Killers of the Flower Moon

Publisher's Summary

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West - where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the "Phantom Terror", roamed - many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than 24, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization's first major homicide investigations, and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling but also emotionally devastating.

©2017 David Grann (P)2017 Random House Audio

An outstanding story, highly recommended

Yes, the series of narrators is confusing. More on that later. The important thing is that this is a great story, an important story, an amazing story that has been hidden from you. Everyone should read or listen to it. This is a true American crime story, a story full of villains and honest to god heroes. If you loved Boys in the Boat or Unbroken, don't miss this one. It's top notch research and story telling. I couldn't put it down.

Now, about the narration. First, you have Ann Marie Lee reading it. Her enunciation is perfect, but she hasn't got a dramatic bone in her body. I'm sorry Ann Marie. It's like listening to a kindergarten teacher reading Dick and Jane. No character. No drama. What the heck? Next Will Patton comes along.He has read a number of Stephen King books and is a marvelous dramatic reader. He can do the voice of evil really well. The transition is all the more jolting for the listener. From Romper Room to Stephen King. Suddenly you're listening to a totally different book. But you'll want to continue on because the story is that good. At the end there's Danny Campbell -- another fine reader, and another adjustment for the listener. It's a double shame that this story of a conspiracy to murder the Osage tribe and cover up the crime is bungled by Random House Audio. Are they part of the conspiracy too???

I highly recommend this book in spite of Random House's unfortunate production.

168 of 176 people found this review helpful

1 author, 3 narrators, 3 books

This book is read by three different narrators. In this case, the narrators make or break the story. The first narrator walks us through the mysterious murders that keep happening to the Osage tribal members - but she combines singsong and monotone with a dash of schoolmarm in a way that it was all I could do to hang on for Will Patton's section.

Will Patton comes riding in on his dark horse, just the way he does in every James Lee Burke masterpiece, to bring the narrative to life with his whispering snarl and resonant emphases. Suddenly you're the lawman in the 10 gallon hat shaking up J. Edgar Hoover's bureau out where the law gets slippery, and the narrative picks up and takes off.

The third narrator is an elderly fellow who reads the first-person segment about how so many more Osage were killed than were previously thought. He's fine.

Overall, the story is a compelling tale about the lengths to which greed and institutionalized racism will go to nearly eradicate a people, and how whether energy is clean or dirty, it exploits the land and the people on it.

51 of 54 people found this review helpful

Not put off by narration

I read the reviews before buying so I guess I was forewarned and ready for the accents of the changing narrators. I didn’t find this distracting. It just seemed like they were trying to use the speaking style of the person and time period that was the focus of their section of the book.

The topic is really affecting. I knew l little about it from a high school history class, but iI found it so incomprehensible back then that I hardly believed it. After reading this, the part I find hard to believe is that those in power didn’t know exactly what they were setting up when they created the guardian system.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

48 of 51 people found this review helpful

Poor Narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would not recommend this book to a friend. Sorry to say that, because I loved Grann's "The Lost City of Z." But the narrator reading this book is not good. She reads very slowly, she over-articulates, and you literally get the sense she is smiling when she reads things that are not remotely happy. She seems to be reading to a kindergarten audience. I actually couldn't get more than an hour into this book because her reading didn't seem to be connected to the words. I will have to read this one.

99 of 111 people found this review helpful

Every American should read this book

This book is an easy read in that I finished it in 2 evenings. The first section jumps around a bit so it was hard to follow, but by the time I started the second section I realized I needed to reread the first section to catch all the names and relationships I had missed. By the end I wanted scream.

Our schools teach such white washed versions of history and we really need to start uncovering "the original sin" of our country. Though this may be an extreme for the time, it is not an extreme for how the Native Americans have been treated from the first interaction to today and the #noDAPL movement. America and the government do not care about Native Americans and only when it suits the people in charge, as in founding the FBI, does anything get done for them.

I will probably re read this book very soon and I've been telling everyone I know to read it.

22 of 24 people found this review helpful

All Should Know this Little Recorded History

How could I have never heard this story about the Osage Indian Tribe before? I am well-read and curious, but it is a history that while not covered up, is little known. I am so glad I read this book. I am telling all my friends to read this book for the history -- none of them knew this story either.

I picked it up as I wanted to know more about how the FBI was created. What I got was a riveting murder mystery (my favorite genre), excellent history that includes oil, homesteading, tribal history and how the FBI was created.

Some are complaining about the narration. I am fine with the narration. My complaint is that the story feels like it came to a halt when it changed to the first person in the final act. That portion of the book should have been inter-woven throughout the book as it slowed down the momentum of a great middle section of the book.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Grim Chapter of American History.

Amazing story. The depths of evil that we are capable of is beyond comprehension. story was told with great respect for those who were killed and for those who still suffer from the ongoing sense of loss and betrayal.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Book was worth ignoring bad reviews

So narration wasn't perfect. The 1st one sounded like she was just reading words off the paper, as did the last one, but the narration wasn't terrible. It hardly affected me. I almost didn't give the book a chance because a review from "Lance", which was the first review you read, claimed the 2nd Narrator was making a joke of the performance and was talking like a stereotypical prohibition era gangster. Lance even falsely included quotes that were not in the book.
The second Narrator sounds like an older man from the south, and when you Google him, that's exactly what he is. He wasn't overacting. All he did was emphasize the emotions of some of the readings. I thought the second Narrator (Patton) gave a great performance.
Book was great. Not as good as 'Lost City of Z' but not because of the writer. A story about surviving the Amazon vs surviving Oklahoma is just more interesting to me.

43 of 51 people found this review helpful

A History Lesson: 2.85 Stars

The story was okay, and some of it was interesting. Maybe it's because I normally read fiction and took a chance on some non-fiction, but Flowers of a Killer Moon failed to keep my attention at times. I found myself having to back the performance up because I would drift off and think of something else.

There are 3 sections to the book, and a different narrator for each section. Will Patton was good. Danny Campbell was decent, but Anna Marie Lee was not good. She narrates the entire first section of the book, setting the tone for the first half of the novel. While her vocal performance was not all that good, there was also something wrong with the production. It sounded as if a speaker was busted when pronounced certain words. When Will Patton takes over, this problems goes away, and the narration and the book get better for awhile.

All in all, this book was average at best, and I probably wouldn't have finished it if Anna Marie Lee narrated the entire novel. On the other hand, if Will Patton had narrated the entire novel, I think it would have been a bit better.

There are many better performances on Audible. This is not one I can recommend.

31 of 37 people found this review helpful

Great book; beware terrible narration

The book itself is great, as expected. Grann is a master.

The first narrator is a bit slow for my taste. The second narrator (why is there more than one???) arrives unannounced as the story heats up and feels like a cruel joke. He can't decide whether he's doing a bad Sam Elliott impression or a worse Humphrey Bogart impression -- both of which distract from and diametrically contrast Grann's storytelling style.

Just read the book instead.

49 of 59 people found this review helpful