Nineteen Seventy Four

Red Riding Quartet

By: David Peace

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeanette Garland, missing Castleford, July 1969. Susan Ridyard, missing Rochdale, March 1972. Claire Kemplay, missing Morley, since yesterday. It’s winter, 1974, Yorkshire, Christmas bombs, Lord Lucan on the run, the Bay City Rollers, and Eddie Dunford’s got the job he wanted – crime correspondent for the Yorkshire Evening Post. He didn’t know it was going to be a season in hell. A dead little girl with a swan’s wings stitched into her back. A gypsy camp in a ring of fire. Corruption everywhere you look.

In Nineteen Seventy Four, David Peace brings passion and stylistic bravado to this terrifyingly intense journey into a secret history of sexual obsession and greed, and starts a highly acclaimed crime series that has redefined how the genre is approached.

David Peace (born 1967) is an English author. He was named one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta in 2003 and won the 2004 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. He is also known for his novels GB84 and The Damned United; the latter was made into a feature film starring Michael Sheen.

*Please note this audiobook contains explicit language.

©2000 David Peace (P)2010 Audible

Critic reviews

" Nineteen Seventy Four is raw and furiously alive, the literary equivalent of a hard right to the jaw. David Peace has delivered the finest crime fiction debut of the year and joined a select group of novelists who are transforming the genre with passion and style." (George Pelecanos)

"Quite simply, this is the future of British crime fiction." ( Time Out)

"The pace is relentless, the style staccato-plus and the morality bleak and forlorn....Peace's voice is powerful and unique." ( Guardian)

A great series of books

Ignore the criticisms from listeners who couldn't stand the cussing. If you're interested in listening to a series of books that transcend the usual crime fiction genre, this is it. It's literature in the best sense of the word. Aspects of the story are truly ugly and the descriptions are visceral, but it's a work of art. The swearing is a necessary part of the language used by the characters and isn't over-the-top. I'm British and I spent years living in Yorkshire, so I'm sensitive to whether or not the language in a book is an accurate reflection of how people really speak. I found it to be right on target. If you're offended by it, you'd probably be better off downloading some Agatha Christie. I've listened to the entire series of four books, which need to be heard together in succession as they intertwine and illuminate each other. This is truly a great work of modern British literature.

Disappointing, Offensive....

My family is English and I love books that "take me back". Peter Robinson is one of my favorites and I thought David Peace would be a similar experience......WAS I EVER WRONG!!! I'm no prude, but found the language offensive and gave up on it.

Mistaken Identity

Usually when I drive to and from work, the audiobooks from Audible make the drive more bearable. Not the case with "Nineteen Seventy-Four" By David Peace. The prose is so peppered with 'the f bomb' that one thinks one is listening to yet another C-minus mind trying to impress us with his ability to be vulgar. The plot twists and turns its way through themes of brutality and retaliations; the protagonist is bashed, battered and manipulated by everyone around him; and if he does have a clear goal for his struggles, the author fails to clarify or convey what that might be. The mistake here is that Audible identified this as something worth listening to, instead of just letting us know that this work is little more than trash.

Absolutely Terrible

Never have I run across such an entirely unlikeable cast of characters. The hero is uninspiring at best. There is so much profanity in this book, it is difficult to discern the storyline. This book is the worst book I've ever read or heard. Do not waste your time or money on this title when there are so many truly great options to choose from!