The Blackbird Season

A Novel

De: Kate Moretti

Narrado por: Joy Osmanski, Rebekkah Ross, Cassandra Campbell, Gibson Frazier

“Exceptional…a deliciously sinister glimpse into the duplicity of small-town lives and the ease with which people turn on each other when tragedy comes calling. Moretti's tale of jealousy and obsession is nothing less than dark magic. Witchery indeed." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Known for novels featuring “great pacing and true surprises” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) and “nerve-shattering suspense” (Heather Gudenkauf, New York Time bestselling author), New York Times bestselling author Kate Moretti’s latest is the story of a scandal-torn Pennsylvania town and the aftermath of a troubled girl gone missing.

“Where did they come from? Why did they fall? The question would be asked a thousand times…

Until, of course, more important question arose, at which time everyone promptly forgot that a thousand birds fell on the town of Mount Oanoke at all.”

In a quiet Pennsylvania town, a thousand dead starlings fall onto a high school baseball field, unleashing a horrifying and unexpected chain of events that will rock the close-knit community.

Beloved baseball coach and teacher Nate Winters and his wife, Alecia, are well respected throughout town. That is, until one of the many reporters investigating the bizarre bird phenomenon catches Nate embracing a wayward student, Lucia Hamm, in front of a sleazy motel. Lucia soon buoys the scandal by claiming that she and Nate are engaged in an affair, throwing the town into an uproar…and leaving Alecia to wonder if her husband has a second life.

And when Lucia suddenly disappears, the police only to have one suspect: Nate.

Nate’s coworker and sole supporter, Bridget Harris, Lucia’s creative writing teacher, is determined to prove his innocence. She has Lucia’s class journal, and while some of the entries appear particularly damning to Nate’s case, others just don’t add up. Bridget knows the key to Nate’s exoneration and the truth of Lucia’s disappearance lie within the walls of the school and in the pages of that journal.

Told from the alternating points of view of Alecia, Nate, Lucia, and Bridget, The Blackbird Season is a haunting, psychologically nuanced suspense, filled with Kate Moretti’s signature “chillingly satisfying” (Publishers Weekly) twists and turns.

Perfect listen for a fall night

I read a print copy before I listened. When you do that it's sometimes hard to get used to the voices of someone else's picking. The voice over artists for this novel were spot on! I loved this version.

Way Too Long

Ms. Moretti is a good writer, but this book was way too long. When she wrote about Nate's autistic son, it was like listening to someone reading from a medical dictionary to just add boring filler to the story. The overall plot is good and her characters are believable, but I actually fast-forwarded through most of Alicia's obsessive whining about her son. Had this book been better edited, I'd have given it five stars. At least 50 pages could have been deleted and not affected the story at all.

A swing and a MISS

This is terrible. I expected at least a high average listening experience when I saw the review quote from Kirkus coupled with the fine publishing house. But this is Grade School audience level writing. I'm angry that this book is in the Audible catalog. Thank goodness Audible will refund my credit :-)

Skip!

This book is just too stupid to keep listening to. Bad writing, worse editing. Nonsensical.