The Abattoir of Dreams

By: Mark Tilbury

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Abattoir of Dreams is a bittersweet story of murder, innocence and abuse where the past is never far away....

Michael Tate has not had an easy life. With his father in prison, and his mother dead, Michael was sent to Woodside Children’s Home. 

Now an adult, Michael wakes up in hospital from a coma suffering from amnesia and paralysis. Confused and terrified, he is charged with the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend, Becky. He also learns he attempted to end his own life. 

Detective Inspector John Carver is determined that Michael is sent to prison. 

With no way of defending himself, Michael is left in his hospital bed awaiting transfer to remand. 

But then strange things begin to happen, and his childhood comes back to haunt him. 

Can Michael ever escape the past? 

Will he ever discover the truth about Becky’s murder? 

©2017 Mark Tilbury (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing

Critic Reviews

"When I’m in the mood for a fast paced, dark and twisted thriller I know I can always count on a Mark Tilbury book to deliver and this was no exception.... Tilbury never shies away from exploring the dark and depraved depths of humanity." (Novel Gossip)

Soooooo good!

Omg! This book was so good! I couldn’t stop listening!!! I’m so glad it was recommended to me!!

Weird

All I can say is that this was an weird and strange book. The summary doesn't prepare you for the material. If childhood abuse both sexual and physical disturb you I'd stay away. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it would be. Really it's something the publisher ethically and morally should have at least warned about.

That said, it's not a masterful piece of work to justify the ordeal of processing it. It wraps it up to easily and neatly like it's based in the world where everyone gets what they disserve in the end.

Fantastic

I really enjoyed this book it was extremely well written & also well read. My book of the year so far
Quite touching and graphic

You must listen to this book!

This is not your usual crime thriller. But that’s a good thing. It is about a very difficult subject, that of institutional physical and sexual abuse of children and young people. It’s about domestic abuse, murder, cruelty and collusion. At times it is difficult to listen to. It is heartbreaking, brutally honest, visceral and unflinchingly real. But it’s such an important story and subject matter. It is told from the perspective of the abused children in such a believable and authentic way it is utterly compelling and you cannot stop listening. The narrator does an absolutely amazing job. Each of the many characters even the ones with smaller roles have distinct voices which is a great skill and brings the story to life in all its technicolour horror. However, it isn’t a relentless tale of misery. It is a story about love, and friendship, brotherhood, the kindness of strangers and most of all it’s the story of hope. When all is lost and unbelievably awful, there is still love to be found. I was deeply moved by this book. It will echo in my head for a long time. Mark Tilbury has a gift. I cannot wait to listen to and read his other novels. If you want to listen to something that challenges you, that forces you to face the uglier side of life, that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster but is also beautifully sensitive, achingly so, I urge you to purchase this book. Not many books leave their mark on you, this one certainly has. Thank you Mark Tilbury - I salute you!

Wow! Gripped from the beginning to end

What can I say?
Narration - always good from David Thorpe. He can’t “do” accents and voices like some but his simplicity works so well with the books I’ve listened to and their characters.
Now for the book / Audio.
Recommend on UK Crime Books Facebook page. SO glad I’d seen the post and picked this out.
It starts - present day and works backwards and forwards weaving a soul destroying story of abuse. Mental and physical and all the bits in between some parts I found very difficult to listen to. David Thorpe had worked his magic with the words until the characters were like family. A very strange feeling to want to look out for a character!! The rest was a delicate love story. The warmth and care the main characters shared despite the horrors was beautiful.
It’s been a long time since a book has had met this engrossed.
Clever writing and narration brought the book to life and the characters eternal presence.

I will definitely look for Mark Tilbury again. I do hope I like the narrator on his next book. That’s the only problem when authors don’t keep the same narrators it can be hard to follow.

This book I will most certainly listen to again. Out of 200 plus books in my Audible collection there are only 4 to date I’ve revisited.

Okay I suppose

It’s got a beginning middle and an end but it’s not the best I’ve listened too. Was expecting something different after reading the glowing reviews.

No super duper twists and it does have some quite detailed descriptions of child abuse but I’ve heard worse.

It’s well narrated.. maybe I chose the wrong book to start my journey with this author.