The Resurrectionist

By: Jack O'Connell

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Gritty noir fiction, mind-bending fantasy, and medical thriller combine in a new novel by an author dubbed the "cyberpunk Dashiell Hammett".

Sweeney is a druggist by trade; Danny, his son, is in a persistent coma, the victim of an accident. Hoping for a miracle, they have come to the Peck Clinic, a fortress-like haven in a post-industrial city overrun by gangs. Doctors there claim to have resurrected two patients who were similarly lost in the void.

Gradually, Sweeney realizes that the cure for his son's condition may lie in "Limbo", a fantasy comic-book world into which Danny had been drawn at the time of his accident. Plunged into the intrigue that surrounds the clinic, Sweeney searches for answers and instead finds sinister back alleys, brutal dead ends, and terrifying rabbit holes of mystery.

Full of puzzles and surprises, Resurrectionist is a surreal, gothic meditation on identity, the nature of consciousness, the power of stories, love, mad scientists, circus freaks, and ultimately forgiveness - both giving and receiving.

©2008 Jack O'Connell (P)2008 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

" The Resurrectionist - a brilliantly tuned, mesmerizing labyrinth of a quasi-real world as only a master artist could draw it - will jazz you, floor you, grab you and shake you and leave you hung out to dry in that world. A brilliant break-through novel." (James Ellroy)

neither fish nor fowl

I could not make either head or tail of that story. the premisses did sound very interesting, a bit noir, a bit fantasy, like, for example, christopher priests "the prestige", but the story did not really blend the different parts together. very many loose ends and a very unsatisfactory ending. the narrator is good, though.

Simply irresistible

Wow! That's the first thing that pops to mind. After reading the synopsis for this story, I was inexplicably drawn to it, but I saw enough questionable reviews that I hesitated for quite a while and sated myself on more Dresden Files and repeat performances of American Gods and The Memory of Running.

Then I looked at The Resurrectionist again. The comparisons to Kafka still made me cringe, but I listened to the sample again, and decided to risk it...and boy am I glad that I did. I don't really see where the allusions to Kafka come from.

One reviewer compared this story to The Talisman by King and Straub, and I find that a much better analog. This isn't a bizaare sequence of surrealistic tableaux, but two parallel story lines. A man hoping to revive his comatose child, and a comic book that has thoroughly infiltrated American culture. The "real life" story tends to parallel the "fictitious" comic story line, and gives a hint of The Watchmen because of this.

The story is gripping, and the characters are well developed and affable. Well, I guess they aren't ALL affable, but they are interesting. But story line is only half of the story for an audiobook.

A narrator can make a lackluster story better, or a good story unbearable. A good narrator familiarizes himself with the story and gives everything the proper emphasis and tone. Sometimes in a way that you would not yourself pick up on the first read of a story.

Holter Graham comes through for you. He breathes life into all of the characters, through his performance, and gives the story more depth than it would normally have.

If you liked The Talisman, Black House, or The Watchmen, you will undoubtedly like this book. I don't know why people seem so confused by it. There are two story lines, but it is very clear which characters belong to which story.

Pick this up - you won't be able to put it down!

Unique read

A very unique book, a great read, I've read nothing like this before or since. Recommend!