The Listener - Rambling Readers

Hardcover, 380 pages

Published by Cemetary Dance Publications.

ISBN:: 978-1-941971-24-6

(1 review)

It's 1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities. In the midst of this misery, some folks explored unscrupulous ways to make money. Angel-faced John Partlow and carnival huckster Ginger LaFrance are among the worst of this lot. Joining together they leave their small-time confidence scams behind to attempt an elaborate kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in New Orleans.

In a different part of town, Curtis Mayhew, a young black man who works as a redcap for the Union Railroad Station, has a reputation for mending quarrels and misunderstandings among his friends. What those friends don't know is that Curtis has a special talent for listening...and he can sometimes hear things that aren't spoken aloud.

One day, Curtis Mayhew's special talent allows him to overhear a child's cry for help (THIS MAN IN THE CAR HE'S GOT A GUN), which draws him into …

It's 1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities. In the midst of this misery, some folks explored unscrupulous ways to make money. Angel-faced John Partlow and carnival huckster Ginger LaFrance are among the worst of this lot. Joining together they leave their small-time confidence scams behind to attempt an elaborate kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in New Orleans.

In a different part of town, Curtis Mayhew, a young black man who works as a redcap for the Union Railroad Station, has a reputation for mending quarrels and misunderstandings among his friends. What those friends don't know is that Curtis has a special talent for listening...and he can sometimes hear things that aren't spoken aloud.

One day, Curtis Mayhew's special talent allows him to overhear a child's cry for help (THIS MAN IN THE CAR HE'S GOT A GUN), which draws him into the dangerous world of Partlow and LaFrance.

This gritty Depression-era crime thriller is a complex tale enriched by powerfully observed social commentary and hints of the supernatural, and it represents Robert McCammon writing at the very top of his game.

1 edition

DigitalRob reviewed The Listener by Robert McCammon

Worthy of the Gasps it Creates

5 stars

McCammon never fails to satisfy, and he definitely brings the emotion in this one.

Curtis is a Listener. He can hear and mentally speak with other listeners. He has a very specific telepathy; he can’t simply read minds. As a child, his mother took him to different types of doctors until one finally explained that he wasn't sick or crazy, just different, maybe blessed.

Nila, a young girl of 10, finds Curtis. She’s also a Listener and, like Curtis, she doesn’t know if the voices in her head are real.

From the shocking murders in the first chapter, the reader knows he’s in for a ride. Sadly, that murderer wasn’t even the worst character in the novel. Like Swan Song, the characters here embody different types of good and evil, and the unknown of their personalities makes it difficult to know where things will go until the end.

Once the …

McCammon never fails to satisfy, and he definitely brings the emotion in this one.

Curtis is a Listener. He can hear and mentally speak with other listeners. He has a very specific telepathy; he can’t simply read minds. As a child, his mother took him to different types of doctors until one finally explained that he wasn't sick or crazy, just different, maybe blessed.

Nila, a young girl of 10, finds Curtis. She’s also a Listener and, like Curtis, she doesn’t know if the voices in her head are real.

From the shocking murders in the first chapter, the reader knows he’s in for a ride. Sadly, that murderer wasn’t even the worst character in the novel. Like Swan Song, the characters here embody different types of good and evil, and the unknown of their personalities makes it difficult to know where things will go until the end.

Once the plot moves into the kidnapping, I found myself uplifted by Curtis’s need to help a stranger despite the many obstacles in doing so, race not being the smallest of those.

I listened to this book, and for the first time in a long time, I was worried for the characters and caught up in the moment. My walking pace was significantly faster the week I listened to this, and I frequently had to stop and unclench my fists. I even gasped aloud at a couple of events.

Readers should be aware that this book is set in the 1930s and has all the racist hallmarks of the period. They are important to the complications of the plot.

Subjects

Horror, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Mystery