The Providence Rider

A Matthew Corbett Novel, Book 4

By: Robert R. McCammon

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Providence Rider is the fourth installment in the extraordinary series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett, professional problem solver. The narrative begins in the winter of 1703, with Matthew still haunted by his lethal encounter with notorious mass murderer Tyranthus Slaughter. When an unexplained series of explosions rocks his Manhattan neighborhood, Matthew finds himself forced to confront a new and unexpected problem. Someone is trying - and trying very hard - to get his attention. That someone is a shadowy figure from out of Matthew's past: the elusive Dr. Fell.

The doctor, it turns out, has a problem of his own, one that requires the exclusive services of Matthew Corbett.The ensuing narrative moves swiftly and gracefully from the emerging metropolis of New York City to Pendulum Island in the remote Bermudas. In the course of his journey, Matthew encounters a truly Dickensian assortment of memorable, often grotesque, antagonists. These include Sirki, the giant, deceptively soft-spoken East Indian killer, Dr. Jonathan Gentry, an expert in exotic potions with a substance abuse problem of his own, the beautiful but murderous Aria Chillany, and, of course, the master manipulator and "Emperor of Crime" on two continents, Dr. Fell himself. The result is both an exquisitely constructed novel of suspense and a meticulous recreation of a bygone era.

Filled with danger, narrative surprises, and an almost tangible sense of place, The Providence Rider is historical fiction at its finest and most developed. It is the novel that McCammon's many devoted readers have been waiting for. They will not be disappointed.

©2012 Robert McCammon (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

This is a fun series

I've read all four Corbett books to date. Thanks audible for making these available! I highly recommend checking out the entire series. Matthew Corbett is a fantastic character. The colonial America setting is unusual and well written, and the stories are engaging and fun.

I've been looking forward to Book 4 for a few months. Thankfully, McCammon seems to churn these out quickly. All of your favorite characters are back, AND most importantly we finally get to meet Professor Fell. Lots of action.

This isn't high art by any stretch, but it is a really fun read. Well worth your listening time and credits.

My personal experience.

My reviews don't ever seem to be helpful. Not sure what a helpful review is. But I can say with experience that the Matthew Corbett series is riveting and intense. If you are an avid Audible reader, you will not be disappointed... helpful or not.

Completely Captivated

I just finished this fourth book of the Matthew Corbett series and I haven't read anything else besides the series for the past few weeks. I have to preface this by saying that I rarely read murder mysteries or detective novels unless I am starting on a long road trip and need incentive to stay in the car or need a book for a plane flight and am in the airport. It is because I feel they are a basically shallow read. BUT this series is different: to start with, it is very well written,a must for me. The characters are well developed, the plot is riveting and the twists are very imaginative. Then you have the narrator who is one of the best I have heard on Audible. What is best is that once you have read the first book and loved it, then you have four more! VERY satisfying read.

Read the entire series...

of four books and am looking forward to more by this author and this narrator. Unlike many characters, this protagonist, although very intelligent, is not superhuman. He possesses weaknesses as well as strengths, petty emotions as well as generous ones. He learns from experiences. The author is very descriptive, so I had no difficulty visualizing the scenes and the action taking place.

The narrator is excellent. I am picky about narrators, so that is saying something.

What a talented narrator!

I have become a fan of Edoardo Ballerini's work. It's so easy to listen to him. He makes characters come alive. And just when I think he can't possibly come up with another one, he does. They are remarkably consistent not only from the beginning to the end, but from book to book.

As for the series ... the first book was stellar. As the series went on, each book became a little less magical for me. It's still a terrific listen - no question. But after the first book, each one goes down by about a 1/2 star in my opinion.

Curiouser and curiouser...

I think it makes sense to review all four books in this series together, but the length of such a review would parallel the length of just a chapter of one of them. Mister Slaughter, the Queen of Bedlam, Speaks the Nightbird and Providence Rider: all four of these are the adventures of Matthew Corbett, a young man in his twenties who lives and works in and around New York City at about the year 1700. There is almost no limit to the imagination of Mr. McCammon, and my feelings about the skills of Edoardo Ballerini should be obvious to anyone who has read any of my reviews of his work. I'm not sure I could have gotten through one hundred hours of listening (roughly) to anyone other than Mr. Ballerini.
What Mr. McCammon has done is tell an enormously complicated tale, with major and minor plots, characters who move in and out of the spotlight, with plot twists that often defy the logical sense, and so forth. Often I felt that Matthew must have felt something like Alice in Wonderland, because of all of the strange and weird doings all around him. Mr. McCammon will throw in an interesting character and then once we get pulled in to this person, the author just drops him or her right down through the hole in the stage floor. There are utter improbabilities piled up upon each other everywhere. The grand conceit, that Matthew is the first private detective ever, is a clever one. His dalliances with a series of women is off-putting, as the women tend to be so interesting that I wanted one of them to take up more of our time (as Susan Silverman does in the life of Spenser). We are titillated by each one of these smart beauties, and then each of them just fades away.
It is not possible to rate these books one through four, at least for me. I think you read and like the entire series, or you don't. There is a lot of explicit violence in them, but if you think about the collected group of detective stories in existence, you see a lot of explicit violence there, too. McCammon's observational powers, particularly for minor details of clothing and settings, is almost mesmerizing. If he has actually witnessed all of the places, then he is one heck of a researcher, as good as Tim Hallinan. I feel a little frustrated that I am not giving you the sense of the plots of all four of these books, but there is just too much plot for me to be able to do that in a sensible way. So, I'll say: read the first one. If you like it, then read all four. You will, like Alice, fall down into a remarkable world, one full of sense and nonsense, and unforgettable for all that.

Making the same mistakes in a Great Series

I love the premise of this series and the time period, but the personalities and actions are disappointing. Mathew seems determined to be a punching bag for every bad guy, not capable of defending himself or reacting in time to avoid injury; and I am getting sick of the "I love you too much to love you, so I'm going to treat you like a prick - no wait If I ever get out of this mess I'm going to treat you right" loop that he seems to be stuck in. I've already bought the next in the series, but if this pattern keeps repeating, then the chances of any future purchases of Mr. McCammon's books are doubtful.

Language is everything

Love the series. Characters are real and fully embodied. Villains are bad and heroes are people faced with hard choices. Story line is not repetitive. This book is no exception.

I believe, HOWEVER, that language is everything. The books are set in the late 1600s and early 1700s. What began for me as a bit eccentric became very irritating. Many of the idioms for example, did not exist at this time. Surely, there is a happy medium between using the antiquated language of the Bronte sisters, to the extreme modern expressions like “are you an item?” or “are you together?” and many others I can no longer remember.

And there are modern conveniences that were not available at the time – like “chocolate chips”, baking soda for toothpaste or a tooth powder flavored with peppermint. Although there were cultures using various things as dentifrice from ancient times, it was not widespread in England, nor in the colonies until the late 18th century -- certainly not in 1702. This lack of dental hygiene was notorious in this period and many people were toothless.

While I understand it is impossible to research absolutely everything for an historical novel, it is nice when a writer tries to think outside our modern world box.

Umm.. McCammon, are you tired of Matthew Corbett?

Did McCammon get tired of writing somewhere between the third and fourth novels in this series? Sings the Nightbird was fantastic. The Queen of Bedlam was good. Mister Slaughter was okay. The Providence Rider was marginal. It had its moments, but it doesn't stand up well to the standard set in Sings the Nightbird. Nonetheless, I will probably continue with Matthew Corbett if/when the next installment is available.

Five stars for Edoardo Ballerini's performance. Such a voice!

Robert check your details

Matthew goes downstairs in Prof. Fell's home to look for muffins that are sometimes left on the table. He finds a basket, chooses the largest one and is delighted to find it's a chocolate chip one. Robert, chocolate chips were not invented until 1938 when Ruth Graves Wakefield broke a Nestle candy bar into a batch of cookie dough. Mathew bites into his "chocolate chip muffin", aka quickbread bun in 1698ish? I love your writing, generally speaking but from common mistakes in American colloquialisms, to actual knowledge of marine life, (octopus only have a two year life span), to researching the origins of baked goods as they relate to the authenticity of the time periods in your stories, are beginning to make me lose interest in further novels. Also, and as an aside, Matthew's sex life is troublesome. His encounters always seem to happen when he is either under the influence of mind bending "medications" and rendered helpless, or in the cover of darkness, pinned down and again, helpless, and he never seems to be certain who he's with. And he always seems to be on the receiving end of uninvited sex that he's compelled to endure. Essentially his sexual encounters amount to sexual harassment and or rape by his partners. When you add that disturbing fact, to the fact that he is always passive in every other physical act of assault he endures from his enemies, in spite of the fact that he has supposedly been trained in combat along with sword fighting, ( which he never seems to engage in), now that he's working for Catherine Herald, your Matthew Corbett series is starting to read a bit like the Perils of Pauline. Your hero always seems to be a victim. Bottom line, give him a little more testosterone and fact check every word, since your editor doesn't seem to be doing it for you.

Matthew Corbett's adventures go beyond

This great series gets even better and travels to interesting places with Matthew coming into direct contact with his nefarious nemesis, Professor Fell. An exciting adventure with a satisfying resolution (though I am not especially happy with the Berry developments - cliched). Hopefully more, equally enjoyable, stories will continue to be produced.

This is not a starting point for new readers. I would recommend starting with book 2 "Queen of Bedlam" which is very accessible and then, when hooked, give the longer prequel "Speaks the Nightbird" a go.

The Narator is generally very good but his American English pronunciations can be aggravating at times and his regional accents are sometimes a bit wobbly (thus says a well travelled Scotsman).

Can't wait for more

This book is very much the same as all other McCammon's stories: exciting,intelligent,keeping you on the edge,fiery detective work. This one however is so well written that I wasn't able to stop until the story finished.

Great adventure in a good all style, no nonsense only fantastic story. Edoardo Ballerini to me is the most wonderful narrator!

Matthew Corbett Books 1 to 4

I have listened to all of the Matthew Corbett books and enjoyed them all. I first came upon Robert McCammon in the late 70's when he wrote his first book Baal and I enjoy his style of writing he really plants you into the brain of the character and even more so in the Corbett books. I started with book one Speaks the Nightbird which is brilliant. All books are standalone and the author does provide enough information in all books so as to not to leave you scratching your head wondering what is going on here. As for Edoardo Ballerini who narrators all four books he really does the business (Well done) . I listened to these books in my car on long journeys and I found myself sitting in the car at the end of the journey waiting for the end of the chapter. I cannot wait for the next one.

MacCammon does it again

I love these books following the exploits of unlikely hero Mathew Corbett. They leave me hanging in anticipation of the next book in the series.

Good storytelling.

The whole series is great so far. The narration is perfect and as always captivating.

Another great sequel

Would you listen to The Providence Rider again? Why?

Yes, because the whole series is full of great plot

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Providence Rider?

The head sawing off at the dinner table

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The underwater rescue

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both

Any additional comments?

The narrator is great, but make sure they can do the accents required..the Irish accent was cringeworthy

Matthew can be SOOOOOO infuriating

By the time you get to the 3rd book you lose all hope with Matthew ... he NEVER confides, NEVER shares, NEVER looks for help! Bottom line, although we're introduced to a plethora of other great characters - it's ALL about HIM and his daft decisions. It reminds me of the old black and white horror films where the woman would wake up to sounds of horror coming from low in the castles dungeons, and then she'd go and look!!! WHY?!?!?

I love these books!!!!!!!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Providence Rider to be better than the print version?

I guess in that Eduardo has the most beautiful and entrancing narration.

What did you like best about this story?

The prose, the story, the characters everything in fact!

What does Edoardo Ballerini bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The most amazing inflection for each character and his diction seems to be of the time - 1700's. It ipure listening pleasure or is it the quality of the writing? I think both.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! I also did not want it to end, especially as it is the last in the series. Please can we have more of Matthew Corbett?

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy exquisite use of the English language, fast paced and original storylines with interesting historical details; a rich variety of characters you can see before you; narrated in a voice so sublime your other senses fade into the background, then this series of books are for you. But please see for yourself :-)

I should have stopped after the second book

The author is very good at creating a world that I can believe in and empathize with when he wants to. And the narrator does a great job. I enjoyed the first book because its richness in detail, the relatively decent depth of the characters and the mystery driven plotline. However, now that it's become an attempt at copying James Bond, the narrative seems more and more like some guy's rather dreary, clichéd, self-indulgent fantasy with plenty of hero complex to go around. The whole precept for this book seems to be that since Matthew couldn't find a letter to prove who was bombing New York, he decided that instead of just telling everyone who did it, he'll let himself be kidnapped and taken to an island in order to solve a problem for a super villain who believes that only Matthew, and nobody else can do it. And this had something to do with Matthew wanting to save people from finding out that there was some human meat in the sausages that featured in the previous book. Oh, and because she has no independent thoughts, Berry comes along to the villain's island in order to do absolutely nothing for the plot by sitting in some hut waiting to be saved. Meanwhile, a merry trio of women are fawning over Matthew. Two of them are really really deadly assassins grieving over their dead boyfriends. The third is a sex slave who shags Matthew and then promptly kills herself because the women who have been brutalized in this particular series always do that. If it wasn't for all my other reasons to quit this series, the author's one dimensional portrayal of women alone would have done the trick.

The weakest so far

I'm really enjoying this series, but this one was really rather weak compared with the others. The impression I had was that the writer had been forced to write this before he was quite ready and as a result, his heart wasn't really in it. I will try the next in the series and hope it recovers form.