The Devil All the Time

By: Donald Ray Pollock

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

From the acclaimed author of Knockemstiff—called “powerful, remarkable, exceptional” by the Los Angeles Times—comes a dark and riveting vision of America that delivers literary excitement in the highest degree.

In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic over­tones of Flannery O’Connor at her most haunting.

Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

©2011 Donald Ray Pollock (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"If Pollock’s powerful collection Knockemstiff was a punch to the jaw, his follow-up, a novel set in the violent soul-numbing towns of southern Ohio and West Virginia, feels closer to a mule’s kick, and how he draws these folks and their inevitably hopeless lives without pity is what the kick’s all about." ( Publishers Weekly)

"The God-fearing hard-luck characters who populate Donald Ray Pollock’s debut novel, The Devil All the Time, move through the southern outlands of Ohio and the isolated hollows of West Virginia like figures in a collective nightmare of poverty, addiction, superstition, and crime" (Lisa Shea, ELLE magazine)

“This novel fulfills the promise made by Pollock’s debut collection, Knockemstiff. He is a real writer, and The Devil All The Time hits you like a telegram from Hell slid under your door at three o’clock in the morning.” (William Gay, author of Provinces of Night and The Long Home)

Sick and twisted and smart characters

Donald Ray Pollack is a master of the Southern-grotesque. His characters are cleverly engineered backwoods brilliance, not the dumb hicks you may come to expect from some ahem, other, authors. The story focuses on Arvin, the son of Willard Russell, whose childhood is consumed with sacrificial blood spilling on a "prayer log." No animal is safe from Willard sacrificial log, and Arvin soon learns no human life is safe either. As the story progresses we are introduced to more characters, each sick in their own way, and the story unfolds as each encounters the son of Willard Russell... The performance can be a bit flat at times, but overall a very entertaining read. If you like Danny Woodrell, or James Lee Burke, you will probably enjoy Pollack as well.

Best New Book I’ve Read in a Long Time! (Some spoilers)

I do not quite remember how The Devil All the Time came to be recommended to me but I’m sure glad it did. This book is great! It’s not for the light of heart, but fans of Blood Meridian or any other works featuring stark, unforgiving violence should feel right at home. The story may seem like there are too many storylines dangling at once but rest assured, each thread is given a satisfying conclusion. All of the characters are distinct without being cartoonish and the narrator does a great job of making each one feel different. Two thumbs up! Would definitely recommend!

Wild Things

This is a weird but compelling story of postwar Appalachia, peopled with losers, grifters, bogus preachers, bigots, whores, killers, crooked cops, backwoods lawyers, dirty old men and doomed hillbillies who cling to hopeless dreams. It’s gritty, but relentless in its pace of outrageous events.

Mark Bramhall delivers a flawless narration on behalf of a large cast who truly are characters.

winner!!!!!(till the end)

One of the few audios that I listened to non stop damn near. great audio.

Watch the movie first

Suggest watching the movie first to give you a good visual of the book. Both well done.

UNFORGETTABLE!

Listen, I won't regimens this for the listeners who cannot handle the dark and gritty, but if you can, you must buy this now! Beautiful writing of horrible events. Truly compelling!

Twisted

great listen! I love story lines like this where all the characters are separate, but somehow all meet somewhere in the story line. Mark Bramhall's voice was perfect for the characters in this book. I'd love to know what happens to Arvin's story.

Netflix made me do it!

I watched the movie version of this book and am happy to report that if you enjoyed watching this played out on Netflix you will absolutely enjoy a more in depth tale of all those same characters.
This is one of my favorite reads of the last year a stunning piece of American Gothic.
This is the type of book that will have you out searching for other titles written by the author.
His characters and description of life in this Appalachian tale are incredible. A MUST READ!
So good that you will feel you MUST write a review.

WOW

I listened in one setting. Not your usual book. Great character build up that made me feel I knew these folks!

Gripping, but pretty sadistic

I hung on till the end, but it was a rough ride. Interesting story, but at times I wasn’t sure why I was subjecting myself to this bleak story.