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Start giftingThe Tarnished Eye
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreThis absorbing suspense novel takes listeners to the community of Blessed in northern Michigan and introduces us to Sheriff Hugh DeWitt, a man still grieving for his infant son, who died of SIDS a few years earlier. Meanwhile, up the road from the DeWitts, in one of the expensive summer cottages, Paige Norbois grieves for a lost love of her own. Married to a stern and unresponsive man, Paige wills herself to stay in the marriage and sacrifice her own feelings for the sake of her children’s stability. But when an unimaginable tragedy strikes, anyone’s dreams of stability in Blessed are abruptly destroyed. Paige, her husband Edward, and their four children are found brutally slaughtered in their home. Sheriff DeWitt, deeply moved by the murder scene, is driven to solve the crime, while keeping his own demons at bay.
Judith Guest is the author of the novels Errands, Killing Time in St. Cloud (with Rebecca Hill), Second Heaven, and Ordinary People, which was adapted for film and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1980.
Mark Bramhall has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, more than thirty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has repeatedly been named by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly among their “Best Voices of the Year.” He is also an award-winning actor whose acting credits include off-Broadway, regional, and many Los Angeles venues as well as television, animation, and feature films. He has taught and directed at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.
Ann Marie Lee has worked extensively as an actress in the theater—from Broadway National Tours to regional theater, ranging from classical to contemporary to musicals—as well as in guest and recurring roles in television and film. She has recorded numerous audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award.
Reviews
“Haunting and unforgettable.”
“The Tarnished Eye is wonderful, written in spare prose that achieves a swift pace and a compelling elegance of tone and mood. The characters are so real that their insistence on hope, in the face of inexplicable evil, suggests how all of us might best cope in these perilous times.”
“The audio recording of this novel, read by Mark Bramhall and others, adds to the book’s emotional depth. The quality of the audio is excellent, and the actors’ intonations heighten the story’s suspense and the characters’ ennui…Absorbing, suspenseful, and stunning.”
“Packed with suspense.”
“The novel’s multiple viewpoints (the victims, sheriff, and witnesses) and the way they were read by two performers pulled me into the idyllic setting of Blessed as its residents’ feeling of safety and trust were torn apart. The points of view also created a tightly wound suspense that the audiobook emphasized.”
“This tightly paced, gripping thriller is imbued with substance, sensitivity. and depth. County sheriff Hugh DeWitt…is on an emotional trail that jerks him back and forth between reflections on the anniversary of his son's death, the horrific murder scene, and the serial rape/murders of a handful of University of Michigan coeds. As the point of view shifts from sheriff to victims and back again, Guest keeps the plot moving along apace, creating a finely tuned page-turner.”
“At a fast but methodical pace, she follows the story of the crime’s ramifications…The gathering momentum is irresistible. By maintaining the plot’s welcome and even necessary swiftness while at the same time tending to character development, depth, and differentiation, Guest produces a novel shivering with artistry and darkness.”
“The author weaves a personal story of grief and the conflicts within families to make this more than a murder mystery. The character of Hugh DeWitt is developed especially well and Bramhall’s voice seems especially suited to this thoughtful man who suffers his own grief and torment even as he must deal with those of others.”
“Guest has a keen eye for the delicate fault lines that underlie family life and excels at showing us the ravages of domestic collapse.”
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