The Singer's Gun

By: Emily St. John Mandel

Narrated by: Morgan Hallett

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility, “a gripping story, full of moral ambiguities, where deception and betrayal become the norm, and where the expression ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’ is lifted to new heights” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Everyone Anton Waker grew up with is corrupt. His parents dealt in stolen goods, and he was a successful purveyor of forged documents until he abandoned it all in his early twenties, determined to live a normal life, complete with career, apartment, and a fiancée who knows nothing of his criminal beginnings. He’s on the verge of finally getting married when Aria—his cousin and former partner in crime—blackmails him into helping her with one last job.

Anton considers the task a small price for future freedom. But as he sets off for an Italian honeymoon, it soon becomes clear that the ghosts of his past can't be left behind so easily, and that the task Aria requires will cost him more than he could ever imagine.

Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!

©2010 Emily St. John Mandel (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Brilliant." ( The Boston Globe)

"A gripping story, full of moral ambiguities, where deception and betrayal become the norm, and where the expression 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma' is lifted to new heights." ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

"Something far rarer than the classic noir opening suggestions.... Eminently satisfying." ( The Washington Post)

Great book! Highly Recommended! Very good story.

I enjoyed this book very much, it broke a streak of 4 books I chose to return part way in.

Good twist

Interesting plot and outcome. Morgan Hallet did a Good reading as well. This was my first family St. John mandle book.

Fantastic!

I enjoyed this book tremendously and have nothing but praise. Well written and well executed story, characters are wonderful and very colorful. The book is cerebral and intense. It’s literally and deep.
So, in my opinion, it is worth adding to one’s library of books to love and cherish.
The best book I read in a while.
Thank you, narrator and the author for a wonderful experience of the journey.

Another Winner

Ms St, John Mandel is a master storyteller. Sometimes you have no idea where you’re going but it is a great journey. I have read four of her book and love them all

As if Leonard Cohen had continued to write novels

Wow. Simply wow. I was not surprised, upon doing some research, to find that ESJM is both a Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits fan; and far beyond a fan when it comes to LC, as I believe every one of her books has at least one secret little easter-egg nod to him. If you think of Leonard's Beautiful Losers, but put through the lens of time and experience, you might end up with something like the books of Emily St. John Mandel. Her writing style is hauntingly, achingly, exquisitely beautiful; and she uses it to tell stories that resonate along those lines and yet contain a certain brutal honesty about the human condition. It's if if she walks up to the dark nature of humanity, looks into it, and finds it not only ugly, but also beautiful, and then laughs. Of all her works, I think The Singers Gun may be the best. At the very least, it is my favorite thus far. I can't wait for her to write some more.

Brilliant as always

This is a riveting as Emily StJohn Mantel’s previous books. Superb writing and stirring the great moral questions of enabling corruption.

She did it again.

Thank you, Emily. Just, thank you. This story was so elegantly presented that I got wrapped up in it immediately. I tend to prefer stories that are character driven, and this one really hit the spot.

A letdown after Station 11

Parts of the story did not make sense and were totally unrealistic. Not her best work.

Meh

Pretty big fan of some of the authors other work. This one didn't do it for me.

Heavy…

Another fabulous story from St. John Mandel. What more to say really?!. Engaging right from the start this time as that isn’t always the case with her other books for me anyway. I normally don’t have to wait long, but this one grabbed me right off the whip. She’s such a beautiful writer you can find yourself speedily chugging along and then suddenly say to yourself “wait a minute…what did she just say?” and you’re immediately reminded to stop taking the pages for granted. Her descriptions are so perfect yet she doesn’t spend 3 pages describing the wet sponge on the sink used to wash the dishes. But always so interesting the way she sees things. I’d love to sit in a room with her for a weekend and just talk. What a difference it would be from Friday night to Sunday morning! Lol. By Sunday morning I bet I’d have learned so much about myself, I’d have new perspectives and I’d end up hating someone! Ha. I love her work and am thankful for writers like her. She has that superpower that few have-that ability to take you out of wherever you are and inject you right alongside the characters in her book. That’s hard to do…even harder to maintain thru an entire novel I’m guessing. She pulls it off tho.
Also, really great job done by Morgan Hallett on this book. I can’t imagine anyone else doing this one. She WAS the voice of this story in this case. So in tune with what she was reading. The emotion was always on pointe, she did a great job of dividing the characters without changing her voice into Darth Vader like most readers ultimately end up doing for at least one character and she fully understood what St. John Mandel was shooting for in every sequence I imagine. I’m confident the author was very happy with the performance here. Great book!