-
The Abstainer
- A Novel
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 10 hrs
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
“This is Dickens in the present tense, Dickens for the 21st century.” (Roddy Doyle, The New York Times Book Review)
An Irishman in 19th-century England is forced to take sides when his nephew joins the bloody underground movement for independence in this propulsive novel from the acclaimed author of The North Water.
Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by Chicago Tribune and One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The New York Public Library • New Statesman • Publishers Weekly
Manchester, England, 1867. The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already plotting its revenge. Stephen Doyle, an Irish American veteran of the Civil War, arrives in Manchester from New York with a thirst for blood. He has joined the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland by any means necessary.
Head Constable James O’Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester. His job is to discover and thwart the Fenians’ plans, whatever they might be. When a long-lost nephew arrives on O’Connor’s doorstep looking for work, he cannot foresee the way his fragile new life will be imperiled - and how his and Doyle’s fates will become fatally intertwined.
In this propulsive tale of the underground war for Irish independence, the author of The North Water once again transports listeners to a time when blood begot blood. Moving from the dirt and uproar of industrial Manchester to the quiet hills of rural Pennsylvania, The Abstainer is a searing novel in which two men, haunted by their pasts and driven forward by the need for justice and retribution, must fight for life and legacy.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Hyde
- A Novel
- By: Craig Russell
- Narrated by: James Cosmo
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Victorian Edinburgh. Captain Edward Henry Hyde is chief detective for the City of Edinburgh Police; as such, he is responsible for investigating all murders and serious crimes in the city. Hyde is a striking but severe-looking man who provokes unease, and often fear, in those who encounter him. Nevertheless, Edward Hyde is truly a good man...though he wrestles fiercely with his own unique demons.
-
-
Very like The Devil Aspect
- By MamaBear on 06-01-22
By: Craig Russell
-
The North Water
- A Novel
- By: Ian McGuire
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage.
-
-
Reader / Listener Beware
- By Kristine A. on 12-23-17
By: Ian McGuire
-
Small Mercies
- A Novel
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched.
-
-
Sadly these streets are my home…
- By shipyardjay on 05-10-23
By: Dennis Lehane
-
The Cold Dish
- A Walt Longmire Mystery
- By: Craig Johnson
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introducing Wyoming's Sheriff Walt Longmire in this riveting novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Dry Bones, the first in the Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. Johnson draws on his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, full of memorable characters.
-
-
Not Your Ordinary Western Novel (Series)
- By Dataman on 09-12-12
By: Craig Johnson
-
Dracul
- By: Dacre Stoker, J.D. Barker
- Narrated by: Pete Bradbury, Vikas Adam, Saskia Maarleveld, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's - and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them. It is 1868, and a 21-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here....
-
-
So Well Done
- By DobieChuck on 01-01-19
By: Dacre Stoker, and others
-
The Terror
- A Novel
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Tom Sellwood
- Length: 28 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The men onboard HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.
-
-
Very good then, NOT
- By Randall on 07-24-18
By: Dan Simmons
-
Hyde
- A Novel
- By: Craig Russell
- Narrated by: James Cosmo
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Victorian Edinburgh. Captain Edward Henry Hyde is chief detective for the City of Edinburgh Police; as such, he is responsible for investigating all murders and serious crimes in the city. Hyde is a striking but severe-looking man who provokes unease, and often fear, in those who encounter him. Nevertheless, Edward Hyde is truly a good man...though he wrestles fiercely with his own unique demons.
-
-
Very like The Devil Aspect
- By MamaBear on 06-01-22
By: Craig Russell
-
The North Water
- A Novel
- By: Ian McGuire
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage.
-
-
Reader / Listener Beware
- By Kristine A. on 12-23-17
By: Ian McGuire
-
Small Mercies
- A Novel
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched.
-
-
Sadly these streets are my home…
- By shipyardjay on 05-10-23
By: Dennis Lehane
-
The Cold Dish
- A Walt Longmire Mystery
- By: Craig Johnson
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introducing Wyoming's Sheriff Walt Longmire in this riveting novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Dry Bones, the first in the Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. Johnson draws on his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, full of memorable characters.
-
-
Not Your Ordinary Western Novel (Series)
- By Dataman on 09-12-12
By: Craig Johnson
-
Dracul
- By: Dacre Stoker, J.D. Barker
- Narrated by: Pete Bradbury, Vikas Adam, Saskia Maarleveld, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's - and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them. It is 1868, and a 21-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here....
-
-
So Well Done
- By DobieChuck on 01-01-19
By: Dacre Stoker, and others
-
The Terror
- A Novel
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Tom Sellwood
- Length: 28 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The men onboard HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.
-
-
Very good then, NOT
- By Randall on 07-24-18
By: Dan Simmons
-
Farthing
- Small Change, Book 1
- By: Jo Walton
- Narrated by: John Keating, Bianca Amato
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One summer weekend in 1949 - but not our 1949 - the well-connected "Farthing set", a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before....
-
-
It Couldn't Happen Here, Right? RIGHT?
- By Nancy J on 05-29-13
By: Jo Walton
-
All Is Not Forgiven
- By: Joe Kenda
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell, Bradford Hastings
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rookie Det. Kenda investigates a 1975 case that begins with the murder of a beloved Colorado philanthropist and society figure whose husband, a gambler and womanizer, appears to have an air-tight alibi. Mentored by his veteran partner Det. Lee Wilson, a former Nashville singer turned skilled investigator, Kenda’s case quickly attracts attention from the FBI, CIA, and Interpol, for its similarity to a string of killings involving wealthy married women. All the murders appear to have been committed by a hired professional.
-
-
Seamless transition from true crime to fiction!
- By shelley on 07-27-23
By: Joe Kenda
-
The Tenant
- By: Katrine Engberg
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a young woman is found brutally murdered in her own apartment with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. Soon, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist - and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows.
-
-
THOROUGHLY enjoyed this!!!
- By Mary C. Garrison on 02-10-20
By: Katrine Engberg
-
A Drink Before the War
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With novels like Mystic River and Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane has dramatically altered the landscape of the crime thriller—while boldly overstepping the boundaries that have long separated mystery from literature. Now two of his sensational early novels have been combined in a single volume—two gritty and mesmerizing masterworks of suspense featuring the private eye duo of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
-
-
White Bread
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-30-12
By: Dennis Lehane
-
The Cold, Cold Ground
- Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
- By: Adrian McKinty
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things—and people—aren’t always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It’s no easy job—especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force.
-
-
Listen to this book. You won't be disappointed.
- By Christopher on 01-21-12
By: Adrian McKinty
-
Freaky Deaky
- By: Elmore Leonard
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He used to be on the bomb squad, but it's not until he transfers out that Chris Mankowski really begins juggling with dynamite. Rape and revenge are just the tip of the iceberg in a twisty tale that brings Detroit's denizens to life - and occasional death - in all their seedy glory. Electrifying, explosive, and unexpected, this is Elmore Leonard at his suspenseful best.
-
-
Spun me like a drunk dervish
- By Darwin8u on 11-04-15
By: Elmore Leonard
-
Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
-
First Strike
- By: Christopher G. Nuttall
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starting a war with an enemy 100 times stronger is insane. It’s desperate. And it’s Earth’s only hope. A massive alien power looms over humanity, claiming Earth as its territory and humanity as its slaves. The Hegemony has already taken over one colony, yoking hundreds of thousands under their brutal rule. Every tactical exercise, every war game, and every simulation gives humanity zero chance in a defensive campaign.
-
-
question
- By RC Williams on 07-02-20
-
Safe Houses
- A Novel
- By: Dan Fesperman
- Narrated by: Dan Fesperman
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
West Berlin, 1979. Helen Abell oversees the CIA's network of safe houses, rare havens for field agents and case officers amidst the dangerous milieu of a city in the grips of the Cold War. Helen's world is upended when, during her routine inspection of an agency property, she overhears a meeting between two unfamiliar people speaking a coded language that hints at shadowy realities far beyond her comprehension. Before the day is out, she witnesses a second unauthorized encounter, one that will place her in the sight lines of the most ruthless and powerful man at the agency.
-
-
Fiction from Truth
- By Sue MB on 11-10-18
By: Dan Fesperman
-
Dear Committee Members
- A Novel
- By: Julie Schumacher
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels.
-
-
Hysterically funny and poignant
- By Catherine on 12-15-14
By: Julie Schumacher
-
A Disappearance in Fiji
- By: Nilima Rao
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1914, Fiji: 25-year-old Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise—or, as he calls it, “this godforsaken island.” After a promising start to his police career in his native India and Hong Kong, Akal has been sent to Fiji as punishment for a humiliating professional mistake. Lonely and grumpy, Akal plods through his work and dreams of getting back to Hong Kong. When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji’s newspapers scream “kidnapping,” the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case.
-
-
Good historical story
- By JU on 09-20-23
By: Nilima Rao
-
Essex Dogs
- A Novel
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
July 1346. Ten men land on the beaches of Normandy. They call themselves the Essex Dogs: an unruly platoon of archers and men-at-arms led by a battle-scarred captain whose best days are behind him. The fight for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe has begun. Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crécy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations, and shape the very fabric of human lives. But first they must survive a bloody war in which rules are abandoned and chivalry itself is slaughtered.
-
-
Mixed feelings, but a wonderful first!
- By Matthew K. on 03-17-23
By: Dan Jones
Critic reviews
“Compelling ... The physical world that [McGuire] imagines assails the reader’s senses: the stink of a tannery, the clangour of factory bells and the way O’Connor’s grief drives him to a ruthlessness beyond his nature.” (The Economist)
“O’Connor’s showdown with Stephen Doyle delivers a gut-wrenching finale that will leave readers hoping desperately that McGuire (The North Water, 2016) has an O’Connor prequel in the works. O’Connor’s palpable alienation and the subtly drawn comparisons between the Irish insurgency and America’s then-recent civil war create layers of depth in this exceptional period thriller.” (Booklist, starred review)
“[A] taut, atmospheric tale ... McGuire demonstrates a mastery of classic realism. [This] crackling work is one to savor.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
Related to this topic
-
The Grand Dark
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison - a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos. The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war’s horrifying despair.
-
-
Kadrey does it again!
- By Lilah Quinn on 06-14-19
By: Richard Kadrey
-
The Darwin Affair
- A Novel
- By: Tim Mason
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later - and only a block away - Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Was Victoria really the assassin's target? Are those closest to the Crown hiding something? Soon, Field's investigation exposes a shocking conspiracy in which the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species sets off a string of murders, arson, kidnapping, and the pursuit of a diabolical madman.
-
-
Dickensian “Jack the Ripper”
- By Kate on 07-14-19
By: Tim Mason
-
What Angels Fear
- Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1
- By: C. S. Harris
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
-
-
An Addictive Series
- By Bibliophile1963 on 10-17-16
By: C. S. Harris
-
The Woman in the Green Dress
- By: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards can’t wait for her new husband, Hugh, to return from the Great War. But when word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a sizable family fortune. Refusing to accept the inheritance, she heads to his beloved home country of Australia in search of the relatives who deserve it more.
-
-
A Haunting 6- Star Review
- By Victoria J. Mejia-Gewe on 06-09-21
By: Tea Cooper
-
The Barrakee Mystery
- By: Arthur W. Upfield
- Narrated by: Peter Hosking
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why was the redoubtable King Henry, an aborigine from Western Australia, killed during a thunderstorm in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? And who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent? This first story of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the half-aborigine detective, takes him to a sheep station in the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well... mixed blood and divided loyalties.
-
-
Story from another time....
- By VtAdrienne on 06-15-15
-
The Ventriloquists
- A Novel
- By: E. R. Ramzipoor
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 20 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s entire world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network that publishes dissident underground newspapers. The Nazis track down Aubrion’s team and give them an impossible choice: Turn the resistance newspapers into a Nazi propaganda bomb that will sway public opinion against the Allies, or be killed.
-
-
Too much love story for me
- By Melissa on 01-04-21
By: E. R. Ramzipoor
-
The Grand Dark
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison - a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos. The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war’s horrifying despair.
-
-
Kadrey does it again!
- By Lilah Quinn on 06-14-19
By: Richard Kadrey
-
The Darwin Affair
- A Novel
- By: Tim Mason
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later - and only a block away - Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Was Victoria really the assassin's target? Are those closest to the Crown hiding something? Soon, Field's investigation exposes a shocking conspiracy in which the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species sets off a string of murders, arson, kidnapping, and the pursuit of a diabolical madman.
-
-
Dickensian “Jack the Ripper”
- By Kate on 07-14-19
By: Tim Mason
-
What Angels Fear
- Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1
- By: C. S. Harris
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
-
-
An Addictive Series
- By Bibliophile1963 on 10-17-16
By: C. S. Harris
-
The Woman in the Green Dress
- By: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards can’t wait for her new husband, Hugh, to return from the Great War. But when word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a sizable family fortune. Refusing to accept the inheritance, she heads to his beloved home country of Australia in search of the relatives who deserve it more.
-
-
A Haunting 6- Star Review
- By Victoria J. Mejia-Gewe on 06-09-21
By: Tea Cooper
-
The Barrakee Mystery
- By: Arthur W. Upfield
- Narrated by: Peter Hosking
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why was the redoubtable King Henry, an aborigine from Western Australia, killed during a thunderstorm in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? And who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent? This first story of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the half-aborigine detective, takes him to a sheep station in the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well... mixed blood and divided loyalties.
-
-
Story from another time....
- By VtAdrienne on 06-15-15
-
The Ventriloquists
- A Novel
- By: E. R. Ramzipoor
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 20 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s entire world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network that publishes dissident underground newspapers. The Nazis track down Aubrion’s team and give them an impossible choice: Turn the resistance newspapers into a Nazi propaganda bomb that will sway public opinion against the Allies, or be killed.
-
-
Too much love story for me
- By Melissa on 01-04-21
By: E. R. Ramzipoor
-
The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
- By: Hester Fox
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tabby has a peculiar gift: She can communicate with the recently departed. It makes her special, but it also makes her dangerous. As an orphaned child, she fled with her sister, Alice, from their charlatan aunt Bellefonte, who wanted only to exploit Tabby's gift so she could profit from the recent craze for seances. Now a young woman and tragically separated from Alice, Tabby works with her adopted father, Eli, the kind caretaker of a large Boston cemetery.
-
-
It was a good story
- By LYSO129 on 12-13-23
By: Hester Fox
-
Belle Cora
- A Novel
- By: Phillip Margulies
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the home where Arabella Godwin was raised it is forbidden to speak her name, and her picture is turned to the wall. But in the turbulent America of the 1850s, everyone knows her as "Belle Cora", madam of San Francisco's finest bordello. Judges and senators do her bidding; a vicious newspaper editor plots her downfall; a preacher looks at her from across his pulpit and tries to forget that once she was his wife. Merchant's daughter, farm girl, prostitute, mother - the only thing that never changes is her tireless pursuit of the one man who can see her for who she really is.
-
-
excellent
- By Patricia on 05-15-20
-
The Traitor
- By: V.S. Alexander
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1942, as war rages across Europe, a series of anonymous leaflets appears around the University of Munich, speaking out against escalating Nazi atrocities. The leaflets are hidden in public places, or mailed to addresses selected at random from the phone book. Natalya Petrovich, a student, knows who is behind the leaflets - a secret group called the White Rose, led by siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends. As a volunteer nurse on the Russian front, Natalya witnessed the horrors of war first-hand. She willingly enters the White Rose's circle....
-
-
Not all the Germans are guilty.
- By Judy Harley on 09-18-20
By: V.S. Alexander
-
The Third Mrs. Galway
- By: Deirdre Sinnott
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1835 in Utica, New York, and newlywed Helen Galway discovers a secret: Two runaway slaves are hiding in the shack behind her husband’s house. Suddenly, she is at the center of not only the era’s greatest moral dilemma, but her own, as well. Should she be a “good wife” and report the fugitives to her husband? Or will she defy convention and come to their aid? Within her home, Helen is haunted by the previous Mrs. Galway, recently deceased but still an oppressive presence.
-
-
Never thought I'd enjoy a novel so much.
- By HBvideo on 12-01-21
By: Deirdre Sinnott
-
The Conductors
- By: Nicole Glover
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, were Conductors on the Underground Railroad, ferrying dozens of slaves to freedom with daring, cunning, and magic that draws its power from the constellations. With the war over, those skills find new purpose as they solve mysteries and murders that White authorities would otherwise ignore. In the heart of Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward, everyone knows that when there’s a strange death or magical curses causing trouble, Hetty and Benjy are the only ones who can solve the case.
-
-
Very Good
- By Mother of Pearl 3 on 08-01-21
By: Nicole Glover
-
The Fixer
- A Novel
- By: Bernard Malamud
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.
-
-
Technical Problems Need To Ne Resolved
- By REX LANYI on 12-24-20
By: Bernard Malamud
-
Low Town
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Polansky
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops...and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its champion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs.
-
-
Noir and fantasy walk into a bar...
- By Reviews by L on 12-16-15
By: Daniel Polansky
-
Death at Greenway
- A Novel
- By: Lori Rader-Day
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning author of The Day I Died and The Lucky One, a captivating suspense novel about nurses during World War II who come to Agatha Christie’s holiday estate to care for evacuated children, but when a body is discovered nearby, the idyllic setting becomes host to a deadly mystery.
-
-
Wonderful story & characters that kept me company
- By Kim Fountain on 10-24-21
By: Lori Rader-Day
-
Invisible Man
- A Novel
- By: Ralph Ellison
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching—yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places. It is a book that has a great deal to say and which is destined to have a great deal said about it.
-
-
How Did This Escape Me?
- By E. Pearson on 11-23-11
By: Ralph Ellison
-
Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit
- A Felicity Carrol Mystery
- By: Patricia Marcantonio
- Narrated by: Lillian Rachel
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Felicity Carrol is interested in everything - except being a proper young matron of Victorian society. Brilliant and resourceful, Felicity took refuge in science and education after her mother died and her father abandoned her to servants. Now, all he wants is for her to marry into a family of status and money. Felicity has other ambitions - but her plans shudder to a halt when her mentor is murdered at the British Museum and his priceless manuscript of King Arthur lore is stolen.
-
-
No thanks
- By John S. on 07-04-20
-
Cocaine Blues
- By: Kerry Greenwood
- Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the end of the roaring twenties, and the exuberant and Honourable Phryne Fisher is dancing and gaming with gay abandon. But she becomes bored with London and the endless round of parties. In search of excitement, she sets her sights on a spot of detective work in Melbourne, Australia. And so mystery and the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse, appear in her life. From then on it's all cocaine and communism until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.
-
-
A series that just gets better
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 02-01-11
By: Kerry Greenwood
-
A Beautiful Blue Death
- Charles Lenox Mysteries Series #1
- By: Charles Finch
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery. Prudence Smith, one of Jane's former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison.
-
-
I like cozy
- By Sheryl on 05-21-12
By: Charles Finch
What listeners say about The Abstainer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C.Espinosa
- 12-12-20
Excellently written, wonderful descriptions, depressing
The book is incredibly well written but is Depressingly realistic . The title is significant. I listened to it and the narrator was excellent. The writing is Dickensian as per the New York Times reviews. And the story is like the history of Ireland, frustratingAnd feels hopeless.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-30-21
Ruthless
Well written depressing story read by narrator employing whispering and modulation, then full voice for affect. If you turn up the volume for very quiet bits, it’s followed by loud, punishing noise. It’s ceaseless.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Spam
- 12-31-20
Not very good.
I loved North Water so I was really looking forward to this one.
It is OK. But not even close to as well written and cleverly plotted as North Water. The narration in Irish is good. But when the narrator switches to some weird Long Island/Brooklyn accent for one of the main characters it is kind of cringy.
The bar was set high by North Water. This one is not ven close. Some authors only have one great book in them.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Sims
- 12-28-21
Great story, Disappointing end
Without giving it away, the ending is less than satisfactory, appearing to be whipped together to meet some unbeknownst writer / publishing deadline or requirement where an inconsequential character is given the final word. It makes me wonder if the author ended up despising the protagonist he created. After feeling excited throughout, I ended up exhausted and disappointed. It’s a great story, but be prepared to be left wanting in the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Holger Buerger
- 02-17-21
Great start - strange finish
It’s pretty good but to focused and narrow to be really helpful. The end is just hopeless. Kinda like: ‘I need to finish this somehow’. A bit disappointing. The narration is excellent though.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Josef Sikelianos
- 01-31-21
Challenging.
I read the north water and loved it. I think this is a great piece of writing as well, but it’s not easy. I decided to ignore the negative reviews I read and I’m glad I did. The historical context, the story, the language all make it worthwhile. That said, I felt a little disappointed with the last chapter. It’s just one way the story could end. The rest of the ride was exceptional enough that I took it in stride, These books remind me of Cormac McCarthy’s writing and I think they’re classic. Looking forward to the next one. But yeah if you’re looking for easy reading or uplifting conventional fiction - the kind of stuff that there’s way too much of on offer in my opinion- you’ll probably be disappointed. The material is believable - and based on historical events - and I think it’s worth considering what life would be like for characters such as these. Imagining such a world requires empathy and offers a bit of perspective on my life of relative comfort, which is valuable in itself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- W. Murphy
- 12-18-20
“Pinky Blinders” meets “The Abstainer”
Story could have been a third shorter and more focused on main character’s search for love. Story does link closely to “Pinky Blinders” (Netflix Series)except for the time difference.
Narration is very good.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- paul
- 09-25-20
STOP NOW! TOO MANY SPOILERS!!
This is a terrific story. I was absorbed. It paints a very bleak and sensory picture, and if you enjoyed North Water, you will love this. Some of the other reviews are too revealing with regards to the ending. Don't blow it by reading more reviews ... just go by the stars if you want to gauge other readers' opinions. I will leave it at that. enjoy!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DFK
- 12-20-22
Engrossing heartbreaking story
I enjoyed the book a lot and was totally engrossed. I would give 4.5 stars, though, because I found the end chapter strange and unsatisfying (as some other reviewers wrote). I don’t think it is a spoiler to say so. Listen to the book. You will be moved and the drama is excellent. I also would take a bit of a star away from the reader, who tended to lower his voice sometimes for effect, but then I couldn’t hear everything he said, had to back up, listen again at higher volume, then lower the volume again. This was disrupting. Considering how much I enjoyed the book (if “enjoy” is the right word for a book depicting so much misery and strife), those are minor matters.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-09-21
On par with Northwater
If you liked the North Water you’ll like this. If you don’t enjoy this book you’re likely a boring and/uninteresting person.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful