Underground Airlines
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Narrated by:
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William DeMeritt
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By:
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Ben Winters
About this listen
It is the present day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking, and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: The Civil War never occurred.
A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshal Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four". On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right—with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.
A mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a plantation and works to infiltrate the local cell of an abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child, who may be Victor's salvation. Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all—though his true self remains buried, it threatens to surface.
Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four—secrets the government will preserve at any cost.
Underground Airlines is a groundbreaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe.
©2016 Ben Winters (P)2016 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
Campbell Memorial Award, 2017, Third Place
NOMINATED FOR THE BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL ITW THRILLER AWARD
A FINALIST FOR THE CHAUTAUQUA PRIZE
A New York Times Bestseller; a Goodreads Choice finalist; named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, Slate, Publishers Weekly, Hudson Bookseller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kirkus Reviews, AudioFile Magazine, and Amazon
"This one kept me up at night and changed the way I saw the world once I was finished."—Ann Patchett, Time
"This is one of the most thoughtful and inventive books I've read. Part alternate history and part detective novel, Underground Airlines couldn't be more timely or thrilling. It's a page-turner with a big mission: to warn against placing our history on a dusty shelf. On every page is the spirit of Faulkner's quote—The past is never dead. It's not even past. Here, Winters takes America's legacy as a slaveholding nation all the way to its logical and terrifying conclusion."—Attica Locke, Edgar Award-nominated author of Bluebird, Bluebird
"An extraordinary work of alternate history . . . Indisputably a winner"—Maureen Corrigan, NPR
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On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America - and into another realm. One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery.
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Still Good
- By Bill S. on 03-24-10
By: Stephen King, and others
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Niceville
- By: Carsten Stroud
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A boy literally disappears from Main Street. A security camera captures the moment of his instant, inexplicable vanishing. An audacious bank robbery goes seriously wrong: Four cops are gunned down; a TV news helicopter is shot and spins crazily out of the sky, triggering a disastrous cascade of events that ricochet across twenty different lives over the course of just 36 hours. Nick Kavanaugh, a cop with a dark side, investigates. Soon he and his wife, Kate, a distinguished lawyer from an old Niceville family, find themselves struggling to make sense of it all.
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Good Story- Wrong Reader
- By Stacy on 06-28-14
By: Carsten Stroud
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Cash City
- By: Jonathan Fredrick
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It is an obsession that has haunted Nick Malick for seven years - to avenge the murder of his young son. In his gut Malick knows who did it. But the psychopath is in prison for another crime, scheduled to be released in a year. All Malick has to do is wait...and survive.
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Great New Series
- By Lia on 08-21-17
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Fourth of July Creek
- A Novel
- By: Smith Henderson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Jenna Lamia
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
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The Ghost of Tom Joad & the Wrath of Grapes
- By Mel on 06-30-14
By: Smith Henderson
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A Drink Before the War
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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White Bread
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-30-12
By: Dennis Lehane
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Cold City
- Repairman Jack: Early Years Trilogy, Book 1
- By: F. Paul Wilson
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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If you've never read a Repairman Jack novel, this is the place to begin. It's 1990. A twenty-one-year-old named Jack has dropped out of college, leaving his old life behind to build a new one in New York City. Manhattan's rough edges are jagged enough to shred any unwary newcomer, but perhaps not one who is determined to stay off the grid, at any cost, in the busiest metropolis on earth. And to do so, he'll have to take jobs of a less than legal nature.
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Fun, as long you don't think too much
- By Andrew Pollack on 01-17-14
By: F. Paul Wilson
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The Hundredth Man
- Carson Ryder/Harry Nautilus #1
- By: Jack Kerley
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When bizarre and cryptic messages are found on a pair of corpses in Mobile, Alabama, junior police detective Carson Ryder and veteran cop Harry Nautilus find themselves in a mysterious public-relations quagmire pitting public safety against office politics. With the body count growing, Ryder must confront his family's terrifying past by seeking advice from his brother, a violent psychopath convicted of similarly heinous crimes.
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Definitely a case for Matthew McConnaghey
- By Cheryl on 08-19-14
By: Jack Kerley
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Past Crimes
- A Van Shaw Novel
- By: Glen Erik Hamilton
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From the time he was six years old, Van Shaw was raised by his Irish immigrant grandfather, Donovan, to be a thief - to boost cars, beat security alarms, crack safes, and burglarize businesses. But at 18 Dono's namesake and protégé suddenly broke all ties to that life and the people in it. Van escaped into the military, serving as an elite army ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, after ten years of silence, Dono has asked his grandson to come home to Seattle.
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15 Stars! Okay?
- By Ted on 03-06-16
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The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
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My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
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Pandemonium
- By: Daryl Gregory
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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It is a world like our own in every respect, save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. As a boy, Del Pierce is possessed by the Hellion, an entity whose mischief-making can be deadly. With the help of Del's family and a caring psychiatrist, the demon is exorcised... or is it?
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Random demonic possession
- By Michael G Kurilla on 11-17-24
By: Daryl Gregory
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Dynamite Road
- A Weiss and Bishop Novel
- By: Andrew Klavan
- Narrated by: Andrew Klavan
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A routine investigation into corruption at a North Californian airport sets in motion shocking events that lead hard man Jim Bishop and world-weary ex-cop boss Scott Weiss into the center of a massive criminal conspiracy. The trail of blood that ensues brings them dangerously closer to Weiss's old nemesis, an expert gun-for-hire known only as Shadowman and to a plan set to climax with an act of audacious violence and a murder that would be impossible for any killer but one....
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Fantastic Read
- By Peter Gage on 02-20-09
By: Andrew Klavan
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Last Call
- By: Tim Powers
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Scott Crane abandoned his career as a professional poker player 20 years ago and hasn’t returned to Las Vegas, or held a hand of cards, in 10 years. But troubling nightmares about a strange poker game he once attended on a houseboat on Lake Mead are drawing him back to the magical city. For the mythic game he believed he won did not end that night in 1969—and the price of his winnings was his soul. Now, a pot far more strange and perilous than he ever could imagine depends on the turning of a card.
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Powers is Under-represented on Audible
- By tim on 01-18-11
By: Tim Powers
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Good People
- By: Marcus Sakey
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean, Dan John Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The $400,000 would take care of the mortgage payments that are starting to back up on Tom and Anna Reed. It would cover the credit-card debt they can't get out from under. It would help them find a way to have the child they desperately want but can't seem to conceive. It is more money than either of them has ever seen in one place. But they have no idea what it's doing in their house.
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What were the producers thinking?
- By cristina on 08-04-13
By: Marcus Sakey
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Koko
- Blue Rose Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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KOKO. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They are Vietnam vets — a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a single shattering secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take them from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York.
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7 hours in and I am done
- By bionichands on 01-26-12
By: Peter Straub
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What listeners say about Underground Airlines
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kathy
- 01-29-18
Kept me under my headphones without pause
Stunningly good. Frighteningly relevant. Superb narration. This novel, in its clear-eyed descriptions of race relations in the United States, will profoundly affect you. #tagsgiving #sweepstakes
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tony M
- 01-14-17
Better than expected
I love the idea of this book and hope that it becomes a series. There are so many different type of scenarios and stories that could be told under this premise. I really enjoyed the performance of the narrator too.
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2 people found this helpful
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- priggs7
- 02-27-17
3.5 stars
Book Club read. Interesting premise. Some time flaws. Would make a suspenseful film. Narrator does a good job interpreting the main character.
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1 person found this helpful
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- R. Freeman
- 12-02-18
Not sure why it's been well received.
Really struggled to get to the end on this one. So much drama, for a Deus Ex Machina ending that almost seemed to have been tacked on to let the thing stop.
Also, and perhaps worst, is that while there is significant AWARENESS of the "white savior" mentality (they even call it Mockingbird mentality - a nod to an altered version of Harper Lee's classic) it is so thickly layered in to the story it's almost it's own character. For a book that presumes to allow for oppressed people to speak for themselves, that's a serious failing.
Skip it unless you just HAVE to read for some reason.
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- bookworm002
- 11-11-18
Is it a Movie Yet?
Yo. Is this a Movie Yet?! I haven't finished the book (halfway) and I feel the urge to review it. I absolutely love the author's writing; it's poetry. I find myself rereading chapter because they are written to beautiful. I can see everything he is saying in great detail. The story is like nothing else. The creepy and heartbreak part is that it feels really especially with the climate of our country. Well, I gotta go because I need to finish this book tonight. Ok, bye!
#SelfDiscovery #Scary #Suspenseful #Tearjerker #Mindbending #AmericanRevolution #CivilWar #tagsgiving #sweepstakes
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-03-19
Twist
The storyline was interesting. Could not tell who was playing a part and who was real. It seemed people were changing identities and reasons for what they were doing. I definitely enjoyed it.
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- Brian_Miami
- 11-13-18
Chillingly realistic.
It makes you realize how easily such a dystopia could rise. It makes you take a long look at the world we live in now.
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- Keenan
- 06-05-17
This should be taught in high schools and colleges
Would you listen to Underground Airlines again? Why?
No. It's too emotionally draining. It's like having broken glass forced through your brain. I almost quit but I was nearly done so I finished it.
What other book might you compare Underground Airlines to and why?
Farhenheit 451. It's been so long since I read that book that I can't compare structure or voice but it had the same impact upon me.
What does William DeMeritt bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I would not have imagined the voices the way he did.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
What would have happened if there was no Civil War.
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- D. Fyler
- 06-13-17
Dystopian x 1000
If you thought 1984 was disturbing, then this book may make you squirm. Although it is a fantasy , many parts are uncomfortably similar to the world that we live in. This is a very original story , with an unforeseen twist in the plot. And the narrator was superb
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- Dubi
- 06-24-20
The Big Mix
Imagine America if the Civil War had been averted and slavery preserved. An America much like our own technologically, politically, even pop culturally. But still based on brutal slavery in the deep south. In this world, a freed black slave now works for the U.S. Marshall Service tracking down runaway slaves and thwarting the network that facilitates their escape which, in the technologically advanced present day, is the Underground Airline rather than Railroad.
Ben Winters throws genre after genre into the mix -- on the sci-fi side, alternate history, obviously, and a dystopian near future, tagging several Philip K. Dick classics, and on the mystery side, the hard boiled detective, film noir, espionage. And what really makes this unique, add to the mix the conventions of literary fiction, with a spare plot but lots of scene setting, character development, political and philosophical subtext and metaphor,
And it all works, mostly. Winters took a huge risk as a white writer utilizing a first person narrator who is African American winding his way through the horror of a world of American slavery. Whether he is successful will be a personal matter, but in no way does he fail. I liked it, I think it works -- but only because literary convention gets him there, the rules of the game keeping him focused on character development ad world building.
William DeMerritt's narration is the real star here, bringing grit and authenticity to the voice of the protagonist that would not be there in print. The plot on the other hand, even bare bones as it is, does not hold up well -- there's not much there there. And I for one did not find the handling of racial issues to be any more or less engaging and effective as the current conversation. All in all, though, a very good genre bending story, well written and well narrated, with the potential to get your thoughts provoked.
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