Tietam Brown

By: Mick Foley

Narrated by: Mick Foley

A remarkable debut novel—given extraordinary life by its amalgam of energy, raw authentic language, and, at the core, a surprising gentleness.

It is the work of the constantly amazing wrestler-writer Mick Foley, whose two volumes of autobiography, Have a Nice Day! and Foley Is Good, were each number one on the New York Times National Best-seller List.
It tells the story and speaks in the voice—at once innocent and too knowing for his age—of Antietam (Andy) Brown, named for the great-great-great- grandfather who died on that Civil War battlefield. Andy at seventeen is himself the veteran of a violent boyhood, having been locked up in the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center for killing a teenager who attempted to rape him.

Now, after seven years, he is out, free, at a crossroads, trying to make a fresh start, to fit into the life of Conestoga High School in the small upstate New York town to which he has been brought by his father—absent from his life since he was a month old. The man is certainly charismatic. He is also crude, apparently addicted to bodybuilding, beer swilling, and (his own words for his serial womanizing) “bareback riding.” He has no visible job, no known past.

Associated by the town with his father’s coarseness, hectored by the boorish football coach and the coach’s pack of steroid-pumping teens, feeling himself losing ground, Andy is stunned to discover that the most popular girl in town is attracted to him. Terri, the homecoming queen, the school beauty, every boy’s dream girl, a born-again Christian, a really nice girl. Andy can’t believe it. He is immediately head over heels in love—first love—and determined to protect Terri from everything bad on earth. Worried that his father, even he himself, might contaminate her, and determined for her sake to discover what his father is, Andy begins to delve into the locked rooms and dangerous currents of the elder Tietam Brown’s past and present.
What happens is told in a novel that is appealingly direct, moving, and altogether pleasurable in its superb storytelling and celebration of the human spirit.©2003 Mick Foley; (P)2003 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

“A dark and violent, funny and sweet coming-of-age story.” –The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“It makes you laugh so hard sometimes it makes you cry. . . . Tietam Brown announces the coming of a promising novelist of the American obscene.” –Chicago Tribune

“Rollicking, violent, and sometimes uproariously funny. . . . Frighteningly readable.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Tietam Brown is a disturbing coming-of-age story filled with gut-wrenching violence that makes the soulful musings of Holden Caulfield seem unbearably saccharin and ridiculously over-privileged by comparison.” –Baltimore Sun

“[Foley] has found a ring of truth in the world of books. . . . he has created a work of fiction that is part grotesque, part noir and part cautionary tale on the evils of bad parenting.” –Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Surprisingly moody. . . . Marked with brilliant imagery and a dark, yet melodic, story.” –Pittsburgh Live

“Compulsively readable. . . . [Foley] knows how to weave an intriguing if somewhat offbeat tale.” –Library Journal

“Tietam Brown is both entertaining and disturbing, both a coming-of-age novel and a mystery of character, both funny and tragically sad.” –Charlotte Observer

“Tietam Brown, a strange mix of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, is definitely not for the faint of heart. . . . [A] sad and disturbing tale.” –Bookpage

A great performance and a decent novel

A decent book with an even better performance, Mick Foley's spoken narrative is easily the biggest draw here. As it was his first novel it is not perfect, but he does capture characters and moments well, even if sometimes things are over the top. Overall I would highly recommend this audiobook. Kudos to Mick Foley for an interesting narrative that draws you in and truly shocks you at times.

a must hear

When i picked this one out i had no idea it was written by a pro wrestler, which makes it that much better! The story is hauntingly uplifting in a sick perverted way, Chuck Palahniuk, and Johnathan Frazer fans will enjoy this book, i am looking froward to his next novel

Yes, this is a worthwhile audiobook

A dark yet mesmerizing coming-of-age story. I really wasn't expecting much from this author knowing that he's a pro wrestler but I could not stop listening to this audiobook. It's not classic literature but it is an interesting, well-paced, complex novel.

Chair Shot

Mick Foley may make his living getting bonked in the head with steel chairs, but the hard core legend has a great read in Tietam Brown. The narration is spot on, hopefully Mick will grace us with another.

Mick does it again

Mrs Foleys baby boy in his third novel tells a hart warming story that is juat as sick as can be... I LOVE THIS BOOK