Jim Thompson's sad loser characters inhabit the seediest corners of mid-twentieth century USA. Some are grifters, some failed salesmen some psychotic serial killers - all are freakishly magentic thanks to Thompson's writing. Many of his best novels show up in some hard-to-find audiobooks from the mid 1980s through to to the early 1990s. Each is a two cassette version of a short Thompson novel. Whenever possible I recommend picking up the Book Of The Road version over the Random House editions (which are very good), mostly because the Book Of The Road editions feature two narrators, one reading the male parts and one reading the female. The BOTR readers are all theater actors, all do great work. If abridged they are very slight abridgements. An added benefit is the excellent original art on the BOTR versions, kind of low-rent inspired by Edward Hopper paintings.Use this list to get you started:

The Killer Inside Me
By Jim Thompson; Read by ?????
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1991
ISBN: 067940368X

The Killer Inside Me
By Jim Thompson; Read by Denis Arndt and Brenda Hubbard
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Book of the Road
Published: 1985
ISBN: 0931969352

The Grifters
By Jim Thompson; Read by Tony Goldwyn
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1991
ISBN: 067940192X

The Grifters
By Jim Thompson; Read by James Edmondson and Joan Stuart Morris
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Book of the Road
Published: 1989
ISBN: 0931969204

Recoil
By Jim Thompson; Read by Michael Kevin and Jeanne Paulsen
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Book of the Road
Published: 1985
ISBN: 0931969212

Pop. 1280
By Jim Thompson; Read by Will Patton
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1991
ISBN: 0679408037

A Hell Of A Woman
By Jim Thompson; Read by Jarion Monroe and Hope Alexander-Willis
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Book Of The Road
Published: 1985
ISBN: 0931969220

After Dark My Sweet
By Jim Thompson; Read by Joe Mantegna
2 Cassettes - Approx 3 Hours
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1991
ISBN: 0679401911

posted by Jesse

Richard Stark (AKA Donald E. Westlake) created master criminal named Parker in 1962. Since then in more than 20 novels he's perfected the anti-hero crime novel and with it a formula that has spawned endless homages. There are good pastiche and bad imitations, the recently reviewed Fever by Sean Rowe was certainly among the good novels inspired by Stark's Parker. But sometimes it pays to go staright to the source. In light of this, I've charted which Parker audiobooks are available from which publishers. Unfortunately you may have a lot of trouble getting a hold of these anywhere except for eBay- that's where I got most of mine. Here's the chart...

TITLE---------------SETTING----------PUBLISHER 1 The Hunter ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 2 The Man With the Getaway Face Lincoln, Nebraska Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 3 The Outfit ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 4 The Mourner Washington, DC / Florida Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 5 The Score Copper Canyon, North Dakota Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 6 The Jugger ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 7 The Seventh ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 8 The Handle Texas, Gulf Of Mexico, Mexico Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 9 The Rare Coin Score Indianapolis, Indiana Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 10 The Green Eagle Score US Air Force Base Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 11 The Black Ice Score New York, NY Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 12 The Sour Lemon Score ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 13 Deadly Edge ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 14 Slayground ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 15 Plunder Squad Oakland, CA N/A 16 Butcher's Moon ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 17 Comeback ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 18 Backflash ? Dove Audio [ABRIDGED] 19 Flashfire ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 20 Firebreak ? Books On Tape [UNABRIDGED] 21 Breakout ? N/A 22 Nobody Runs Forever ? N/A

posted by Jesse

LibriVox a new project designed to turn public domain text into the audio format is well under way. The LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain using the equipment they have at home, and then release the files as FREE audiobooks. The objective is to eventually make all books in the public domain available in the audio format. A couple genre titles are already completed and more are under way. Here's a peek:

Completed Novels:
The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

Forthcoming:
A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

posted by Jesse

CBC Radio One's Between The Covers book reading program is broadcasting a Benny Cooperman novel! Tune in starting Boxing Day, that's December 26th for those south of the 49th.

The Memory Book
By Howard Engel; Read by Ron Halder and Donna White
Streaming Audio - Estimated 210 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio One
Broadcast: Dec 26th-30th 2005, Jan. 2nd-6th & 9th-13th 2006

Loveable Canadian private eye Benny Cooperman becomes his own client in his most puzzling mystery. A vicious blow to the head has given Benny a condition both rare and challenging. He has 'alexia sine agraphia', a condition shared by author Howard Engel. Benny can write but he cannot read. And his memory is no hot shakes either. Stuck in a hospital room with people he only occasionally remembers, Benny must piece together what happened to him and figure out why. Produced in Vancouver by Heather Brown for Between The Covers.

posted by Jesse

This FREE podcast mystery novel I've been listening to for a few months now should pique your interest too...

The May Day Murders
By Scott Wittenburg; Read by Scott Wittenburg
22 Chapters nand an Epilogue - MP3 Chapter Installments [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: ScottWittenburg.com / Lulu.com
Published: Started Aug 2005 - Concludes ??? 2006

The autumnal tranquility of Smithtown, Ohio is shattered when Dr. David Bradley arrives home to find that his wife has been raped and murdered by an intruder who has left no clues behind except the words “May Day” painted in lipstick on his victim's body. When the police later learn that another Smithtown resident has been raped and strangled in New York City, it becomes frighteningly clear that a cunning serial killer targeting Smithtown women is on the prowl. Newspaper reporter Sam Middleton is determined to help Detective Roger Hagstrom track down the assailant of his ex-wife's best friend and everyone is asking the same question as the mystery unfolds: Who will the killer's next victim be?

You can download the chapters HERE or subscribe via iTunes. Scott reads his novel with a hard bitten edge. I look forward to hearing it conclude sometime in the new year!

posted by Jesse

I thought I'd mention an interesting audiobook title from a few years ago, the reason being there is a low quality MP3 story from it available on the author's website as an online sample. The story is called Dope Fiend and it can be found in the collection listed below. The MP3 can be downloaded HERE. If you like the story search out a copy of this:

Proving It - An Andrew Vachss Audiobook Collection
By Andrew Vachss; Read by Burt Reynolds with David Joe Wirth
4 Cassettes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Publishing Mills
Published: 2001
ISBN: 1575110865

The first Andrew Vachss short story audiobook brings to life 27 of Vachss trademark "life-at-ground-zero stories."

Included are:
-Dope Fiend
-Dress-up Day
-Escort Service
-Fireman
-Going Home
-Last Date
-Mission
-Proving It
-Searcher
-Slow Motion
-Summer Girl
-The Real Thing
-The Real World
-True Colors
-Any Time I Want
-Date Rape
-Dead Game
-Drive By
-It's a Hard World
-Lynch Law
-Plan B
-Step on a Crack
-Stone Magic
-Treatment
-White Alligator
-Witch Hunt
-Placebo (read by David Joe Wirth)

posted by Jesse

Fever
By Sean Rowe; Read by William Dufris
5 CDs - Approx 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1400101778
Themes: / Crime / Heist / Noir / Thriller / Terrorism / Florida / Cuba / Nautical / Family /

Raw, is probably the best one-word sum up of Sean Rowe's first novel Fever. Rowe's prose lacks the polish found in novelists like Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake and Elmore Leonard, but he doesn't lack what it takes to eventually become worthy of hanging out with these masters, especially if he keeps writing like this!

Fever follows a tight knit group of fuck-ups through their attempt to rob $30 Million dollars of stashed drug money from an aging cruise ship plying the waters between Miami and Cuba. The crew, on paper at least, looks like it should be able to handle anything. It consists of an ex-FBI agent Matt Shannon, his step brother an ex-DEA agent named Jack Fontana, an emergency room nurse named Julia, a former Black Panther and South American soldier of fortune. Despite their collective skill set these are all losers in almost every way. Shannon's past is slowly revealed, working backwards we know that he's an in-debt alcoholic, with a dead wife, missing index finger and a step-brother who'ss a recently paroled felon. When his step brother frames him in the sinking of a freighter Shannon is half blackmailed into going along, with a vague desire to somehow help his brother. The rest of the crew are nearly as sad, Julia was an orphan sexually abused from a young age. Fontana is dying after serving his sentence and even the minor characters have their share of problems.... one passage detailing the last job the mercenary took killing Indians in the jungles of South America is brutal, funny and illustrative of just how unlikely this string will be of pulling off this or any job. The malformed love triangle between Shannon, his brother, and Julia pays off in a tasty neo-noir style too. In fact love, brotherly and the other kind is probably at the heart of this story. Fever is extremely enjoyable, the dialogue is crisp and fun, the scenes are imaginative and original and a constant surprise awaits in every chapter. None of it goes exactly according to plan and that makes it all the better to follow. The novel's few problems seem mostly structural, scene transitions aren't handled as well as I'd like and despite it being a first person perspective we never really get an idea of what's going on inside the narrator's head. This could be a deliberate style on the part of Rowe, as both flaws could be thought to pay off in certain ways later in on the book, but I'm thinking a more seasoned novelist might have been better able to give us everything. I eagerly look forward to reading the next Sean Rowe novel!

Read by the always reliable William Dufris, the first person perspective plays into such classics as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Dufris' natural timbre doesn't exactly embody the gravelly voiced loser we imagine as the narrator but his voicing of the rest of the crew is spot on. Men, women, a Columbian drug lord, the string and even minor characters like an aging boxer all sound just like you'd want them to. Tantor Media, an exciting new player in unabridged audiobooks has packaged Fever in a clamshell CD case with leaved pages. The cover is the same as the Little Brown & Co. original and the sound quality is phenomenal. The pricing is extremely reasonable too. I think Tantor is probably the most exciting new big little publisher of the decade!

posted by Jesse