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Folly  By  cover art

Folly

By: Laurie R. King
Narrated by: Frank Muller
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Publisher's summary

Laurie R. King creates unforgettable characters and situations in her mystery series featuring Kate Martinelli and Mary Russell. In Folly, she tells the gripping story of a woman on the edge of the world--and the edge of sanity. Tragedy and mental illness have been dark companions of Rae Newborn for more than 50 years. Her life seems to start rebuilding itself, though, when she moves to a deserted island to restore the house her mysterious great-uncle built in the 1920s. But Rae senses powerful forces stirring on the island. Is the skin-crawling feeling she has of someone watching her only in her mind, or has something disturbingly real taken notice of Rae? Like King's best-selling suspense thriller A Darker Place, Folly brilliantly portrays a woman pushed to her limits and beyond. Frank Muller's powerful narration captures all the terrors that stalk Rae from without and from within.
©2001 Laurie R. King (P)2001 Recorded Books LLC

What listeners say about Folly

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Folly

Whenever I have been compelled to write a review, it has always been for the negative. Well, I will remedy that with Folly.
I have never read Laurie King before, so I purchased this book on the strength of Frank Mullers narration alone and have been very pleasantly surprised. A well written, well narrated, great story. I will read more of Laurie King.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Enriched

This book is very very good. It's not my usual suspense novel. It's hardly able to call itself one. However, I loved it. I feel like I'm a better person to have read it, experienced it, and in a sense, lived it. The narration is fantastic. The storyline had me hooked within an hour. Sometimes you read a book and you know that, though it was alright, you'll forget about it after a month or two (those airport fictions). I will remember this book for years to come.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another Frank Muller delight.

I hadn't read anything else by this author, but if Frank Muller read it, I will listen. And, I was rewarded with a marvelous story. A woman, 52, has a psychotic episode and then loses her husband and their daughter in a car accident. She retreats to an island in the San Juans that her family owns. She rebuilds her life, and the house which has burned down to its foundation, in a book that is satisfying, romantic and beautifully told. Rae rejects psychiatry, throwing her medications into the ocean, but keeps in touch in her thoughts with the psychiatrist who cared for her. The caring was clearly personal as well as professional.
Rae has had a very successful career as a woodworker. She has a deep and abiding love for wood, and she is able to create both gorgeous pieces of art and a very personal, deeply livable house on the island. She researches the history of her ancestor, Desmond, the original builder of the house, and through him she makes a certain peace with her own family, including a son-in-law whom she hates (no peace is made here), a daughter about whom she is quite ambivalent, and a granddaughter whom she loves unconditionally.
If you have listened to Frank Muller before, then you can anticipate the thrill of just listening to his voice. I hope he taught younger narrators how to do this work. If not, it is our loss. He never missteps. The actress Cate Blanchett comes to mind when I try to think of a living artist with talent comparable to Frank's. Maybe we'll get really lucky, and Cate will someday read for us. Until then, Frank remains the best.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Possibly one of the best books I've ever read...

First of all, let me say that Laurie R. King is one of my favorite authors. She has two different mystery series (Mary Russell, Kate Martinelli) which are quite popular and very accessible. But she writes these other books which sometimes deal with harder topics. One of these is the book _A Darker Place_ is based on a professor helping the FBI by going undercover into a religious sect. And then there's Folly.

Folly is the story of a woman recovering from a mental breakdown. While institutionalized for her attempted suicide, she found a book about a man rebuilding himself by building a house. She decides to follow this path and rebuild an old house on a private island in the San Juan Islands. While hospitalized, she plans her project out and is able to convince/fool medical people/family that she's ready to do this. She arrives on the island Folly in the early spring and plans on getting the house done before winter. There's no electricity, no water system, no way off of the island. On the positive side, she makes arrangement for a local man to bring her groceries/supplies once a week and the has the finances to help.

What's important to remember is that when she arrives on the island, she's extremely mentally fragile. She probably makes her life harder by going off of her meds which means that she's coping with panic attacks; guilt about how she raised her first daughter; and extreme grief for the loss of her husband and second daughter.

In the process of rebuilding the house she rebuilds herself.

This makes the book sound depressing -- and it isn't. Because of the inner narration, you're well aware of the intensity of her panic attacks and grief. With time, you see the woman grow in a strong, capable woman.

I don't want to spoil the story by going into further details but I found this one of the best recent works of fiction I've read in years.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Serious and Entertaining

I have read all the Mary Russell novels -- this is a very different book. The first few chapters are difficult because King chooses to reveal her central character's history gradually through a haze of grief and depression and flashbacks; however, these are deftly done, and they have a purpose -- to mimic the heroine's slow climb to clarity after a series of horrific experiences. Similarly, King's lengthy descriptions of the house-building are sometimes a bit tedious, but also echo the heroine's struggle to build a life on the ashes of the one she lost. Throw in a mysterious uncle, a hippie smuggler, a kind Sheriff, and other mysteries to be unwoven, and the novel sustains interest to the last minute. I highly recommend it as well as "Keeping Watch," the sequel. Both books fearlessly delve into the disturbed minds of good people faced with horrors almost too great to bear, and finding unorthodox ways to master the pain.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable Read

I'm so glad I merely went looking for a read by Frank Muller. I found Folly, the story of a damaged, fragile woman who puts the pieces of her life back together through good old hard, sweaty, physical work; coming out the other side as whole, strong. I believed in her. King kept me idly wondering about the identity of the bad guy by just tickling my curiosity, then moving elsewhere. Plus, best of all, I got to savor the late Mr. Muller's gift of narration. Yes indeed, a truly good read.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Folly Never Had so Many Meanings!

Would you listen to Folly again? Why?

Yes and probably will. Lots of suspense, very original story yet easy to relate to. Love when Laurie King goes a little deeper into the human existence.

What other book might you compare Folly to and why?

Her follow up book to Folly, "Keeping Watch" and "Touchstone". Also maybe some Philip Kerr books.

Have you listened to any of Frank Muller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, very good.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Dark Folly.

Any additional comments?

Was hard to get into at the beginning but I soon fell right in!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow burn, but it pays off.

What did you love best about Folly?

It all made sense in the end- every word, every thought had a purpose.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Folly?

The face -off in the window.

Have you listened to any of Frank Muller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't, but that voice of his was perfect for the atmosphere of this book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it moves along at a slower pace, but it's weaving its tapestry carefully.

Any additional comments?

Just keep listening; it's worth it.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Couldn't listen another minute

What did you like best about Folly? What did you like least?

Don't know. I could listen more than 10 minutes, if that. Narrator was so syrupy I was gagging. I love Ms. King's writing but it was worth the suffering

What did you like best about this story?

couldn't say

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Drawing out the last consonant of every phrasessssssssss. So lugubrious it was painful

Do you think Folly needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

NA

Any additional comments?

would like Jenny Sterlin to do it.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I loved this story.

This book is different than L. King's usual stories, I look forward to the next one about Rae. I loved this story of a woman trying to get herself back together after many tragic blows. Wonderful story that keeps you on your toes and guessing what will happen next.

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3 people found this helpful