The Shell Collector

By: Hugh Howey

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi

The ocean is dying. The sea is growing warmer and is gradually rising. Seashells have become so rare that collecting them is now a national obsession. Flawless specimens sell like priceless works of art. Families hunt the tideline in the dark of night with flashlights. Crowds gather on beaches at the lowest of tides, hoping to get lucky.

Supreme among these collectors is Ness Wilde, CEO of Ocean Oil. Ness owns many of the best beaches, and he keeps them to himself. It's his fault the world turned out this way. And I aim to destroy him.

My name is Maya Walsh. You might be familiar with my shelling column in the Times. I was working on a series of pieces about Mr. Wilde, when out of the blue, he called. He says he wants to talk. But I don't think he's going to like what I have to say.

©2014 Hugh Howey (P)2015 Hugh Howey

Nice easy read, puts you seaside

The story line was interesting, a bit different...a nice break between heavy reads.
If you enjoy the ocean, I'd recommend.

Pretty Good, Quick Read

It's not hard to follow along this book, once you realize it's set in the future. I liked the character motivations and growth more than I thought I would, so that was a nice surprise.
The narrator did a great job except for her tendency to become incredibly nasal.

Fantastic narration

Great book by Hugh Howey as always.

The narration was masterful. One narrator, but with using different “voices” and accents for each character and inflection as needed. Did an amazing job, really put me into the moment.

Romance with a message

A romantic novel with an ecological message .you find yourself hoping for a sweet ending and the delivers.at the same time you are hoping that the awful picture of the future is not as bleak as portrayed or that a solution will be found

I started off hating this book

I was going to return it... It seemed like the usual pro-green anti-science nonsense I can't stand... But for some reason I couldn't stop listening. And then things started to change... Much like the protagonist's own views.
I love this book. Howey manages to craft his reader's responses perfectly throughout, and before you know it you suddenly realize that the whole point is about using science to beat science.
It's about society's fickle nature, about the desire to find scapegoats to ease your own social guilt, about what sustainable, green, ethical, and clean really mean and how science is an integral backbone if we want to help the world grow.