The Contortionists

De: Robert H. Van Wagoner

Narrado por: Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner

When five-year-old Joshua Christopher disappears off the street as he walks to a friend’s birthday party, his family is forced to confront the unimaginable. What happened? Why? Who took him? Was the convicted sex offender caught lurking near the search? Why won’t the police leave his family, his parents, alone?

In his second novel, his first in 20 years, Robert H. Van Wagoner explores a family in extremis tottering at the edge of faith: in God and church, in family, and in marriage - in the institutions that promise safety and meaning. Both lyrical and explosive, The Contortionists unfolds as a pause-resisting mystery.

Van Wagoner’s wrenching narrative propels the listener forward toward the novel’s harrowing climax, while deftly unpacking its major themes - mental illness, sexuality, and substance abuse in a culture that would rather not confront them. Does the truth ever set anyone ultimately free? The stakes for Joshua and his family could not be greater.

©2020 Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner (P)2020 Signature Books

You will be contorted

This novel is the rare combination of page-turning thriller, family function and dysfunction, religious requiem, cultural analysis and sexual revelation. Van Wagoner is a master.

Superb thriller/suspense book!!

The Contortionists is a great thriller/suspense novel that takes place in Ogden, Utah but will feel familiar to many across America. The book deals with the complexities involved with a dominant religion, strict moral/ethical codes, and the impact such can have on seemingly normal people. Van Wagoner provides incredible detail throughout, which is initially heavy but well worth it and necessary in the gut-wrenching scenes. Like all good suspense novels, Van Wagoner gets you invested in the characters, which takes a little while. And once you feel comfortable with an assumption as to how it will all end, the book turns into a page-turner, ricocheting the reader from one dramatic vignette to the next until the harrowing end. Phenomenal author and an amazing read. Van Wagoner does the audio as well, so he knows exactly what inflection to use and where to put the emphasis.