The Listener (Cemetery Dance Publication)

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.

A Note From Robert McCammon:

The Listener is about the kidnapping of two children and is set in New Orleans in 1934. This is a book I've been wanting to write for several years, since I discovered what an epidemic (a tragic epidemic, at that) kidnapping became during the desperation of the Great Depression. It got to be so bad that the New York Times began running a box at the top of the front page listing who had been kidnapped, and among those victims, which ones had been returned to their families. Desperate times, indeed. The Listener isn't exactly supernatural, though there is a "strange" element. I understand we all enjoy reading about vampires, werewolves, ghoulies, and other creatures of the night, but the most fearsome and deadly monster is the human being…and I believe I have created two of the most fearsome and horrific human beings in The Listener that you could ever fear to meet. And these people, I think, are likely the kind who would kidnap two children and not have much concern whether the kids lived or died. Grim stuff, but you can be sure there's someone in The Listener who embodies all the good qualities of the human kind who will move Heaven and Earth to find the children…though he's probably the last person anyone would think of as a "hero."

Trade hardcover edition:

• Printed on acid-free paper
• Bound in cloth with colored head and tail bands
• Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Wrapped in a full-color dust jacket ("light" colored cover)
• 

Limited Edition Specifications

• Limited to just 650 signed and numbered copies housed in a custom-made slipcase
• Personally signed by the author on a unique signature page
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Bound in full-cloth with colored head and tail bands
• Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Printed and bound with full-color endpapers
• Smyth sewn to create a more durable binding
• Wrapped in a DIFFERENT full-color dust jacket than the trade hardcover ("dark" colored cover)
• Limited ONE TIME printing of this special edition
• 

Signed & Traycased Hardcover Lettered Edition:

• Limited to just 52 signed and lettered copies housed in a custom-made traycase
•  Personally signed by the author on a unique signature page
•  Printed on 60# acid-free paper
•  Bound in leather with colored head and tail bands
•  Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
•  Printed and bound with full-color endpapers
•  Smyth sewn to create a more durable binding
•  Includes a different frontispiece by Chris Odgers not in the trade or limited edition
•  Includes interior illustrations by Chris Odgers that are not in the trade edition
•  Wrapped in a DIFFERENT full-color dust jacket than the other two editions ("red" cover displayed above)
• Limited ONE TIME printing of this special edition