DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
After their parents’ mysterious murder while they’re still in high school, David Hockmeyer and his older sister, Kate, spend decades attempting to untangle the web of their teenage years to discover the truth in the lies. Pete Larkin narrates in a deep, even voice that conveys the darkness and mystery surrounding the murder and David’s years of trying to make sense of it. But Roorbach delivers far more than a mystery to puzzle the listener. David’s memories of the past, mixed with his present, are full of love and angst, and Larkin expertly navigates through the story, giving each section emphasis. The startling variety of people David meets are all given unique accents. Larkin’s narration builds the suspense and lets Roorbach’s story unravel slowly, making this audiobook one to savor. E.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
A bighearted, big-boned story . . . like something written by a kinder, gentler John Irving.”
—Washington Post
“A larger-than-life production. . . . Its wild characters feel genuine, their aches and flaws and desires wholly organic; and the plot they’re tangled in moves forward at a breakneck pace. It’s a dizzy romp.”
—New York Times
New York Times
Larkin’s narration builds the suspense and lets Roorbach’s story unravel slowly, making this audiobook one to savor.”
—AudioFile [Earphones Award Winner]
Washington Post
Both a family story and a complex murder mystery, this beautifully read title features complex characters. . . . Larkin’s rich baritone voice envelops us.”
—Booklist
Booklist
Ambitious, energetic . . . ”
—Library Journal
Library Journal
This ambitious, energetic novel from Roorbach (Big Bend) has something for everyone—steamy sex, rock stars, ballet stars, professional football, a dysfunctional family, an unsolved murder, and a complicated revenge plot. The narrator, David (Lizard) Hockmeyer, is a giant himself, a former high school football player who's almost seven feet tall. His parents were shot in front of him when he was a teen, and he and his troubled, bipolar sister Kate have been obsessed for decades with finding the killers. Lizard and Kate live in Connecticut near a celebrated Swedish ballerina who calls herself Sylphide after the classic ballet and is the widow of Dabney, a flamboyant British rocker who died in a car crash. (Improbably, Dabney is already a big star in America in the early 1960s, before the Beatles and the British invasion.) In the end, Lizard and Sylphide's lives intersect in more ways than either of them could have imagined. VERDICT This big, sprawling novel has so much going on that it's easy to lose track of the murder mystery at its heart. It would pack more of a punch if it had a sharper focus.—Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
