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golden_lily's review against another edition
5.0
Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews
I'm sitting here with my hand over my mouth trying to process one of the most incredibly poetic, haunting novels I have read. And it's about a zombie plague. Try and picture that for a moment. Harrison Demchick has written a beautiful and disgusting, wonderful and horrifying book with a strong voice and lyrical quality and it's about the Apocalypse.
14-year-old Daniel is living in an unnamed borough, (it's Manhattan,) that has recently become victim of a plague that causes the victim to rot inside and out. Outwardly, the disease manifests as red, pus-filled boils. Inwardly, with a violent dementia and decline in mental faculties. So it's zombies, but not the way you generally think of them. These "sickos" can talk, use weapons, even be reasoned with...right up until they can't. Right off the bat, that's a whole lot scarier than the usual genre.
I'd like to start out that this review is purposefully vague, because The Listeners is hard to describe. It's far less about the plot, (although there is a good, solid one,) and more about a slow decent into insanity. Large portions take place entirely in imagination and Demchick lets Daniel's mental state dictate the actual writing. As the Listeners exert control and the horror of the situation beats him down, the pace gets frantic with repeated words, asides, and violent imagery. This style will be very polarizing, but I found it effective and affecting. A scene when Daniel is inducted into the Listeners is particularly beautiful while being utterly tragic.
Daniel's mom goes out for supplies and never comes home. Three days later, corrupt cops show up to extort him for anything of value in the house in exchange for protection and a promise of food. They are followed by the Listeners, a cult that wants to take the city back from the police. They convince Daniel to come with them and join their ranks.
The Listeners are fishy from the start. Their prophet, Adam, is the only one with two ears. Everyone else cuts off their right in an initiation ceremony, to better hear the truth and not hear the lies. The live in an underground bunker that someone built under a supermarket. Like most cults, their morals are black and white, and they regard all cops as evil enemies to be destroyed. Daniel is conflicted, as his best friend Katie's father is in the police and he trusts him. Through isolation and manipulation, the Listeners convince Daniel, only 14 remember, that theirs is the only right way.
This is NOT a happy book. Just when you think you have the ending pinned down, another twist is thrown out. People die, graphically, and the people left don't have anyone else's best interests at heart. Maybe the people gone didn't either. The story is broken into two parts, each with a gut-wrenching climax. Part one is Daniel's ascension to Listener, with little in the way of action and sickos. Part two is more on daily life in the city, as he goes on patrol and searches for answers raised in part one. These parts are punctuated with "respites", chapters following other characters around the city. They give a welcome depth to the world. Despite following a vast range of people: a business man outside the quarantine, a family man inside, two police officers, an infected brother, an abandoned nurse, and a mother/reporter, all the respites explore the same themes of insanity and survival.
I have two issues with the book, though they're not enough to downrate it. First, on an island of a million people, even after a deadly plague, everyone seems to come together too nicely. Any character introduced, Daniel will run into later. On one hand, it adds to the isolated feeling. On the other, of course the newspaper writer mentioned in the first respite, the baby, and the homeless man, will all end up at the same place 20 chapters later. It's convenient. My second issue is I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS and the author doesn't say if this is a planned series or a one off! If it is a one off, I will be so mad, because I need to know:
How did the newspaper/prophet jingle make it in? The military's obviously not letting people through
Why is the baby zombie repellent? Does the government know about her or was the "someone the sick avoid" line a throw away?
Speaking of, why does the military man look familiar? Long lost father? TV personality?
Did Ant make it through the sewers?
ADAM AND DEREK WERE COPS, WTF?!
The Listeners is moving and powerful in a way I've never known a horror story to be. It's not traditionally scary, building far more on dread than boos, but I found it creeping into my thoughts after dark. It brings up a lot of questions regarding who the monsters are and the morality of survival. It must be experienced.
I'm sitting here with my hand over my mouth trying to process one of the most incredibly poetic, haunting novels I have read. And it's about a zombie plague. Try and picture that for a moment. Harrison Demchick has written a beautiful and disgusting, wonderful and horrifying book with a strong voice and lyrical quality and it's about the Apocalypse.
14-year-old Daniel is living in an unnamed borough, (it's Manhattan,) that has recently become victim of a plague that causes the victim to rot inside and out. Outwardly, the disease manifests as red, pus-filled boils. Inwardly, with a violent dementia and decline in mental faculties. So it's zombies, but not the way you generally think of them. These "sickos" can talk, use weapons, even be reasoned with...right up until they can't. Right off the bat, that's a whole lot scarier than the usual genre.
I'd like to start out that this review is purposefully vague, because The Listeners is hard to describe. It's far less about the plot, (although there is a good, solid one,) and more about a slow decent into insanity. Large portions take place entirely in imagination and Demchick lets Daniel's mental state dictate the actual writing. As the Listeners exert control and the horror of the situation beats him down, the pace gets frantic with repeated words, asides, and violent imagery. This style will be very polarizing, but I found it effective and affecting. A scene when Daniel is inducted into the Listeners is particularly beautiful while being utterly tragic.
Daniel's mom goes out for supplies and never comes home. Three days later, corrupt cops show up to extort him for anything of value in the house in exchange for protection and a promise of food. They are followed by the Listeners, a cult that wants to take the city back from the police. They convince Daniel to come with them and join their ranks.
The Listeners are fishy from the start. Their prophet, Adam, is the only one with two ears. Everyone else cuts off their right in an initiation ceremony, to better hear the truth and not hear the lies. The live in an underground bunker that someone built under a supermarket. Like most cults, their morals are black and white, and they regard all cops as evil enemies to be destroyed. Daniel is conflicted, as his best friend Katie's father is in the police and he trusts him. Through isolation and manipulation, the Listeners convince Daniel, only 14 remember, that theirs is the only right way.
This is NOT a happy book. Just when you think you have the ending pinned down, another twist is thrown out. People die, graphically, and the people left don't have anyone else's best interests at heart. Maybe the people gone didn't either. The story is broken into two parts, each with a gut-wrenching climax. Part one is Daniel's ascension to Listener, with little in the way of action and sickos. Part two is more on daily life in the city, as he goes on patrol and searches for answers raised in part one. These parts are punctuated with "respites", chapters following other characters around the city. They give a welcome depth to the world. Despite following a vast range of people: a business man outside the quarantine, a family man inside, two police officers, an infected brother, an abandoned nurse, and a mother/reporter, all the respites explore the same themes of insanity and survival.
I have two issues with the book, though they're not enough to downrate it. First, on an island of a million people, even after a deadly plague, everyone seems to come together too nicely. Any character introduced, Daniel will run into later. On one hand, it adds to the isolated feeling. On the other, of course the newspaper writer mentioned in the first respite, the baby, and the homeless man, will all end up at the same place 20 chapters later. It's convenient. My second issue is I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS and the author doesn't say if this is a planned series or a one off! If it is a one off, I will be so mad, because I need to know:
Spoiler
Is the homeless man the business exec from the first respite and how did he make it across the quarantine?How did the newspaper/prophet jingle make it in? The military's obviously not letting people through
Spoiler
this is the twist ending. Don't spoil it for yourself!Spoiler
Really, don't do it.Spoiler
even though THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUARANTINE IS INFECTED!Why is the baby zombie repellent? Does the government know about her or was the "someone the sick avoid" line a throw away?
Speaking of, why does the military man look familiar? Long lost father? TV personality?
Did Ant make it through the sewers?
ADAM AND DEREK WERE COPS, WTF?!
The Listeners is moving and powerful in a way I've never known a horror story to be. It's not traditionally scary, building far more on dread than boos, but I found it creeping into my thoughts after dark. It brings up a lot of questions regarding who the monsters are and the morality of survival. It must be experienced.
cjmichel's review against another edition
2.0
I love a happy ending...Unfortunately this does not have one.
ej_babb's review against another edition
2.0
Before I write anything else, I just have to say that Harrison Demchick is perhaps the greatest name of all time. Kudos to the author on that front.
Anyways, on with the review. The Listeners is Demchick’s debut, and it follows a young teenage boy named Daniel as an epidemic ‘plague’ hits America. No one knows what started this plague, what spreads it or what cures it, all they know is that it is a highly contagious disease of which the symptoms are huge, exploding boils and a general crazy mentality. This isn’t a down and out zombie apocalypse story, but it covers a lot of similar ground.
Then the shit really begins to hit the fan as, after the evacuation of the doctors and a lengthy quarantine, the governmental aid begins to disintegrate, forcing Daniel’s mother to leave their apartment to try and find some toilet paper…but she never returns. The boy, alone and overwhelmed, becomes momentarily robotic; he carries out his daily routine of eating his breakfast, lunch and dinner and going to sleep at his usual bedtime. That is until one day, as he peers through his kitchen window at the decaying world outside, he is shot at by a dying man driven insane by the plague from the street below.
Police are nearby and manage to kill the sicko that fired the gun (a ‘sicko’ is what the infected people are affectionately dubbed). Using the ruse that they are checking to see whether he is hurt or not, the policemen demand that all firearms Daniel or his mother own are to be surrendered to them for safety precautions…before promptly leaving without offering any further support.
Before he can think too much on the possibly heartless intentions of the police, a couple of members of the ‘Listeners’ enter Daniel’s apartment. The Listeners are a one-eared gang who purposefully pull a Mr Blonde on themselves to symbolise that they only listen to the ‘truth’, and that they reject the lies that the government and police forcibly feed America; one ear remains to hear the truth, one ear removed to block out the lies. They believe that the police are worsening matters and that they should fight not only against the illness, but the law too. Coincidentally, these Listeners witnessed what had just happened to Daniel and decided to follow suit in order to see what damage the cops had left behind. With the cold, uncaring cruelty of the police still fresh in the teenager’s mind, the two gang members spy the perfect oppurtunity to recruit him as a Listener, and lead him to their hideout.
The rest of the novel is like Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later as Daniel settles in with a gang of murderers, thieves and psychopaths amidst the backdrop of a hellish apocalypse. Although hesitant at first, the easily manipulated teenager soon sees this paranoid, violent cult in a new light, and begins to accept their hatred for the police as well as the sickos.
To read this review in its entirety, go to http://http://www.dystopic.co.uk/the-listeners-review/
Anyways, on with the review. The Listeners is Demchick’s debut, and it follows a young teenage boy named Daniel as an epidemic ‘plague’ hits America. No one knows what started this plague, what spreads it or what cures it, all they know is that it is a highly contagious disease of which the symptoms are huge, exploding boils and a general crazy mentality. This isn’t a down and out zombie apocalypse story, but it covers a lot of similar ground.
Then the shit really begins to hit the fan as, after the evacuation of the doctors and a lengthy quarantine, the governmental aid begins to disintegrate, forcing Daniel’s mother to leave their apartment to try and find some toilet paper…but she never returns. The boy, alone and overwhelmed, becomes momentarily robotic; he carries out his daily routine of eating his breakfast, lunch and dinner and going to sleep at his usual bedtime. That is until one day, as he peers through his kitchen window at the decaying world outside, he is shot at by a dying man driven insane by the plague from the street below.
Police are nearby and manage to kill the sicko that fired the gun (a ‘sicko’ is what the infected people are affectionately dubbed). Using the ruse that they are checking to see whether he is hurt or not, the policemen demand that all firearms Daniel or his mother own are to be surrendered to them for safety precautions…before promptly leaving without offering any further support.
Before he can think too much on the possibly heartless intentions of the police, a couple of members of the ‘Listeners’ enter Daniel’s apartment. The Listeners are a one-eared gang who purposefully pull a Mr Blonde on themselves to symbolise that they only listen to the ‘truth’, and that they reject the lies that the government and police forcibly feed America; one ear remains to hear the truth, one ear removed to block out the lies. They believe that the police are worsening matters and that they should fight not only against the illness, but the law too. Coincidentally, these Listeners witnessed what had just happened to Daniel and decided to follow suit in order to see what damage the cops had left behind. With the cold, uncaring cruelty of the police still fresh in the teenager’s mind, the two gang members spy the perfect oppurtunity to recruit him as a Listener, and lead him to their hideout.
The rest of the novel is like Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later as Daniel settles in with a gang of murderers, thieves and psychopaths amidst the backdrop of a hellish apocalypse. Although hesitant at first, the easily manipulated teenager soon sees this paranoid, violent cult in a new light, and begins to accept their hatred for the police as well as the sickos.
To read this review in its entirety, go to http://http://www.dystopic.co.uk/the-listeners-review/
ssshira's review against another edition
3.0
This audiobook review was prepared for and appears in AudioFile Magazine.
Narrator Edison McDaniels performs this disturbing audiobook about a zombie plague that turns people into violent, boil-covered versions of themselves. Daniel's mother goes out for toilet paper and doesn't come back. To keep safe, he joins up with the Listeners, a cultlike group that believes the police are the true enemies and that members should cut off one ear to prevent themselves from hearing lies. As Daniel gradually discovers, no one in his world is entirely sympathetic or villainous--even those who haven't been infected by the plague have become sickened in other ways. McDaniels's voice has a scratchy quality, and his deliberate pacing may remind listeners of Rod Serling's introductions to "The Twilight Zone." This association enhances this audiobook's otherworldly ambiance.
Narrator Edison McDaniels performs this disturbing audiobook about a zombie plague that turns people into violent, boil-covered versions of themselves. Daniel's mother goes out for toilet paper and doesn't come back. To keep safe, he joins up with the Listeners, a cultlike group that believes the police are the true enemies and that members should cut off one ear to prevent themselves from hearing lies. As Daniel gradually discovers, no one in his world is entirely sympathetic or villainous--even those who haven't been infected by the plague have become sickened in other ways. McDaniels's voice has a scratchy quality, and his deliberate pacing may remind listeners of Rod Serling's introductions to "The Twilight Zone." This association enhances this audiobook's otherworldly ambiance.
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