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High Priest of California
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
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High Priest of California
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Publisher's summary
She was leaning against the door. Her smile was a sickly twisted grimace; the sort a prisoner gives a judge when he's asked if he has anything to say before he's sentenced. Russell Haxby is a ruthless used-car salesman obsessed with manipulating and cavorting with married women. In this classic of hard-boiled fiction, Charles Willeford crafts a wry, sardonic tale of hypocrisy, intrigue, and lust set in San Francisco in the early '50s. In High Priest of California every sentence masks innuendo, every detail hides a clue, and every used-car sale is as outrageous as every seduction. First published 1953.
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Another Wonderful Betty Smith Audio Book
- By 20eagle16 on 01-25-21
By: Betty Smith
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Where Love Has Gone
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Story4 out of 5 stars 96
In love and soon to be a father, Luke Carey has the life he's always wanted. That is until a mysterious, late-night phone call summons him to San Francisco. Luke's first daughter, whom he hasn't seen in six years, 14-year-old Danielle, needs him, and he's desperate to do anything he can to help. But coming back into Danielle's life means facing his ex-wife, Nora, and the explosive, violent drama of the life he left behind.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Will it ever end?
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-22
By: Harold Robbins
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Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
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Quarry
- A Quarry Novel, Book 1
- By: Max Allan Collins
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4 out of 5 stars 98
Quarry doesn't kill just anybody these days. He restricts himself to targeting other hitmen, availing his marked-for-death clients of two services: eliminating the killers sent after them, and finding out who hired them…and then removing that problem, as well. So far he's rid of the world of nobody who would be missed. But this time he finds himself zeroing in on the grieving family of a missing cheerleader. Does the hitman's hitman have the wrong quarry in his sights?
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3 out of 5 stars
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The great Max Allan Collins
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 09-25-16
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Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 271
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 234
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Story4 out of 5 stars 232
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
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Enter Laughing
- A Bio-Novel
- By: Carl Reiner
- Narrated by: Carl Reiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 35
In his semi-autobiographical, laugh-out-loud novel, Carl Reiner details a young man's frustrations as he works as a machinist's helper and tries to break into show business. Along the bumpy path, the aspiring young actor tries to extricate himself from his overly protective parents - and his two girlfriends - and eventually lands an acting gig with a small theater troupe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story telling! Great listening!
- By NYer Lady on 02-08-22
By: Carl Reiner
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Disturbing the Peace
- By: Richard Yates
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 57
To all appearances, John Wilder has all the trappings of success, circa 1960: a promising career in advertising, a loving family, a beautiful apartment, even a country home. John's evenings are spent with associates at quiet Manhattan lounges and his weekends with friends at glittering cocktail parties. But something deep within this seemingly perfect life has long since gone wrong.
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5 out of 5 stars
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7 hours and 27 minutes pure blisd
- By Mia on 01-05-13
By: Richard Yates
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Tomorrow Will Be Better
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Heartfelt and Heart-wrenchingly Real!
- By M. Ryder on 02-16-22
By: Betty Smith
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The Night Always Comes
- A Novel
- By: Willy Vlautin
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4 out of 5 stars 70
Barely 30, Lynette is exhausted. Saddled with bad credit and juggling multiple jobs, some illegally, she’s been diligently working to buy the house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother Kenny. Portland’s housing prices have nearly quadrupled in 15 years, and the owner is giving them a good deal. Lynette knows it’s their last best chance to own their own home - and obtain the security they’ve never had. While she has enough for the down payment, she needs her mother to cover the rest of the asking price.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Willy knows tragedy
- By Phil Bailey on 08-03-21
By: Willy Vlautin
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The 42nd Parallel
- By: John Dos Passos
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 278
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 234
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Story4 out of 5 stars 235
This first entry in John Dos Passos's celebrated U.S.A. trilogy paints a grand picture of the United States at the dawn of the twentieth century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Powerful document of an all-too-familiar past
- By Ryan on 06-01-13
By: John Dos Passos
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Youngblood Hawke
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 41 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 271
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
Arthur Youngblood Hawke, an ex-Navy man moves from rural Kentucky to New York to assault the citadel of New York publishing with his first novel, an oversized manuscript that becomes an instant success. Toasted by critics and swept along on a tide of popularity, he gives himself over to the lush life that gilds artistic success. Love comes with an affair with an older married woman and an unfulfilled flame with his editor, while wealth pours in with the publication of his second novel, and participation in real-estate developments.
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5 out of 5 stars
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More than a good yarn
- By Arken on 10-24-18
By: Herman Wouk
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After the First Death
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story4 out of 5 stars 19
It was all too frighteningly familiar. For the second time in his life, Alex Penn wakes up in an alcoholic daze in a cheap hotel room off Times Square and finds himself lying next to the savagely mutilated body of a young woman. After the first death, he was convicted of murder and imprisoned, then released on a technicality. But this time he has to find out what happened during the blackout and why, before the police do.
By: Lawrence Block
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Mildred Pierce
- By: James M. Cain
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 553
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 428
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 425
Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness and determination. She used those attributes to survive a divorce in 1940s America with two children and to claw her way out of poverty, becoming a successful businesswoman. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men and an unreasoning devotion to her monstrous daughter.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mildred -- you pierce my heart
- By P. Giorgio on 03-11-11
By: James M. Cain
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Post Office
- A Novel
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,535
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,352
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,347
"It began as a mistake." By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than 12 years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not his best, but still Bukowski
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 02-05-18
By: Charles Bukowski
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The Color of Money
- By: Walter Tevis
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Twenty years after he conquered the underground pool circuit in The Hustler, "Fast" Eddie Felson is playing exhibition matches with former rival Minnesota Fats in shopping malls. With one failed marriage and years of running a pool hall behind him, Eddie is now ready to regain the skills needed to compete in a world of pool that has changed dramatically since he left.
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5 out of 5 stars
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if you play,,, you'll live it !!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-12-20
By: Walter Tevis
What listeners say about High Priest of California
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Alex halladay
- 06-08-23
thoroughly unpleasant classic willeford
To me, willeford shines as perhaps the single most cynical noir writer of his kind. each of his books, wall to wall, is filled with deeply unpleasant, vile people and their desperate victims.
this is no exception, high priest of California is arguably the single most evil point of view character willeford has written despite the fact his crimes are relatively minor in relation to his larger body of work. Obviously this is a mixed bag for a lot of people. some will be instantly turned off of this sleazy worm clawing his way into a woman's life by any means necessary, but others, like me, will find this as compelling an observation on banal evil and vanity as Jim Thompsons classic "the killer inside me".
really breezy quick read, one of the funniest, cruelest punchline endings of Willeford's career. worth picking up on sale if you can get it
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