City of Masks

A Cree Black Thriller

By: Daniel Hecht

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Introducing Cree Black, a parapsychologist with a haunted past.

When Lila Beauforte takes up residence in her ancestral home, the 150-year-old Beauforte House in the Garden District of New Orleans, she is terrified by ghostly apparitions. The family reluctantly calls Cree Black for help. Based out of Seattle, Cree, a parapsychologist with a degree from Harvard, is a "ghost buster." But as Cree gets closer to the truth, the proverbial skeletons in the closet of the prestigious Beauforte family come crashing down on her, and she must struggle to keep her own ghosts at bay.

Daniel Hecht has created a plausible, heart-stopping ghost thriller. Relying on the science of parapsychology to spine-tingling effect, he brings to life a remarkably compelling character in Cree Black, as well as the ghosts she confronts.

Listen to more Cree Black thrillers.

©2003 Daniel Hecht (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The authentic, supernatural locale contributes the requisite spooky atmosphere...and the eccentric characters are well drawn and believable." (Booklist)

Wonderful Supernatural Thriller!

If you love New Orleans and the gripping atmosphere of a really scary ghost story, look no further! This is a creepy, but totally satisfying read. Enjoy! And the reader is perfect, too!

Scary

I might be silly but I listened to this book two months ago and I remember being scared. I had not read any books by Daniel Hecht before but found the theme of the Cree books very appealing. I don't care much for sci-fi, but I do like psychic and ghost hunting...and the Cree books have both! Anna Fields as always, was wonderful, which is one of the big reasons I grabbed it. A good storyline is well and good, but without a good reader, it will just screech in your memory. I will miss her greatly.

Entertaining from first word to the last.

I am late to the audiobook world, and so I continue to discover hidden treasures. City of Masks is definitely that! Scary where it should be, without the distracting graphics that so often diminished a story, rather than enhance it. This book is filled with information about the fascinating topic of parapsychology, and I always enjoy learning something new. It’s a special pleasure when the information comes in the form of a great story. I have listened to many books read by Anna Fields, but just learned that we lost her years ago. I believe knowing that, made this experience more poignant. I hope to find more of these buried treasures to enjoy. City of Masks checks all the right boxes.

A Big Surprise!

I don't particularly like the horror/ghost story genre. But, I love mystery stories. This is the first time I ever read a ghost story that used science as it basis for the underlying story. It was believable and plausible. Daniel Hecht is a very very descriptive writer, so I think that those people that didn't like it, would do so, for that reason. No matter what other reviews said, this is not a love/romance story (I would have turned it off early if that were the case). It is about a family tragedy that has literally come back to haunt them. I enjoyed this book and am now onto the sequel. BTW, Anna Fields is the best female narrator I have ever heard! The only woman that can do a man's voice and make it believable.

Wow. New Favorite for Me!

I went out on a limb with this one. Another reviewer mentioned the characters and mystery were so good that the paranormal theme was not distracting. Excellent appraisal of Cree Black books.

Cree herself is a complex and likable character with a lot of strings left dangling for Hecht to pull together in future volumes. The sidekicks, Joyce and Edgar are both delightful and important enough to Cree for the reader to invest in as well. The other cast members in this particular book are all so fleshed out and complex I sometimes wondered how Hecht kept them all straight and then presented them so well to us!

Brilliant writing worthy of far more consideration than merely a "gimmick" series would draw. The research that went into this book had to be vast, and it allows the story to be effortlessly absorbed.

Anna Fields' narration equals the care put into the work itself. She is an amazing narrator and the characters are vivid and real in her voice.

Ghost and mystery and Marti Gra...

Does it get any better? Learn about the secret history of the Bayou Party - the famous above ground cementaries and the ghost that haunt them. Visions of what has past and what haunts a woman to the point of suicide...bring in the ghost hunters.

I wanted to LOVE it

Hecht writes the ghost/paranormal stories so well, but I can't give him a 5-star because his comprehension of how women think and how weak he made Cree Black drove me nuts. I've been a professional woman in crisis and with a dead husband -- and while there are many variations in life, she either is a smart woman or she isn't. Over and over he put her into situations which no smart woman with her knowledge would've gone. So now we have a basic romance book -- women doing stupid things to be saved from by a good man. I'd like to see him ditch the romance novel format and let her be a SMART woman in crisis, not a cliche. His side characters were well-developed, and the plot was surprising, but the ending left me a bit unsatisfied. I'll give him one more try.

great listen

sort of slow but not dull. Never a thought of turning it off. after the first 30 minutes totally hooked. good narrator but is best at format 1.

twists in story but narrator is grating

First I have to say that I am not a big fan of ghost stories, but I thought I would try this one out. I'm not sure I will again. The story was interesting but just didn't impress me a great deal. We have a ghost chaser who I really did not find as very likeable. Characters are not well-developed. In fact, I felt the ghosts were more developed as characters than the living and in particular, Cree.

But my biggest complaint was Anna Fields as a narrator. She had a fine voice for Cree, the main character (a female), but her voice for the men drove me nuts. It was absolutely terrible and made me want to speed past this part. She does the typical female just lowering her voice to sound like a man, which just took away from the story and your ability to see the male characters as anything real, or feel anything about them. I will not get another book read by this narrator. I did give her two stars because she narrated for the female characters and in particular for the female characters from New Orleans well. She did an exceptional job of picking up the New Orleans twang.

One heck of a ghost story.........

Keep the lights on for this one, you will feel like you're there. Very well written with a riveting plot-line, interesting characters and dialogue and the perfect narrator. I've already downloaded the next one..............