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Carrion Comfort
- Narrated by: Mel Foster, Laural Merlington
- Length: 39 hrs and 27 mins
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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...
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- 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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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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The Last Spymaster
- By: Gayle Lynds
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Charles "Jay" Tice was a legend throughout the world of international intelligence. But secretly he was also a traitor, reputedly selling information that will seriously compromise the security of the United States for decades to come. Since his treachery was exposed, Tice has been kept under strict surveillance in a maximum security prison. Then one morning, his cell is discovered empty. Jay Tice has vanished - without tripping an alarm or leaving any trace of his passing.
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fantastic and fast paced!
- By Alton A. Ivory on 12-19-08
By: Gayle Lynds
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Crimes by Moonlight
- Mysteries from the Dark Side
- By: Charlaine Harris - author/editor
- Narrated by: Natalie Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris’s "Dahlia Underground,” venerable vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers survives an attack by an anti-vampire terrorist group, only to show them they tried to blow up the wrong bloodsucker. Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost assigned to assist humans in trouble, steps into the middle of a marital dispute with surprising twists in Carolyn Hart’s “Riding High”....
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Pleasantly surprised
- By Bonnie on 08-06-11
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The Brotherhood of the Rose
- By: David Morrell
- Narrated by: David Morrell, Full Cast
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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They were orphans, Chris and Saul - raised in a Philadelphia school for boys, bonded by friendship, and devoted to a mysterious man called Eliot.
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Great book, choppy reading
- By Commander Bond on 07-06-08
By: David Morrell
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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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The Voice of the Night with Short Story, "Silence"
- By: Dean Koontz
- Narrated by: Pavi Proczko, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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No one could understand why Colin and Roy were best friends. Colin was so shy; Roy was so popular. Colin was fascinated by Roy - and Roy was fascinated by death. Then one day, Roy asked his timid friend: “You ever killed anything?” From that moment on, the two were bound together in a game too terrifying to imagine - and too irresistible to stop.
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can not believe dean koontz wrote this book
- By Anonymous User on 10-05-21
By: Dean Koontz
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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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Metzger's Dog
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Perry
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When Leroy "Chinese" Gordon breaks into a professor's lab at the University of Los Angeles, he's after some pharmaceutical cocaine, worth plenty of money. Instead, he finds the papers the professor has compiled for the CIA, which include a blueprint for throwing a large city into chaos. But how is the CIA to be persuaded to pay a suitable ransom, unless of course someone actually uses the plan to throw a large city into chaos - Los Angeles, for instance?
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Messrs. Perry and Kramer should get six stars.
- By Richard Delman on 03-22-12
By: Thomas Perry
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The Talisman
- By: Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 28 hrs
- Unabridged
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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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Great story, great detail
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ordered an abridgment by mistake!
- By Lee on 05-01-14
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Ilium
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From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.
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Achaeans and robots and post-humans, oh my
- By Ryan on 04-11-14
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Black Hills
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Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, first encounters General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. He believes - as do the holy men of his tribe - that the legendary general's ghost entered him at that moment and will remain with him until Sapa convinces him to leave.
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Perfect example of audio over print
- By Michael on 06-18-10
By: Dan Simmons
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Song of Kali
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
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Blood will curdle in Calcutta. In the most crime-ridden city, nightmares become real and evil is defined by frightening occurrences. When an American family finds themselves encircled by the terrors of this land, lurid events befall them and life takes on a new meaning - death. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali will chill the blood and frighten even the most jaded of horror fans.
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All Violence is an Exercise in Power
- By Darwin8u on 01-14-15
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Summer of Night
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Go Ahead...Take A Stroll Down Horror Lane
- By Jan on 10-31-14
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Great story, great detail
- By David Shear on 10-30-13
By: Dan Simmons
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Drood
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- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
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ordered an abridgment by mistake!
- By Lee on 05-01-14
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Ilium
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From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.
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Achaeans and robots and post-humans, oh my
- By Ryan on 04-11-14
By: Dan Simmons
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Black Hills
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- Narrated by: Erik Davies, Michael McConnohie
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
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Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, first encounters General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. He believes - as do the holy men of his tribe - that the legendary general's ghost entered him at that moment and will remain with him until Sapa convinces him to leave.
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Perfect example of audio over print
- By Michael on 06-18-10
By: Dan Simmons
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Song of Kali
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
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Blood will curdle in Calcutta. In the most crime-ridden city, nightmares become real and evil is defined by frightening occurrences. When an American family finds themselves encircled by the terrors of this land, lurid events befall them and life takes on a new meaning - death. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali will chill the blood and frighten even the most jaded of horror fans.
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All Violence is an Exercise in Power
- By Darwin8u on 01-14-15
By: Dan Simmons
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Flashback
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The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result. Nick may be a lost soul, but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son.
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Outstanding, haunting work from a master of sci fi
- By Jeffrey on 05-28-12
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The Terror
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The men onboard HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.
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Very good then, NOT
- By Randall on 07-24-18
By: Dan Simmons
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Children of the Night
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In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS - and a link to a clan of vampires.
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needs a different reader
- By Kelly Howard on 09-12-08
By: Dan Simmons
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The Fifth Heart
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In 1893 Sherlock Holmes and Henry James come to America together to solve the mystery of the 1885 death of Clover Adams, wife of the esteemed historian Henry Adams--a member of the Adams family that has given the United States two Presidents. Clover's suicide appears to be more than it at first seemed; the suspected foul play may involve matters of national importance.
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Who Wrote 'the Fifth Heart?'
- By Bette on 04-16-15
By: Dan Simmons
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The Hollow Man
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Jeremy Bremen has a secret. All his life he's been cursed with the ability to read minds. He knows the secret thoughts, fears, and desires of others as if they were his own. For years, his wife, Gail, has served as a shield between Jeremy and the burden of this terrible knowledge. But Gail is dying, her mind ebbing slowly away, leaving him vulnerable to the chaotic flood of thought that threatens to sweep away his sanity. Now Jeremy is on the run - from his mind, from his past, from himself - hoping to find peace in isolation.
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Genius writing, great book
- By David Shear on 02-28-14
By: Dan Simmons
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The Crook Factory
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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At the height of World War II, the famous writer Ernest Hemingway sought permission from the U.S. government to operate a spy ring out of his house in the Cuban countryside. This much is true... It is the summer of ’42 and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover to keep an eye on Hemingway. The great writer has assembled a ragtag spy ring that he calls the “Crook Factory” to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. But then Lucas and Hemingway, against all the odds, uncover a critical piece of intelligence - and the game turns deadly.
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Really well researched spy novel
- By Brian on 07-08-11
By: Dan Simmons
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Darwin's Blade
- By: Dan Simmons
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- Unabridged
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Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.
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Not Simmons' masterwork, but highly entertaining
- By Florian Weller on 02-03-18
By: Dan Simmons
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Hardcase
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Fred Filbrich
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- Unabridged
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Once Joe Kurtz needed revenge - and revenge cost him 11 years in Attica prison. Now Kurtz needs a job, and the price is going to be higher. Out of prison, out of touch, Kurtz signs on with the Byron Farino, Don of a Mob family whose son Kurtz had been protecting on the inside. Farino enlists Kurtz's help to track down the Family's missing accountant - a man with too much knowledge of Family business to have on the loose.
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Hard
- By Darwin8u on 06-26-20
By: Dan Simmons
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Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
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- Unabridged
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On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
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The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
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The Terror: Booktrack Edition
- A Novel
- By: Dan Simmons
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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The men on board the HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. But what they don't expect is a monstrous predator lurking behind the Arctic ice. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a horrifying end, Captain Francis Crozier takes command, leading his surviving crewmen on a last desperate attempt to flee south across the ice.
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A truly horrific story of fortitude.
- By Jersey Steininger on 12-31-21
By: Dan Simmons
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Swan Song
- By: Robert R. McCammon
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 34 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.
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Simply an Amazing Story
- By Amanda H. on 06-21-12
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The Traveling Vampire Show
- By: Richard Laymon
- Narrated by: Bob Barnes
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The rural town of Grandville is to host The Travelling Vampire Show, featuring the only known vampire in captivity. Janks Field, where the show will take place, has been declared off-limits because of its sinister history, but there are three local teenagers who don't want to miss the performance.
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Meh...
- By vickytgg on 04-29-18
By: Richard Laymon
What listeners say about Carrion Comfort
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- WBA
- 11-05-19
Idk who needs to see this, but TRIGGER WARNING
I won't wade in on the whole story, plenty of others have.
**This book contains extremely graphic descriptions of rape.**
What's worse is that the scenes are mostly described from the rapist's point of view, and written as very sexy and pleasing to him. The victims are completely throw-away characters and totally objectified. As a sexual assault survivor, I would have liked to know this beforehand. The first scene, which involved an underage teenage girl, took me off guard as it continued for what seemed like forever. The author described in detail her beautiful 15 year-old body, how good she felt to the rapist, etc. The second scene with an airline attendant happened just a chapter later. Same thing, all how much the rapist was enjoying himself, how he got off on making her feel helpless, how she was nothing, and indeed this character was never even given a full name. I stopped listening after this, I couldn't go further.
Both scenes made me feel very anxious. None of the top reviews I read before purchasing this book mentioned these scenes, so I was not prepared.
So for whoever needs to see this, if you are sensitive to scenes depicting rape, this might not be a fun listen for you.
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227 people found this helpful
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- Robert
- 07-03-12
Simmons at his best
As I said in my review of The Passage by Justin Cronin, had I known the book was about vampires, I would have taken a pass. And, as I said in that review, it would have been my loss. This really is not a book about vampires, per se, as we have come to think about them, but a variation on the theme and it was excellent. I selected this book because another reviewer had written that he thought Carrion Comfort was the best that Dan Simmons had penned. I would certainly rate it close up there with his Magnum Opus Hyperion and Endymion. It was that good and that is saying something.
The book is one of Simmons early works apparently derives its title and many of its themes from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I am also not a fan of WWII books about Nazis. This also was not what the book was about per se though it does give us the background on the main villains of the story and villains they are like perhaps we have never come upon before. That theme also is somewhat of the thread that permeates and ties things neatly through the book as it continues to America in 1981.
Saul Laski is one of a few of the heros in the tale of whom some survive and others do not. Saul is both predator and prey. Though old in 1981, he somehow manages to rise to the occasion and present a challenge to some of the most nightmarish scenes I have ever read. And, no, I am not particularly a fan of horror books either but I am a fan of Dan Simmons and will probably read anything he comes out with.
Some of the accolades and awards the book has received include Bram Stoker Award winner 1989; British Fantasy Award winner, World Fantasy Award nominee, 1990. Some have commented on the length of the book. I would not have shortened it one page. I often find unnecessary passages in books but this is not one of them. The book was thoroughly entertaining after about the first couple of chapters which, on hindsight, were just as integral as the others.
The narrators of this epic were extraordinary. This is a book made for listening to by gifted storytellers. Mel Foster acts Saul, Willi and the other men and some of the women. While I find men acting women’s roles can sometimes be impossible to pull of, Mel foster is impeccable in his narration. Laural Merlington plays the role of Melanie, the most arch of villains. She is vicious, scarier than $#it and made even more so by the incredible acting voice of Ms. Merlington. I could not rate either narrator more highly.
Bottom line if you can’t handle scary, skip this one. If you love great writing and like it complex and epic in scale, don’t miss it.
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156 people found this helpful
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- LillyO
- 01-02-12
Long, sure...but GREAT story!
I see other reviewers a bit put off by the length of this story. I had the thought "wow, a compelling story that the author took his time with!" What a bonus! I didn't find a single part boring. I liked how he took his time with a complicated tale. I liked the story development in between bouts of action. In typing this, I would compare it to the Steigg Larsen series...I like some story and character development with my "action sequences." I have not read Simmons' other books (for which he is apparently more famous) but this one piqued my interest in perusing more! The narrators were both excellent, too!
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63 people found this helpful
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- David Shear
- 11-02-11
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.
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- Lewis Teeter
- 07-11-20
RUN FROM THIS BOOK
I'll admit I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to what I like to read but every now and then I'm forgiving of talent for a good scary story. I figured, 'Forty hours? Must be a well thought out story'. Wrong. I lasted up to chapter 7 out of 78 chapters. Even in that short time I spotted many mistakes and plot holes one could walk through, The writing would get a failing grade in Junior High and the characters were so stereotypical I just wanted to laugh. This book reads like the diary of an incel who fantasizes about hypnotizing women so he can do what they would never allow (2 occur by chapter 7). I'm going to give you the sentence that was the last straw for me in hopes of sparing you the torture of this tripe. This comes from the thoughts of country cop Bobby Joe Gentry (I kid you not) as he's being followed. "There was more than one green Plymouth in Charleston...But with Maryland plates?..sneered the 'copwise' part of his mind". If after reading that you still think this book is a good idea I hope you enjoy it. I'm sure the next 71 chapters couldn't possibly get worse than that.
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33 people found this helpful
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- Brian
- 10-18-11
A classic
This is one of the all time classic horror novels. Well read, thought it would be long but I wanted more. Fascinating concept.
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29 people found this helpful
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- Vira
- 08-24-12
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.
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23 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 12-04-13
Keeps you glued to the earphones
This offering from Dan Simmons is more of a horror thriller than a strictly sci-fi genre book. Ordinarily I wouldn't have listened to this book, but having recently listened to the Hyperion series I decided on the strength of the storyline to give it a go. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed, despite the lack of "sci-finess" (or fantasy) which I usually look for.
This is a long book and understanding Simmons penchant for long and involved descriptions, almost rambling sometimes, he still builds a wonderful and gripping story that begs you to listen to the next chapter.
Simmons provides an interesting twist on the vampire theme now so common in print and video and with this being written almost 25 years ago, the variation is quite unique. In addition he skillfully blends in historical events and presents questions of morality that help to build the depth of the main characters in the book.
The bad characters are so horrible, they are almost likeable. They do the bad things you expect and the good guys are presented with situations that question their ethics and morality. Questions that still very relevant in today's society.
The narrators do an excellent job. The point of view swaps between first and third person depending on the character, but is consistent and works well as intended by the author.
The book and historical material is deep, insightful and well researched, giving great support to the overall premise of the storyline. If you wear a tin-foil hat you might almost believe it!
Overall a great book and worth the time to listen to a great yarn from an outstanding author.
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21 people found this helpful
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- M. S. Valdez
- 02-26-14
Edge-of-the-seat thriller!!!
A fantastically delicious novel of centering on some truly despicable and vile creatures that the main protagonist refers to as "mind-vampires", people that can invade a person's mind and control their actions.
What makes this book an absolute must-listen are the performances by Mel Foster and Laural Merlington. These two talented narrators are like chameleons in how well they can change to another voice and inhabit that character, especially Merlington. Her reading of Melanie Fuller is one of the best I've listened to.
While the story became a bit contrived towards the climax and seemed to fall into plot convenience, it more than makes up for that in an action-packed finale. This will not disappoint!
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- Denise Dalrymple
- 06-23-18
Not so great
I think Dan Simmons is a brilliant writer and so I was surprised how much I disliked this. I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. The prose is great, the voice performances are top notch. The story is awful, filled with stereotypes, trite plotting, too much killing off of sympathetic characters, implausible side plots, and it is TOO LONG. There are easily three stories uneasily meshed into one. My advice is to skip this one and read or listen to his other work.
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14 people found this helpful