The God of the Labyrinth
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Narrated by:
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Paul Jenkins
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By:
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Colin Wilson
About this listen
Gerard Sorme has been hired by a New York publisher to edit a book on Esmond Donelly, notorious 18th-century Irish rake, friend of Rousseau, Boswell, and Horace Walpole, and author of a bawdy work on the deflowering of virgins.
Sorme's quest for information on Donelly takes him to the home of a pyromaniac and flagellant in Baton Rouge, the labyrinthine corridors of the British Museum, and a remote castle in Ireland. As he digs deeper into the mystery of Donelly, Sorme uncovers a tale of intrigue, conspiracy, and murder involving a secret society, the Sect of the Phoenix, that dates back to medieval times. But the Sect still exists, and Sorme's researching has not gone unnoticed by powerful men who have their own reasons for wanting the truth about Esmond Donelly to remain hidden...
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Critic reviews
"The God of the Labyrinth (1970), the third book of Wilson's 'Gerard Sorme trilogy', is a novel in the mode of Jorge Luis Borges that explores two of Wilson's major interests - philosophy and sex - in the form of a thrilling literary mystery. 'He writes a clear, light prose, and he makes his interests, however bizarre, seem important." (Punch)
"One of the more earnest and interesting writers of his generation." (The Guardian)
"He has the kind of story-telling power which could charm the birds off the trees." (The Journal)
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Story
Madrid, 1980. Juan de Vere, nearly finished with his university degree, takes a job as personal assistant to Eduardo Muriel, an eccentric, once-successful film director. Urbane, discreet, irreproachable, Muriel is an irresistible idol to the young man. But Muriel's voluptuous wife, Beatriz, inhabits their home like an unwanted ghost, and on the periphery of their lives is Dr. Jorge Van Vechten, a family friend implicated in unsavory rumors that Muriel now asks Juan to investigate.
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Fascinating plot, superb performance, psychological depth
- By Doctor George on 12-05-16
By: Javier Marias, and others
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A Great Deliverance
- Inspector Lynley, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth George
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an ax in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry".
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good debut novel
- By Stevon on 11-11-19
By: Elizabeth George
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The Girls of Slender Means
- By: Muriel Spark
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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"Long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor, allowing for exceptions." Thus begins Muriel Spark's tragic and rapier-witted portrait of a London ladies' hostel just emerging from the shadow of World War II. Like the May of Teck Club building itself - "three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit" - its lady inhabitants do their best to act as if the world were back to normal, practicing elocution and jostling over suitors and a single Schiaparelli gown.
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please please try again
- By Consolation on 03-24-20
By: Muriel Spark
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Staying On
- By: Paul Scott
- Narrated by: Paul Shelley
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return ‘home’ when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pankot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire. Only the tyranny of their imposing landlady threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days.
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A Pleasant Meander
- By Ian C Robertson on 09-22-14
By: Paul Scott
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Beguiling the Beauty
- By: Sherry Thomas
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Duke of Lexington meets the mysterious Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg on a transatlantic liner, he is fascinated. She’s exactly what he’s been searching for - a beautiful woman who interests and entices him. He falls hard and fast - and soon proposes marriage. And then she disappears without a trace.… For in reality, the "baroness" is Venetia Easterbrook - a proper young widow who had her own vengeful reasons for instigating an affair with the duke. But the plan has backfired. Venetia has fallen in love with the man she despised - and there’s no telling what might happen when she is finally unmasked….
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Worth multiple listens
- By anonymous on 09-10-19
By: Sherry Thomas
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His Wicked Reputation
- By: Madeline Hunter
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Gareth Fitzallen is celebrated for four things: his handsome face, his notable charm, his aristocratic connections, and an ability to give the kind of pleasure that has women begging for more. Normally he bestows his talents on experienced, worldly women. But when he heads to Langdon's End to restore a property he inherited - and to investigate a massive art theft - he lays plans to seduce a most unlikely lady.
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Surprisingly good!
- By Jonna on 03-28-15
By: Madeline Hunter
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The brilliant Alexander McCall Smith became an international sensation with his New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. His award-winning wit, made famous through that series, is fully on display in 44 Scotland Street.
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Smith's answer to Maupin
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-05
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The Unsettled Dust
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Reece Shearsmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Aickman, the supreme master of the supernatural, brings together eight stories in which strange things happen that the reader is unable to predict. His characters are often lonely and middle-aged, but all have the same thing in common: they are brought to the brink of an abyss that shows how terrifyingly fragile our piece of mind actually is. 'The Unsettled Dust', 'The House of the Russians', 'No Stronger Than a Flower', 'The Cicerones' and 'Ravissante' first appeared in the Sub Rosa collection in 1968, but the stories were published together as The Unsettled Dust in 1990.
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Perfectly read, sheds new light on this work
- By James Townsend on 04-10-17
By: Robert Aickman
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The Luckiest Lady in London
- By: Sherry Thomas
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Felix Rivendale, the Marquess of Wrenworth, is The Ideal Gentleman, a man all men want to be and all women want to possess. Even Felix himself almost believes this golden image. But underneath is a damaged soul soothed only by public adulation.Louisa Cantwell needs to marry well to support her sisters. She does not, however, want Lord Wrenworth-though he seems inexplicably interested in her. She mistrusts his outward perfection, and the praise he garners everywhere he goes.
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Lovely story, extremely well-written
- By Jonna on 04-14-14
By: Sherry Thomas
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The Heart's Invisible Furies
- A Novel
- By: John Boyne
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
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Outstanding. A Must listen.
- By Keith G on 09-04-17
By: John Boyne
What listeners say about The God of the Labyrinth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Katrina
- 05-10-18
The book was an ok listen
The book was a fine listen to get me thru my commute. That being said, I don't think I will re-listen to the book again in the near future.
The story took about an hour to really come together for me. The first hour of the book seemed to jump around from topic to topic and was hard to follow what was going on. After about the first hour, the story really came together and everything was good from there. The characters sometimes feel a bit flat, but the writing was good enough to keep me listening without boredom (again, once I got past the first hour).
The narration was good. No unusual vocal ticks. I did find that I couldn't listen to the book any faster than 1.25 (I usually listen at 2x), but I think this is in large part because I don't typically listen to narrators with accents.
*I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review!
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- cosmitron
- 05-11-18
Sex,history but no Video tapes.
A very sexy mystery mixed with history and some Philosophy.
The Narrator keeps all the elements together with a good performance.
This is not a classic work of Art but it is entertaining for those
who enjoy this type of genre.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
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- Teresa
- 11-29-18
A Pretty Good Philosophical Story
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
This story is more like a philosophical approach to human sexuality than a novel. It's almost a dissertation that takes root in the need for men to justify their basic instincts. I was expecting a very different storyline, but in all honesty the mystery that is supposed to hold the story together is pretty fragile at best.
I also found that the main character came across as being a little whiny, with little backbone. Even though he professes great love for his wife and baby daughter, his multiple sexual encounters with strangers (so much for safe sex...) proves him to be opportunistic and inconsiderate. I don't know of any wife that would be that forgiving and open minded...
The excuse for these experimentations is the need to unravel the machination of an evil secret society. It is an excuse as good as any. But if that alone is not justification enough, the protagonist is also suffering from a state of possession by the spirit of a debauched rogue. At the end it is a story of voyeurism at its best where lust and reckless reign supreme. The writing however is good as is the narration. I did find that the author's explanation after the book ended, was a further attempt to justify his choice of subject matter and to offer a wordy explanation of why his writing is not pornography. I don't think that he's wrong in that as I didn't perceive the story as pornographic, but it is at the very least sexually graphic, so keep that in mind when deciding if it is a book for you.
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- Julia Irzyk
- 06-12-18
I wanted to like it, but I didn't...
This book reminds me a lot of the sort of pseudo-intellectual conversations you had in college while listening to Morrissey when you thought you were being deep, but when you get older you realize that it's circular self-aggrandizing nonsense.
I like a main character who has flaws, but there has to be something redemptive about the character as well. This guy thinks he's brilliant, repeatedly cheats on his wife sans guilt, and bemoans his life. What's to like? I quite simply didn't care what happened to him, and that's never good.
The reader was okay. His narration was fine, on tone, and solid. But the characters in the book are from all over the world, and alas I don't think accents are his forte. He made a run at one or two, but wasn't consistent and didn't make the voices distinct enough that without the "she said" I wouldn't know who was talking. I imagine he would be an excellent narrator for a non-fiction work as his voice is otherwise lovely and kept my attention (not droning, or weird affect).
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review, which is unfortunately what I've given it.
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