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.

Loved this!

What a great listen. The readers were great (and often I don't enjoy when there are multiple readers). They engaged me and added tremendous value to understanding the characters.

Speaking of whom, the characters are fully formed and one learns their history in such a way that I cared about them. I was captivated. For what could have been a somewhat hokey premise, the author did a great job of making it feel not contrived but rather made me ask questions of myself about what I would do with the powers the main characters had. The action sequences are also really really good.

I was disappointed when it was over.

I highly recommend it.

Gripping, and hard to put down.

A game of cat and mouse presented in epic fashion. A unique delve into the human psyche and the discovery of some of the monsters which reside therein. Memorable characters on both sides exchange blows and in the end, to he Victors are those who are the best at playing the game.

As long as it was, I didn't want it to end

The lengthy descriptions painted both beautiful and wonderfully gruesome images in my mind, loved it!

Our vampires are different ( but it works.)

Dan Simmons doesn't disappoint.

the Book takes the listener into a subculture of psychic vampires. The characters are well developed. There are elements of suspense and horror. Dan Simmons' story telling is just wonderful. READ THE HYPERION CANTOS!

awesomeness

such great storytelling and a real way with building tension between scenarios. I enjoyed all 40 hours of listening.

I liked it

The storyline was full of holes but entertaining just the same. Playing chess with humans, too much.

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.