Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Gods of Howl Mountain  By  cover art

Gods of Howl Mountain

By: Taylor Brown
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In Gods of Howl Mountain, award-winning author Taylor Brown explores a world of folk healers, whiskey-runners, and dark family secrets in the high country of 1950s North Carolina.

Bootlegger Rory Docherty has returned home to the fabled mountain of his childhood - a misty wilderness that holds its secrets close and keeps the outside world at gunpoint. Slowed by a wooden leg and haunted by memories of the Korean War, Rory runs bootleg whiskey for a powerful mountain clan in a retro-fitted 1940 Ford coupe.

Between deliveries to roadhouses, brothels, and private clients, he lives with his formidable grandmother, evades federal agents, and stokes the wrath of a rival runner. In the mill town at the foot of the mountains - a hotbed of violence, moonshine, and the burgeoning sport of stock-car racing - Rory is bewitched by the mysterious daughter of a snake-handling preacher.

His grandmother, Maybelline "Granny May" Docherty, opposes this match for her own reasons, believing that "some things are best left buried." A folk healer whose powers are rumored to rival those of a wood witch, she concocts potions and cures for the people of the mountains while harboring an explosive secret about Rory's mother - the truth behind her long confinement in a mental hospital, during which time she has not spoken one word. When Rory's life is threatened, Granny must decide whether to reveal what she knows... or protect her only grandson from the past. With gritty and atmospheric prose, Taylor Brown brings to life a perilous mountain and the family who rules it.

©2018 Taylor Brown (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Gods of Howl Mountain

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    147
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    151
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    128
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

I'm from the area this book was written about and I love it! I wish there were more authors and books like this. The narration is perfect.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Cormac McCarthy's purple prose

Great book, entertaining story...but man, this guy lays it on thick. Picture all those bombastic, relentless sections of description from Blood Meridian. Now imagine an entire book written like that...the entire book. In general this is a good thing as his writing is top notch. But it is so obviously inspired by McCarthy's style that it became distracting at times. I just couldn't get McCarthy out of my head when I was reading it. So if you think being too much like Cormac McCarthy is a criticism, then stay away...but for many people, myself included, this is a huge plus.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!!! Epic journey, Masterful writing

Brilliant writing. This story is beautiful and rivetting. The story builds in depth and intensity - Rory's heroic journey after coming back from Korean war. Narration outstanding! My absolute highest rating!!! A must listen, Gods Of Howl Mountain.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Moonshine and Moonlight

Taylor Brown is a terrific storyteller, creating memorable characters and a charging narrative that captures a not-so-distant
gothic south masterfully imagined and described.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brrrr... amazing tale, masterfully told

Brown's great little story of the mountain reads like a myth, although there no supernatural elements to it. There are no gods, and the struggle is not between good and evil. It's merely the struggle to outwit and prevail against evil. Gods of Howl Mountain is a perfectly rounded tale. And although most of the action is on the part of the male characters it's Granny--almost a Coyote figure--who is truly the protagonist.
And the epilogue is delicious.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

awesome!!

Loved it! Granny Mae is one of the best female characters I have had the pleasure of reading. love her!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

poetry and pain combined

I very much enjoy this book. It is a tough story told in poetic prose.
Have ordered his others. This is artful story telling. Taylor Brown's work is a wonderful discovery.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome story

I absolutely love this book. The story will keep you listening and waiting for the next part. The narrator does a great job as well

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Naturalistic Tale

Excellent naturalistic tale of people in a forgotten part of North Carolina, post-WWII. Taylor Brown has a very good eye for details and an ear for the language of people from different levels of society. The book has a relaxed way of telling a story that seems to be the result of thousands of generations of story-telling.

Mark Bramhall's narration is spot on.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gods of Howl Mountain

A completely raw story at a time and place when things were really that way. Terrific book and the narrator was awesome. Highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful