The Chopin Manuscript

A Serial Thriller

By: Lee Child, David Corbett, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, John Gilstrap, James Grady, David Hewson, P. J. Parrish, Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Alfred Molina

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

15 thriller masters. 1 masterful thriller.

Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy figure out of his past: the man known only as Faust.

The Chopin Manuscript is a unique collaboration by 15 of the world's greatest thriller writers. Jeffery Deaver conceived the characters and set the plot in motion; the other authors each wrote a chapter in turn. Deaver then completed what he started, bringing The Chopin Manuscript to its explosive conclusion.

The Chopin Manuscript was written by:
Jeffery Deaver (Lincoln Rhyme series)
David Hewson (Nic Costa series)
James Grady (Six Days of the Condor)
S. J. Rozan (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series)
Erica Spindler (Last Known Victim)
John Ramsey Miller (Winter Massey series)
David Corbett (Blood of Paradise)
John Gilstrap (Scott Free)
Joseph Finder (Power Play)
Jim Fusilli (Terry Orr series)
Peter Spiegelman (John March series)
Ralph Pezzullo (Jawbreaker)
Lisa Scottoline (Daddy's Girl)
P.J. Parrish (Louis Kincaid, Joe Frye series)
Lee Child (Jack Reacher series)

©2007 International Thriller Writers, Inc., Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, David Hewson, James Grady, S. J. Rozan, Erica Spindler, John Ramsey Miller, David Corbett, John Gilstrap, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, Peter Spiegelman, Ralph Pezzullo, Lisa Scottoline, and P. J. Parrish (P)2007 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2008 Audie Award Winner
  Audiobook of the Year

"Innovative and unique, The Chopin Manuscript, written by masters in the field of thrillers, is far more than the sum of its parts. Here each author shines, blending individual skill and energy, into a riveting, crackling-paced tapestry of murder, mystery, and mayhem. Not to be missed!" (James Rollins, author of The Judas Strain)

"A GREAT story, written by one GREAT author after another, in one GREAT chapter after another. A stellar achievement of collectivity that blows from the starting gate at 100 mph and never slows down. A thrill-a-page from 15 GREAT thriller masters. Don't miss this one." (Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal)

Loved it

I loved how each author made his/her chapter as exciting as possible and with its own arc that still fit into the arc of the overall story. The characters are fun. Well worth it.

Interesting idea...

...but it didn't quite work for me. I am an avid thriller fan, so maybe I'm more critical than others, but it felt a bit disjointed to me. If I judge it based on the experiment, then I can say they did a decent enough job. If I judge it as a thriller, I would say they fell short. If this had been by a single author, I would have been disappointed by it.

Listen if you're curious as to how it all came together, but if you're looking for a can't-stop-listening thriller, keep looking.

Fun - each chapter reveals new twists

I was imagining the individual authors as they read the chapters preceeding and the challenge must have been quite a chess game!

Wonderful group effort

The story flowed so smoothly, surprisingly with so many authors. I could hardly put it down. I look forward to another collaboration of good talent.

wonderful

Really enjoyed this would love to see more like it

Loved the concept and was thrilled at the end result!!

This was a very interesting project and i was surprised at how cohesively everything flowed together by the end of each chapter even though the path had often diverged more than i thought possible!

I know, as a computer code programmer, how difficult it is pick up from one technician and continue the project - it is so often easier to just start over again, scraping what had previously been done, than to try to graft your skills and ideas onto someone else's base ....

But, these authors were magnificent in their work, as always!!

Thank you,
Janice West


I look forward to more projects like this in the future!

Moleno, as narrator, was just as stupendous as he is as an actor!

An enjoyable creative experiment

It was fun experiencing the working out of of multiple authors of a single story. In the end it came together well and of course has a few extra turns and twists than even the average mystery.

Nice idea - but issues in continuity

What did you like best about The Chopin Manuscript? What did you like least?

The idea of building a story with a team of star thriller writers sounds great. But when I listened, I felt confused as each author introduced new characters and new threads which seemed unrelated to the previous parts of the story.

It did all come together in the end. I think I would have enjoyed this more if I listened to this as a serial rather than in one go.

If you’ve listened to books by the authors before, how does this one compare?

I have not listened to other books by these authors. I have only read their books

What about Alfred Molina’s performance did you like?

He is a good actor.

Was The Chopin Manuscript worth the listening time?

It was ok. But there are better books out there.

Good story, jarring production

All the writers who collaborated here are favorites of mine, so I was looking forward to hearing this book. I have listened to collaborations before and this was not quite as good as I had expected given the caliber of the authors.

As others have noted, the different chapters were somewhat disjointed and did not give a seamless flow. The book required careful concentration to read, but overall was entertaining.

Alfred Molina's narration was topnotch. I am a big fan of his.

My primary complaint about this book--and this is strictly a personal preference--is that there are sound effects and music scattered throughout. In addition, the story is interrupted to announce the author of each chapter.

I find music and effects to be jarring and the author announcements distracting. I have Asperger's so perhaps it is just an idiosyncracy. I don't recall other reviewers mentioning this aspect of the book. I myself would not have purchased this book in audioform had I been aware of this in advance.

The Chopin Manuscript

When I first saw this book, I was immediately interested especially when I saw that it was a writing marathon. in the beginning, I was a bit disappointed because even though the narrator was really good, the setting was a bit boring. But around the middle of the second chapter, events began to pic up and the mystery began to really draw me in. once the story began to get more complicated and the mystery deepens and the different sides seemed to be mixed together, I can ensure you that you wouldn't be able to stop reading. The ending was satisfying and brought out the greatest and final twist of the novel. I think that with so many authors working together, the novel twists in every possible direction and would definitely wake up the reader's imagination.

The Chopin Manuscript stats with a murder of an extremely talented piano tuner. He wasn't sure what he was murdered for, but it turned out that the answer lay in one of his greatest hobbies. After his murder, many people became involved and the good guys could just as well be the bad ones.