Mike Suggests: Drood

Drood by Dan Simmons, read by Simon Prebble

I ended up listening to the audio presentation of this stunning historical literary mystery because I read Deb's post on our other blog about the reader, Simon Prebble, who won the "Voice of Choice" from the publication Booklist. I can't say enough good things about Drood--its pacing, plot, and characters were all masterfully written that I'll be sure to check out other Dan Simmons books. Drood is a tale full of mystery and madness, where Dickens and his fellow author (and collaborator) Wilkie Collins are drawn into the search for a shadowy and violent master of mesmerism known only as Drood. The reading by Simon Prebble was flat-out fantastic--he made my hair stand on end at the end as Wilkie Collins is finishing his confession, and made Collins' madness so palpable that I was absolutely thrilled.