Breakheart Hill

By: Thomas H Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

When a lovely high-school girl is destroyed by a blow to her head, the savage act sends the people of a small southern town reeling. For 30 years, the mystery behind the attack has festered, damaging countless lives.

Now the town physician, who once loved the girl, must tell the dark story of what really happened that day.

Cook creates a series of emotionally charged revelations that builds to a shocking conclusion.

©1995 Thomas H. Cook (P)1995 Recorded Books

a great literary mystery

It's virtually impossible to give this book the review it deserves without providing rampant spoilers. So I'll just say that I listened to the first hour believing (foolishly) that I knew where the story was headed, that I knew whodunnit and why. And I ended up listening to the last fifteen minutes with my mouth hanging open, catching flies and not caring, because the truth was much more shocking, much more tragic, than I would ever have let myself believe.

This is a truly great literary mystery. Written with poetical prose, it lyrically reveals people in both their most debased and noblest lights. Thomas H. Cook is now officially on my "must-read" list, and I will definitely look for more titles narrated by George Guidall.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Good ending

I had a hard time getting through the beginning of the book as so much just sad stuff to listen to, repeated. Liked the ending

I'm obsessed with Thomas H Cook

This is the third book I've now read/listened to by this author and so far I've found every one of his books to be so very interesting and engaging. This story revolves around the questions and secrets surrounding a young girl's murder and a young boy's (who as an adult becomes the small town physician) unrequited love for the girl. This book has mystery and meat. The small town politics and antics that often populate Mr Cook's stories serve as a backdrop for this book. It is the old south that I recognize from my past with it's often white-washed issues of class and racism ( no pun intended) and the dark underbelly of it all. This book confronts these issues in a multifaceted story that will hold your interest throughout. Good good good ! I'll be reviewing more of Mr Cook's books soon I bet!

The ending was AMAZING

A really good mystery. The ending was totally unexpected, even the most intellectual reader wouldn’t figure it out!

Good story

Goos story, just a little bit too contemplative. The ending surprised me. The first part of the story a bit to long.

Relax. Listen to the story.

I listened to almost all of Breakheart Hill at once, during our spring cleaning and garden marathon. It made the work just fly on by.

The story of Kelli Troy as told by Ben Wade builds, with increasing emotional tension as it advances and recedes in time, teasing and never letting the truth escape until the last.

This affecting novel is a bit poetic, and has a world-class mystery at its heart. I enjoyed it enormously, and am off to read everything that Thomas H. Cook has written.

Jay Thomas