The Providence Rider

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.

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

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.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

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.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

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.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Jumped the shark! Poor sequel

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I loved the first two books. The third was a bit grim. This one was over the top and around the bend. The plot was very convoluted, the villains too evil to be believed, the narration poor.

Would you ever listen to anything by Robert McCammon again?

Yes, but I have been disappointed by this book, which I chose not to finish. I liked the previous Matthew Corbett books, but I did not like "The Five" either. I would probably listen to an earlier Robert McCammon book and skip the recent offerings.

Would you be willing to try another one of Edoardo Ballerini’s performances?

No. He was overly dramatic and so made the story sound like a melodrama.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

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.

13 of 17 people found this review helpful

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.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great writing great story

This series has been a wonderful experience. Great writing great characters great story and great narration. This book is every bit as good as the first three that I gave five stars too. A new Matthew Corbett would be purchased by me as soon as I saw it on audible.
I am however worried that the new book in the series is half the length of any of the first four and has many poor reviews. Not sure when I will listen to book five. Should it disappoint I would feel like I had lost a good friend.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Professor Fell meet Matthew Corbett

Where does The Providence Rider rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Oh, tough question, right at the very top next to the other gems in this series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sirki, the East Indian Giant. Sirki while physically imposing, was quite intelligent and seemed to possess an incredible amount of discipline. He was the most fitting "second in command" to the all powerful Professor Fell.

Which character – as performed by Edoardo Ballerini – was your favorite?

Sirki. The Indian accent was unforgettable. Bellerini is a Master at his craft.

Who was the most memorable character of The Providence Rider and why?

Matthew Corbett. Headstrong and stubborn Corbett knows no fear.

Any additional comments?

Book 5 cannot get here soon enough. Thank You Mr. McCammons for an incredible journey with so many memorable characters.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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).

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

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?!?!?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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 :-)

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Good storytelling.

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

Great series with depth and intelligence

Really loving this series, so much so that I download the next three in one go. So much historical fact in the books that you could easily gloss over. Like the cross dressing Lord Cornbury, who really was governor of New York for a time! The style of writing suits Audio, as the description has such clarity. I would say that Mathew is the James Bond of the 1700’s, although each book helps to add to personality but he still does have a vulnerability both physically and in maturity that one can’t help but worry about him. Thanks RobinDavisNZ

How fortunate we are! A great talented man and partnered by a great narrator !

This author has incredible imagination that grips you from the beginning to the end of his book( s):I have kept up with him from the beginning and have already purchased the rest of this series - can’t wait for the next banquet to start. I am bewitched by the spell binding, characters, plots and imagination, love these books and the narrator is in step all the way. Keep them coming please!

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