Carrion Comfort

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Mel Foster, Laural Merlington

Length: 39 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

"Carrion Comfort is one of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. Simple as that." (Stephen King)

"Epic in scale and scope but intimately disturbing, Carrion Comfort spans the ages to rewrite history and tug at the very fabric of reality. A nightmarish chronicle of predator and prey that will shatter your world view forever. A true classic." (Guillermo del Toro)

"Carrion Comfort is one of the scariest books ever written. Whenever I get asked the question Who's your favorite author? my answer is always Dan Simmons." (James Rollins)

"One of the few major reinventions of the vampire concept, on a par with Jack Finney's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, and Stephen King's Salem's Lot. (David Morrell)

THE PAST...

Caught behind the lines of Hitler's Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazis themselves...

THE PRESENT...

Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society of beings who may often exist behind the world's most horrible and violent events. Killing from a distance, and by darkly manipulative proxy, they are people with the psychic ability to "use" humans: read their minds, subjugate them to their wills, experience through their senses, feed off their emotions, force them to acts of unspeakable aggression. Each year, three of the most powerful of this hidden order meet to discuss their ongoing campaign of induced bloodshed and deliberate destruction. But this reunion, something will go terribly wrong. Saul's quest is about to reach its elusive object, drawing hunter and hunted alike into a struggle that will plumb the depths of mankind's attraction to violence, and determine the future of the world itself...

©2009 Dan Simmons (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Worth the time.

No spoilers.

Performance was great.

The story started a little confusing, but as character were added it got better and better. I had issue with a few plot points about specific characters, but as the story went on those plot points had meaning. You just had to wait out for the story to catch up.

The ending had a few "jump the shark" moments, but overall was satisfying. The beginning and middle parts of the story were very grounded and believable.

My favorite part of the story revolved around one of the characters telling a story about a chess game. I won't say any more than that. Dialogue was written and paced well. That was the point in the story that got me hooked until the end.

In my opinion, a very unique take on vampires. Is that a spoiler? No, because there are no vampires in this story. So what do I mean? You'll have to listen to find out :).

classic

suspense and horror and sci fi all in a creative shell. not sure how this one has missed me for so long

Wonderful story

loved it! lots of characters, winding stories, kinda fluffy in the middle, but worth it!

A Different Simmons

It's ironic that an author now considered a right wing fascist wrote a subversive, woke, liberal horror novel in the early 80s. I wonder if his politics have changed or the political parties have become more polarized.

I loved the book until the half way point, didn't care for a quarter and then really enjoyed the ending. Not as good as Summer of Night or A Winter Haunting but I'm glad I read it.

So worth the commitment

Yes, this book is 39 hours, but I loved it from beginning to end. The two narrators become truly invisible, allowing you to just concentrate on the story. The story has enough twists and turns and surprises to keep you guessing, but not so many that you get lost in the 39 hours. You'll love some characters and hate others and change your mind on others. I usually can come up with something I don't like about a book, but for this one, it is near perfection.

Captivating!

A masterful thriller, packed with suspense and intrique which kept my unflagging interest through all 5 Parts. It had me thinking and questioning the limits or boundaries of what human beings are capable of doing to one another, within a given set of circumstances. Are there any? A frightening thought.

Narration was excellent and unobtrusive, by both readers, the voices well-matched with the characters. The only criticism i would have, is Mr Foster's inability to read the German phrases. Simple rudimentary elements such as the phonetic structure of the alphabet are misread. The German glyph for double 's' is read as an 's' not a 'b'. "Dass...dass" should not be rendered as "dub, dub". The least bit of research would have elminated such ridiculous pronunciation.

I tend to evaluate a book by 2 sets of criteria: My own subjective enjoyment, and then also by literary standards.

From a literary standpoint, this is a good book, but not a great book. The characters are uni-dimensional. The good guys are angels, the baddies are rotten to their grotesque evil cores. No nuances; black and white like the chess board of the "game".

All round, i thoroughly enjoyed it and can recommend it as a captivating read.

Windy but worth it

This book was way too long for the story it told but still worth the listen. The tale was unique and well thought out but it should have been cut down by a third. They must pay by the pound.

Slow

Like an indie movie that has no music score & ppl sitting outside in the breeze. There’s a story in there, it was just 3 times too long in relaying it

Beautifully written, but long winded

Great performance by the narrators, and overall a good story.
Took awhile for me to get into and there were a several times that I wish the writer could have moved the story along at a faster pace.
I'm not sure I'd recommend it to the horror novel lover, as much as I would to someone who likes a drama with supernatural elements.

5 stars doesn't do the narration justice

fantastic story that never had a dull moment, but it was the narrators that put it over the top. perfectly done accents from German to the deep South.