The Underground Man Audiobook By Ross Macdonald cover art

The Underground Man

A Lew Archer Novel

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The Underground Man

By: Ross Macdonald
Narrated by: Tom Parker
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About this listen

As a mysterious fire rages through the hills above a privileged town in Southern California, Lew Archer tracks a missing child who may be the pawn in a marital struggle or the victim of a bizarre kidnapping. What he uncovers amid the ashes is murder - and a trail of motives as combustible as gasoline.

The Underground Man is a detective novel of merciless suspense and tragic depth, with an unfaltering insight into the moral ambiguities at the heart of California's version of the American dream.

More mayhem? Try our other Lew Archer mysteries.

©1998 Norman J Colavincenzo (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Action & Adventure Crime Hard-Boiled Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Disappearance Fiction
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Tightly-plotted Mysteries • Clever Narratives • Poetic Descriptions • Intriguing Stories • Full-fledged Plots
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My favorite of his books, red excellently by Gardener. Excellent classic hard-boiled stuff. Even better than the Blue Hammer.

Macdonalds best

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I feel like I'm getting a bit of Americana mixed with a bit of the old style wisecracking private dick. I wish there were a dozen more!

love this series

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Another great Archer mystery. The kidnapping of a child leads to the discovery of multiple murders done to cover-up one that happened 15 years before. Lots of possible killers, but the one that did it is the one no one suspected.

Long Dead

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Great story but Tom Parker was putting me to sleep. I’m sure Mr Parker is a fine speaker. But just not for this type of genre.

Great Story but…

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One of Ross McDonald's best, this tightly plotted mystery takes place during a wildfire that is both integral to the plot and essential to the mood. Think of the ally pervading smoky fog of Dickens' Bleak House ... Classic hard-boiled thriller, a la Raymond Chandler or Hammet.

Hard-boiled classic

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I’ve enjoyed all of the books I’ve listened to from the Archer series. The narrator is fantastic and really adds to the hard boiled detective aesthetic.

I enjoy the Archer series

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Ross MacDonald stories are just best detective stories. I just love the way he describes people and places. some are so funny that I actually laugh at them. Tom Parker's narration really makes the stories come alive! To me his voice is the voice the hard broiled detective! I've chosen number of titles to listen because he was the narrator.

Another great story!

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Evelyn Waugh considered P. G. Wodehouse to be one of the finest craftsmen of the English language in the 20th Century. Which, of course, makes “mentally negligible” Bertie Wooster, who narrates many of Wodehouse’s best books, one of those craftsmen.

Similarly, in his descriptions of seascapes, landscapes, faces, atmospheres, intuitions – in fact, everything – Lew Archer is very little short of a poet. It’s a tribute to Ross Macdonald’s skill that we (ok, I) revel in his finely rendered observations, never wondering how a hard-bitten (but not hard-hearted) private detective ever came up with them. But I don’t. I just enjoy the stories, especially this one. As usual, Tom Parker (aka Grover Gardner) performs Macdonald’s prose perfectly.

My Unconscious Suspension of Disbelief

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Well written crime suspense story and awesome spoken audible . Very fun to listen and envision!

Perfection

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Anyone who thinks the degeneration of the American family is something new will get an eye-opener in this story of twisted family values and a web of lies covering murders spanning three decades.

Even hardboiled Lew Archer, the classic auditor detective, was surprised and saddened when he finally solved this murder myster.

Ross Macdonald in Top Form

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