Listening to the Dead

By: George Seaton

Narrated by: Jim Pelletier

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Retired Denver Police homicide detective Jack Dolan discovers the bodies of two brutally beaten young men while riding on the trails near his mountain home. To solve these murders, he calls upon his former lover, Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Michael Day, the reclusive Native American woman who sold him his horse, and his unusual power of speaking with the dead - a talent he learned as a rookie detective from a cop nicknamed Old Grim.

©2017 George Seaton (P)2017 Lethe Press

Not much resolution

I'm conflicted, I found the plot very interesting and the characters are too. It's weird knowing basically from the get go who the murderer is, and the switching between 3rd and 1st person narrative is bothersome. But it's really the lack of resolution at the end that makes me not care for the story. It was so bad It encompassed my annoyance at the Native American stereotyping lol. Probably not a reread for me.

That was a strangely unusual story. You call that

I grabbed this book on a whim because the premise was very interesting. I'm glad I did.
This is a second chance at love story; an abstract look at a murder, almost reminiscent of My Neighbor Totoro, in that there's no violence, no hard fraught danger, but rather a slow telling of a set of circumstances; and, story of consequences that stay even after the day has passed.
Will I listen again? Definitely, though the why is just because it was such a strangely gentle tale that just is.

I've really enjoyed listening to this book

I have read this book several times now so I was really thrilled to be able to listen to the story.
Listening To The dead is a good story. I love both it and the atmosphere created by George. I have a love of mountains and the idea of living on one has always appealed to me.
Homicide detective Jack Dolan has retired to the mountains to heal after a lifetime of solving murders.
When he stumbles upon the brutalised bodies of two young men he is forced back into the life that he had thought was behind him. With the help of his former lover, Michael, the Native American woman who sold him his horse and his ability to hear the dead speak, Jack investigates.
The book is so much more than this though. While investigating the murders, we find out about Jack's life as a homicide detective in Denver and how he learned to hear the dead and about his relationship with Michael.
Never having lived openly as a gay man Jack yearns for more when he and Michael work again in close proximity.
This book does not contain sex scenes and most of the crime happens off page. The hearing of the dead aspect is also underplayed.
I really enjoyed every aspect of this book: the story, the stunning setting and the excellent writing.
As far as performance is concerned I wasn't quite convinced about Jack's voice but that is a personal opinion. Other listeners are going to think differently.
One other reviewer commented on the different tenses used in the book but to me this wasn't a problem. In the first part of the book we are looking at a couple of different time frames and I think that the tense used during this is called past perfect. In the latter part of the book all the action takes place in the present time so the author uses the present tense. It works for me.
I have no problem in recommending Listening To The Dead.