This was quite a read. McCammon takes a so-real-it-hurts story set in 1930 Louisiana and subtly adds his own touches to it, a touch of magic, of otherworldliness. This element could easily overpower another story, make it solely supernatural, or even derail a serious plotline. But McCammon's book isn't really a book about psychics, or "listening" or anything so supernaturally mundane. At it's core, this book is about people, and about the best and the worst that they can be.

This book was not what I expected from Robert McCammon. I've read many of his other books and loved them. This book was just not great. The story was bleh. The characters were one-note. All the women in this story were either weak or evil manipulators. I felt like he could have resolved the story better as well. This book just felt like it was rushed, thrown together with trite stereotypes and an easy out.

Overall a loser for me.

Telepathic Talking & Listening
Review of the Audible Studios audiobook (February 27, 2018) narrated by [a:Marc Vietor|3044224|Marc Vietor|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1467059308p2/3044224.jpg] released simultaneously with the Cemetary Dance Publications hardcover original.

I'd never read anything from Robert McCammon previously, but after reading a recent enthusiastic 5-star review of [b:Boy's Life|36505403|Boy's Life|Robert McCammon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509393911l/36505403._SY75_.jpg|16685995] (1991) from GR friend Debbie Y I decided I had to check him out. Coincidentally a mid-March 2024 Audible 1/2 price sale provided this copy of The Listener shortly afterwards, so I dipped in with this shorter work.

This was a completely engaging crime story set mostly in 1934 New Orleans during the heart of the so-called "public enemies" era. The Lindbergh kidnapping (1932) and Bonnie & Clyde's rampage (ended in 1934) are reference points. A trio of small-time grifters come together to stage a double-kidnapping from a wealthy family. The villains are cold-blooded and merciless but unbeknowst to them, one of their victims has a special talent of telepathy which is connected to a similarly gifted teenage Red-Cap porter who works at the local railway station. As the porters in that era were exclusively Black-Americans this book also somewhat ties in to my recent read of Suzette Mayr's [b:The Sleeping Car Porter|61354631|The Sleeping Car Porter|Suzette Mayr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1656260378l/61354631._SY75_.jpg|96766786] (2022).

The story is harrowing enough on its own and may not have needed the supernatural connection element, but obviously some method of tracing and solving the crime was needed, so you just have to accept that sort of Stephen Kingish element to the story. I thought all of this was well done, and the narration by Marc Vietor in all voices was excellent as well.

There was an further element of peril added towards the end which did take it over the top somewhat though and a bit of a downbeat ending kept it out of 5-star territory for me. Still McCammon is terrific in atmosphere and scene setting and in the portrayal of the culprits who are chilling in the extreme (some of them more than others). I look forward to further McCammons in the future!

Trivia and Links
The foggy grey-white cover of both the English language hardcover and the audiobook editions has to be one of the dullest ever designed. Foreign language editions such as [b:Момчето, което чуваше всичко|54150049|Момчето, което чуваше всичко|Robert McCammon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1592470522l/54150049._SX50_.jpg|52610846] and [b:Słuchacz|61761160|Słuchacz|Robert McCammon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659003878l/61761160._SY75_.jpg|52610846] and [b:Слышащий|57904400|Слышащий|Robert McCammon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619819060l/57904400._SX50_.jpg|52610846] did so much more.

Not the best McCammon book but an enjoyable read. At times I wasn't sure who the main character was supposed to be but a good story.

As good as anything I've read over the last few years. Robert McCammon is a brilliant story teller.

3.5 stars

I had never read a Robert McCammon book before and I almost gave up on it early, which would have been a real travesty. It took a bit for me to immerse myself in his style and the early pages detailed a character, whose actions were so vile, that I really didn't know if I wanted to continue. So, I put the book aside.

But I knew from the description that I hadn't yet met one of the main characters, so I picked it up again, a few days later, to see if it got better for me. And I inhaled the rest in two nights. I'll long remember these characters and this story, with its haunting ending, and I will be sure to check out more from this author.

This book was weird. I don't remember why I put it on hold but as I was reading it, I had to keep re-calibrating what kind of book I thought it was going to be. It starts with a guy who is a traveling salesman/scam artist with a pretty sadistic streak, so I thought it was going to be about him as the bad guy since he was described as the embodiment of evil. Then he teams up with a female scam artist who is REALLY sadistic and it turns out that he is kind of dumb and not totally competent, so maybe she is the big bad. The two of them come up with this plot to kidnap to children in a long con and then escape to Mexico with the ransom money. Then the next part of the book starts and it is about this black man named Curtis who has a supernatural ability to hear some people's thoughts, but only the thoughts of others who are also "listeners," so he can carry on conversations with them across some distance. Think The Shining - in fact, think exactly The Shining, because there was so much of this that felt like a direct reference/tribute/rip-off of that book where a magical black man helps a white child with the same magical ability who is in a dangerous situation. Curtis is able to connect with the young girl who has been kidnapped by the two swindlers and he helps the authorities track them down.

I don't know- this book felt so weird to me. Everyone was acting in unrealistic ways. It felt problematic that a magical black man had to sacrifice his own safety to come to the rescue of beautiful wealthy white children. I kept questioning why he had to be black and they had to be white. Curtis' "listening" ability wasn't interesting as a supernatural phenomenon. They didn't really explore what it meant or the things that might be challenging about it. It was almost like he just had a private cell phone that connected to the kidnapped girl, and what is exciting about that? Also, there was this random maybe implied supernatural thing, or maybe a psychological disorder (?) going on with the female con artist that made no sense and just seemed to be thrown in there for no reason that made sense to me. I guess I just expected this book to be something different.

In this story, set in Depression-era New Orleans, McCammon has created a memorable cast of heroes and villains, which, along with an intriguing story and smooth prose, keeps the story barreling forward to a thrilling finish. While the supernatural element does loom large in the story, it plays no part in the main conflict. It is simply a crime suspense story about the kidnapping of the two children of a wealthy industrialist, and two of the characters are able to communicate with each other telepathically.

As skilled a writer as McCammon is, though, I was disappointed in two scenes he wrote that utilized two horrible tropes of the horror genre. In one,

Spoiler

a character who has been beaten to within an inch of his death is able to muster the strength, using a sharpened stick, to lance a person clean through the body, like the proverbial hot knife through butter. In another, a seemingly "dead" person suddenly springs up, alive, for one last gasp effort.

So, minus one star for those two silly bits. Other than that, if you are a McCammon fan, or you just enjoy a ripping crime thriller, I can heartily recommend this book.