The Listener

"McCammon masterfully combines historical thriller and supernatural horror in a compelling and suspenseful tale...." — Booklist (Starred Review)

The Listener
by Robert McCammon

Please Note: This title is now on the second printing of the First Edition!

Also available as an eBook:
Amazon.com * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * Apple iBooks

About the Book:
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.

A Note From Robert McCammon:
The Listener is about the kidnapping of two children and is set in New Orleans in 1934. This is a book I've been wanting to write for several years, since I discovered what an epidemic (a tragic epidemic, at that) kidnapping became during the desperation of the Great Depression. It got to be so bad that the New York Times began running a box at the top of the front page listing who had been kidnapped, and among those victims, which ones had been returned to their families. Desperate times, indeed. The Listener isn't exactly supernatural, though there is a "strange" element. I understand we all enjoy reading about vampires, werewolves, ghoulies, and other creatures of the night, but the most fearsome and deadly monster is the human being…and I believe I have created two of the most fearsome and horrific human beings in The Listener that you could ever fear to meet. And these people, I think, are likely the kind who would kidnap two children and not have much concern whether the kids lived or died. Grim stuff, but you can be sure there's someone in The Listener who embodies all the good qualities of the human kind who will move Heaven and Earth to find the children…though he's probably the last person anyone would think of as a "hero."

Trade hardcover edition:
• Printed on acid-free paper
• Bound in cloth with colored head and tail bands
• Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Wrapped in a full-color dust jacket ("light" colored cover displayed above)
• Retail price just $25

Signed & Slipcased Hardcover Limited Edition:
• Limited to just 600 signed and numbered copies housed in a custom-made slipcase
• Personally signed by the author on a unique signature page
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Bound in full-cloth with colored head and tail bands
• Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Printed and bound with full-color endpapers
• Smyth sewn to create a more durable binding
• Includes a full-color frontispiece painted by Mark Maddox that is not in the trade edition
• Includes interior illustrations by Chris Odgers that are not in the trade edition
• Wrapped in a DIFFERENT full-color dust jacket than the trade hardcover ("dark" colored cover displayed above)
• Limited ONE TIME printing of this special edition
• Retail price $125

Signed & Traycased Hardcover Lettered Edition:
• Limited to just 52 signed and lettered copies housed in a custom-made traycase
• Personally signed by the author on a unique signature page
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Bound in leather with colored head and tail bands
• Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Printed and bound with full-color endpapers
• Smyth sewn to create a more durable binding
• Includes a different frontispiece by Chris Odgers not in the trade or limited edition
• Includes interior illustrations by Chris Odgers that are not in the trade edition
• Wrapped in a DIFFERENT full-color dust jacket than the other two editions ("red" cover displayed above)
• Limited ONE TIME printing of this special edition
• Retail price $500

"McCammon masterfully combines historical thriller and supernatural horror in a compelling and suspenseful tale of race, class, and family... This is a violent and gritty tale, but redemption is always possible. The Listener will be popular with fans of occult thrillers like those by Dean Koontz or F. Paul Wilson, but also consider suggesting it to readers who enjoy the thought-provoking speculative fiction of Victor LaValle."
— Booklist (Starred Review)

"Race relations are one subject of this seductive slice of supernatural noir set in 1934 New Orleans... McCammon conjures believable characters whose sympathetic plight pulls the reader headlong into the novel’s volatile mix of crime and fantasy. Its tense finale, paced at breakneck speed, will have readers turning pages until its surprise-packed end."
— Publishers Weekly

"At a certain point in The Listener, you just have to hold on for dear life because this tale races to the denouement and you HAVE to know what happens. I recommend shutting yourself in a room for the last 50 pages so you can read it without being bothered. Trust me on this! You will be rewarded with an ending so poignant, yet so perfect and totally satisfying that you might find yourself with a tear in your eye."
— Char's Horror Corner

"It’s not every day you come across such an intoxicating blend of literary prowess and unapologetic adventure-seeking as what Robert McCammon delivers with The Listener."
— Pete Mesling in his review "Softly Comes but Firmly Stays the Listener"

Robert McCammon is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one novels, as well as several novellas and short story collections.  He is the winner of five Bram Stoker Awards and a World Fantasy Award. He is best known for Swan Song (1987), The Wolf’s Hour (1989), and Boy’s Life (1991). More recently, McCammon has published The Five, which Stephen King called his best novel ever, and The Border, and is writing the Matthew Corbett series, a nine-book series of historical thrillers that USA Network has called "the Early American James Bond." McCammon lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

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