Hold the Dark

A Novel

By: William Giraldi

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

A terrifying literary thriller set on the Alaskan tundra, about the mystery of evil and mankind’s losing battle with nature.

At the start of another pitiless winter, the wolves have come for the children of Keelut. Three children have been taken from this isolated Alaskan village, including the six-year-old son of Medora and Vernon Slone.

Shaken with grief and seeking consolation, Medora contacts nature writer and wolf expert Russell Core. Sixty years old, ailing in both body and spirit, and estranged from his daughter and wife, Core arrives in Keelut to investigate the killings. Immersing himself in this settlement at the end of the world, he discovers the horrifying darkness at the heart of Medora Slone and learns of an unholy truth harbored by this village.

When Vernon Slone returns from a desert war to discover his son dead and his wife missing, he begins a methodical pursuit across this frozen landscape. Aided by his boyhood companion, the taciturn and deadly Cheeon, and pursued by the stalwart detective Donald Marium, Slone is without mercy, cutting a bloody swath through the wilderness of his homeland. As Russell Core attempts to rescue Medora from her husband's vengeance, he comes face-to-face with an unspeakable secret at the furthermost reaches of American soil - a secret about the unkillable bonds of family and the untamed animal in the soul of every human being.

An Alaskan Oresteia, an epic woven of both blood and myth, Hold the Dark recalls the hyperborean climate and tribalism of Daniel Woodrell's Winter’s Bone and the primeval violence of James Dickey's Deliverance.

©2014 William Giraldi (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Well Done

Good story, great writing and character development. And you'll learn something. Not sure you'll ever use what you learned but it's still interesting and good to know.

Beautiful , bizarre and DARK.

At the center of this story is a small village suffering the death of children, captures the parent's aloneness, mourning, debilitating grief and craving for vengeance.

"When we're killed, the past is killed. When kids are killed... that's different. When kids are killed, the future dies. There's no life without a future."

The scene is Alaska and the prose is beautiful, always clear warnings of natural dangers and hints that these people are going to end up someplace ugly.


The narrator has the perfect voice for this novel and his performance was spot-on.

Most definitely worth the listen and I'll be looking for more work by both the author William Giraldi and the narrator Richard Ferrone.

Wow!

The story grabs you from the beginning and holds your attention to the very end!!!

Dark and Enjoyable

I saw a booktoker describe this book as being similar in vibe to true detective season 1, and that’s pretty accurate, not the same but same feel. Solid narration,l brings gritty and grizzly atmosphere and characters to life. Dark face paced western feel. Wolves, but not werewolves, human monsters with a supernatural flavor. Quick read, worth your credit! Highly recommend!

Hard to follow

The story was hard to follow. Maybe better if I read the print version myself.