Preview
  • Beginner's Luck

  • By: Len Levinson
  • Narrated by: Fred Berman
  • Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (383 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Beginner's Luck

By: Len Levinson
Narrated by: Fred Berman
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

He killed before he could shoot, kissed before he could love, won before he could lose. He was too green to live, too lucky to die. He was a natural, born to be a legend. Beginner’s Luck. Bastard son of an outlaw and a whore, handsome Duane Braddock, seventeen, stumbles off the stage into lawless Titusville and gets his first look at the real world just before he’s robbed. Two weeks out of the monastery that raised him, Duane can’t ride a horse, shoot a gun, and is defenseless against the wiles of Wild West life, such as warm whiskey, wanton women, and screaming lead. But within forty-eight hours, Duane is feared by every gunman in the country as the notorious, quick-shooting, tough-riding, hard-loving Pecos Kid. Before the week is out, his victims include the town’s best and worst: the richest man, the meanest gang, the fastest gun, the prettiest woman, and the greatest friend a lucky new cowboy ever had. How it all comes to pass is how real legends are born…
©1992 Len Levinson (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

Broadway actor and award-winning voice talent Fred Berman gives a brilliant and nuanced performance of American author Len Levinson’s Beginner’s Luck, the first audiobook in the rip-roaring Pecos Kid series. In this crackling yarn, 17-year-old naïf Duane Braddock leaves the monastery where he was raised to seize his first taste of the whiskey and the women of the Wild West. Despite his sheltered upbringing, the handsome Duane - the progeny of an outlaw and a whore - experiences a meteoric rise to notoriety, becoming the most feared cowboy in the land.

What listeners say about Beginner's Luck

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    257
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    252
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    224
  • 4 Stars
    70
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beginner's Luck

This book was fun to read! A good boy learns to be a man in the old west.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Uniquely written!!

I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter. I can’t wait to start the next book in the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beginners Luck

This is a great western. Ken Levinson is new to me I will start following his books. This is book one in the series. It's interesting and holds your attention. Duane has to learn the way life is in the real world. He grew up to be a priest. If you listen to this book you will want to continue with the series. Fred Berman did a excellent job narrating this book. He gives each character there one voice and it's easy to tell who is talking. If my review is any help will you click on the helpful link below. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Monk to Gunfighter

I enjoyed this book. It kept my interest throughout. I was glad to see it had a happy ending. God was definitely on the young Dwayne's side these past two weeks.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best westerns I’ve heard.

Amazing book, so well performed. Thank you, I am absolutely going to look for more titles by this author and performer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Pecos Kid!

Duane Braddock, seventeen years old, is an orphan, raised in a Benedictine monastery high in the Guadalupita mountains. He was forced to leave for fighting with another acolyte. Duane was on the first journey of his life. Riding on a stage for the first time, he arrived in the town of Titusville. Lester Boggs, another passenger on the stage, graciously offered to buy Duane a steak dinner and to meet him later at the Crystal Palace. Duane was fascinated by the men, the guns, and the excitement of the town. Within four hours he was robbed, beaten, insulted, and humiliated. Singer, Vanessa Fontaine fills the romance role and adds the spice that was lacking. It is a good story. I liked it and recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

True Meaning of beginners luck

I loved it .Kept me cheering for the underdog the whole time. Is show that love and age doesn't matter

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome book as always

Better then Johnstone awesome I made the mistake of reading 134 and five then reading too I was not in any way shape or form disappointed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too Much Sexual Focus For My Preference inWesterns

Too Much Sexual Focus For My Preference in western stories. The stretch of what's "believable" might be hard for some swallow.


Performance was good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Series

Very well read. Reader truly makes the story come alive. Dare I say I like this author as much as Louis L. 5 stars across. If you like westerns, you love this author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful