his first novel in 1964 while a student at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written nine novels.

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The Scientist and the Serial Killer ~ Lone Star Lit Campaign Book Review & Giveaway!

 

THE SCIENTIST AND

THE SERIAL KILLER

THE SEARCH FOR HOUSTON’S LOST BOYS

By Lise Olsen

True Crime / History

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 464

Publication Date: April 1, 2025

Scroll down to enter the giveaway!

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SYNOPSIS

The Scientist and the Serial Killer is the gripping, upside-down detective story of a Texas forensic anthropologist named Sharon Derrick who, determined to close the cases of the notorious 1970s Houston-area serial killer Dean Corll, painstakingly deploys the latest science to identify victims who had become known as the Lost Boys of Houston. 

This is an unforgettable narrative of forensic science, missing persons, and unsolved crimes by award-winning investigative journalist Lise Olsen.

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AMAZON | B&N | BOOKSHOP.ORG

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BOOK REVIEW

I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the book synopsis above.

HALL WAYS REVIEW: 4.5 STARS. Engrossing, evocative, and weighty, THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is a book that needed writing, and Lise Olsen pulls no punches and delivers. 

“When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions

with which you went to bed have been folded up small.”
– from Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up by J.M. Barrie

At one point, the author compares the world of serial killer Dean Corll to J.M. Barrie’s 1911 Neverland (not the Disneyfied version), and it feels disturbingly apropos. As the author says in her opening Author’s Note, her account in THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is “a deeply troubling tale that remains relevant and resonates through time.”

Olsen does an excellent job of setting the atmosphere for the scenes, whether it’s one set in Corll’s world or one set decades later in Dr. Derrick’s. In both worlds, there is a battle between the cooperative and the uncooperative. Readers will be angered by the inaction of the Houston Police Department despite a clear pattern of boys from the Heights neighborhood disappearing and their families begging for help. In their time, the missing boys are considered by the police to be hippies or homosexuals or poor or dysfunctional, labeled as runaways, and forgotten. In her time, Dr. Derrick faces sexism and as a women, is discounted. It is disheartening that these same prejudices persist, and families desperate for answers get only despair. 

On the other hand, the advances in forensic technology over the years are amazing – triumphant, really -- and Olsen's explanations make for fascinating reading. Just the changes in FACES (Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services) in the fifteen years after its launch are mind-blowing and now allow for highly accurate facial reconstructions that ultimately helped Dr. Derrick identify some of the unknown victims. Her commitment to The Lost Boys and to science gives the dead some measure of justice and their families some measure of peace.

THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is organized into six parts, and readers are given a lot of information to process. At times, Olsen writes long sentences and repetitive passages, and we can feel the urgency with which she wants to share this story; she’s deeply invested, and by book’s end, so are we.  Though the book understandably jumps back and forth through time, Olsen provides a number of tools to help see the big picture. 

One of these tools is "Sharon Derrick’s 2023 Case List," which lists the victims by year, in the order their deaths occurred. The inclusion of a maps and diagrams helps readers visualize events. A particularly powerful element of THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is that as each Lost Boy is identified, there’s a portrait of the victim and a summary of his case. I choked up with emotion every time by not only the thought of a life lost in such a violent way, but also because at last, he was identified. Photographs are also sprinkled throughout the book and though some are macabre, the photos are never gratuitous. Even a photograph of a message written on a notepad in 1972 is included, all pointing to Olsen’s meticulous research and reliance on primary sources. The extensive "Notes" and "Selected Bibliography" give readers even further insight into the murder cases and the scientists who solved them.

I read an early ARC from NetGalley last year and was able to compare it to a more recent version. Though some typos were still present, additional editing has clearly taken place and eliminated many of the errors and repetitive paragraphs that I initially noticed. I trust the final version, available for purchase on April 1, 2025, will be clean -- and I highly recommend getting a copy. I may get the audiobook since I’m already familiar with the story.

By the conclusion of THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER, the bodies of thirty young men are found and nearly all of them identified, thanks to the commitment of one scientist, who felt compelled to seek justice for Houston's Lost Boys. And thanks to the commitment of investigative journalist Lise Olsen, their stories are no longer buried in the past.

To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLTheScientistAndTheSerialKiller on your preferred social media platform.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lise Olsen is a senior investigative reporter and editor whose work has appeared in the Texas Observer, Inside Climate News, and the Houston Chronicle, as well as in documentaries on Netflix, CNN, A&E, and Paramount+.

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Shrimping West Texas ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Spotlight!

 

Shrimping West Texas:

The Rise and Fall of the

Permian Sea Shrimp Company

By Bart Reid

Nonfiction / Texana / Science / Aquaculture

Publisher: Texas Tech University Press

Pages: 256

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

SYNOPSIS

When you think of a marine environment, what do you picture? Wetlands, possibly; coastal shores, perhaps. When you think of a shrimp farm, what do you picture? Some folks who know a thing or two about aquaculture m ight say any marine or freshwater environment will do. Bart Reid, one of the founders of the Permian Sea Shrimp company, is here to tell you otherwise. 

Shrimping West Texas is the story of that business and the history of the harebrained notion that farming shrimp is possible in the West Texas desert.

Spanning twenty years of successes and failures, Reid captures the quintessential West Texas entrepreneurial spirit, tallies the unique environmental factors that made this possible, and depicts the motley crew of business folks, scientists, and schemers who were part of the tale.

CLICK TO PURCHASE:

TTU Press | Amazon | Bart’s Bay Armor

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bart Reid is a marine biologist with a master's degree from Texas A&M University. He has been in the aquaculture (fish farming) business for over thirty years. After many years of farming shrimp in West Texas. he now farms algae for Omega 3 supplements and bioplastics. He also owns Bart’s Bay Armor, a fishing apparel and wading boot company based out of Port Mansfield, Texas, where he fishes on the Laguna Madre.

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