Robert McCammon - The Listener

The Listener – Robert McCammon

If you are going to do your first review in a couple of years, you might as well start with your favourite author. It doesn’t seem to matter what genre McCammon writes in, each of his novels are always high quality, enjoyable reads.

The Blurb:

1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities.

In the midst of this misery, some folks explored unscrupulous ways to make money. Angel-faced John Partlow and carnival huckster Ginger LaFrance are among the worst of this lot. Joining together they leave their small time confidence scams behind to attempt an elaborate kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in New Orleans.

In a different part of town, Curtis Mayhew, a young black man who works as a redcap for the Union Railroad Station, has a reputation for mending quarrels and misunderstandings among his friends. What those friends don't know is that Curtis has a special talent for listening... and he can sometimes hear things that aren't spoken aloud.

One day, Curtis Mayhew's special talent allows him to overhear a child's cry for help (THIS MAN IN THE CAR HE'S GOT A GUN), which draws him into the dangerous world of Partlow and LaFrance.

This gritty depression-era crime thriller is a complex tale enriched by powerfully observed social commentary and hints of the supernatural, and it represents Robert McCammon writing at the very top of his game.

Opening sentence: The Devil can be a man or a woman

The Listener has been a book I have been looking forward to for a while. I seem to love stories set in the “gritty depression” era and within the opening few chapters I knew this one would be no exception.

The story focuses on three main characters, two of them eminently likeable and one who you despise initially and only start to half tolerate by the end of the novel.

Curtis Mayhew is a redcap for the Union Railroad station is level headed, a little naïve but an inherently good person. Others take advantage of him but his overall kindness means he is generally well regarded.

Nilla is bright and sensible, even in peril she looks out for her more reckless and outspoken younger brother. Yet she is not perfect and McCammon does a good job of exploring her vulnerability and limitations.

John Partlow is a con man with no moral compass. He will gladly swindle others out of their money and take advantage of their grief. McCammon does his utmost to ensure he is portrayed as a despicable man when he performs a heinous act early on in the novel.

Of the three characters, Curtis is perhaps the most rounded. He has not been dealt the best lot in life and suffers a great deal. Despite this however, we see him grow and his optimistic/realistic attitude makes it impossible not to route for him.

The premise of the story focuses on two main elements: a kidnapping and the supernatural. The kidnapping is as basic as they come but that it works as it does not need to be complicated. It also introduces two great secondary characters in the psychotic Ginger La France (she could have a novel all to herself) and the deranged and increasingly unhinged Donnie.

The supernatural element is well done. It focuses on some of the characters being able to communicate telepathically. None of them understand it and it also something they struggle to sustain. This is clever and adds for some great tension when things start going wrong. Sometimes in McCammon’s novels the supernatural plot is hinted at but not entirely explored, leaving you wanting to know more. With the Listener, McCammon does not shy away from the supernatural and makes it a firm fixture in the novel which I prefer.

I am no expert on the era, but McCammon paints an excellent picture of how grim the period was. Most of the characters struggle, the in your face racism in well- handled where the characters meet others through chance encounters and suffer as a result. The struggles to just exist are apparent from all the characters the exception being Nilla’s affluent father.

In a fairly short novel, every page drips with vivid description of heat, oppression and mugginess of the Louisiana swamps. It astounds me how McCammon can say so much with so few words.

I love Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett novels with a passion. I read somewhere that his publisher would only continue to publish them as long as he wrote other novels in between each one. When those “other” novels are as good as the Listener, it is hard to complain. This is a fast paced, dark but ultimately brilliant novel.

My rating: 9.2