The Big Seven Audiobook By Jim Harrison cover art

The Big Seven

A Faux Mystery

Preview

Try for $0.00
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.

The Big Seven

By: Jim Harrison
Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Confirm purchase
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.
Cancel

About this listen

Jim Harrison is one of our most renowned and popular authors, and his last novel, The Great Leader, was one of the most successful in a decorated career: It appeared on the New York Times extended best-seller list and was a national best-seller with rapturous reviews. His darkly comic follow-up, The Big Seven, sends Detective Sunderson to confront his new neighbors, a gun-nut family who live outside the law in rural Michigan.

Detective Sunderson has fled troubles on the home front and bought himself a hunting cabin in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No sooner has he settled in than he realizes his new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson's cleaning lady, a comely young Ames woman, is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson's advice on a crime novel he's writing, which may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the far greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor.

In a story shot through with wit, bedlam, and Sunderson's attempts to enumerate and master the seven deadly sins, The Big Seven is a superb reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of America's most irrepressible writers.

©2015 Jim Harrison / Text from Nightwood by Djuna Barnes © 1937 by Djuna Barnes. First published in the United States by Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1937. Second American edition published by New Directions, 1946. First published as New Directions Paperbook 98 in 1961. Reissued as New Directions Paperbook 1049 in 2006. (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Fiction Literary Fiction Suspense Mystery Suspense Detective
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Big Seven

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    71
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    76
  • 4 Stars
    43
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    64
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    12

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

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

Not Harrison's best

This has its moments but the testosterone fueled navel gazing is a bit too much. Check out Harrison's novellas or poetry to see him on his A-game. Beautifully narrated, however.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

lots of trees

Love Harrison's descriptions of rivers and trees and the people who value them. The story wrapped around these themes are just bonuses to me.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great sequel to The Great Leader

More great writing by Jim Harrison, and richly rewarding in the meditations and memories of Sunderson. The narration is excellent; I give it 4 stars only because the narrator mispronounces the names of some cities. For example, he fails to pronounce first word of Sault Saint Marie as "Sue" as anglophones do.

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
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

learn to pronounce the places in the book narrator

the constant mispronunciation of nearly every place the book is set in is extremely off putting and ruins an otherwise decent reading of a fine book

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

Less mystery than excuse for misogynistic misery

Articulate, meandering ( in a good way) but really not convinced that the repeated gratuitous sex ( think old man vs very young heroine) helps. Not sure why I stick with it. A few noble comments perhaps and great descriptions of food and fishing?

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

It's worth a listen

Sometimes, it would bring to mind Richard Brautagin's work. was surprised to it was prior.

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
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, poor performance.

Someone from the UP should have proof listened to this before it was released. Too many mispronounced places. Not as professional as I would expect.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Read Jim Harrison

He was fairly famous in his day but not talked about so much anymore. One of the great American writers.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Probably Harrison’s Worst Book

This probably Harrison’s worst book. The story doesn’t really make any sense, and he recycled many of the lines from other books. The narration is very sloppy. He or the production team were lazy to find out how to properly pronounce the names of places in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was hard to listen to.

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

Jim Harrison A Most Unique Author

Like the story’s protagonist I’m way to mentally lazy to write extensively in this review. I merely want to encourage listeners interested in understanding the weaknesses of 20th century everyday men to experience the special talent of Jim Harrison in creating highly enjoyable narrative that embodies all of his books. Dysfunctional humans set in the background of nature, culinary pleasures, alcoholism, murder and mayhem, sex and love. And seeing myself in the characters lives. Truly a page turner with such entertaining narration. I’m on to his next story.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!