Play Audiobook Sample
Galveston: A Novel Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.04) - 362 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
On the same day that Roy Cady is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he senses that his boss, a dangerous loan-sharking bar-owner, wants him dead. Roy is alert to the possibility that a routine assignment could be a deathtrap. Yet what the would-be killers do to Roy Cady is not the same as what he does to them, and after a smoking spasm of violence, they are mostly dead and he is mostly alive.
Before Roy makes his getaway, he realizes there are two women in the apartment, one of them still breathing, and he sees something in her frightened, defiant eyes that causes a fateful decision. He takes her with him as he goes on the run from New Orleans to Galveston, Texas—an action as ill-advised as it is inescapable. The girl's name is Rocky, and she is too young, too tough, too sexy—and far too much trouble. Roy, Rocky, and her sister hide in the battered seascape of Galveston's country-western bars and seedy hotels, a world of treacherous drifters, pickup trucks, and ashed-out hopes.
Recalling the moody violence of the early novels of Cormac McCarthy and Denis Johnson, this powerful, potent, and atmospheric thriller is impossible to put down.
Download and start listening now!
"A bleak story in which we want to support the "bad guy." Roy Cady has been a mob bagman and enforcer all his working life, so you know he's done bad things. But after he rescues a young woman during a job gone wrong, and in which he and his partner were ambushed, you want to see him differently. Pizzolatto does a good job getting his characters right and making them come alive; engaging the reader and encouraging sympathy for the difficult situations they face.There isn't a real mystery here, but a sensitive character study of two people who met under bad circumstances and want to move on to make something more of their lives. Roy's dying, we know that from the start, so we watch him take risks to help the young woman and her sister. It was a short, yet engrossing read and I'm curious to see how Pizzolatto develops as an author. I wasn't into it at the beginning, but kept reading based on the strength of its Edgar nomination. By the end I wasn't sorry I had continued. A good debut novel."
— KarenC (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
Galveston is a roman noir to its scuffed boot heels. If there's a guiding principle that whispers in the ear of every reader of great noir, it's this: Things will not end well.
— Dennis Lehane, The New York Times
Galveston Listener Reviews
-
" Great story. Quick read. This was an interesting character study that reminded me a lot of Dennis Lehane's novels. Violent, but in a good way. Interesting interactions between the characters describing a part of society most of us will never see, or want to. "
— Jeffrey, 2/3/2014 -
" For being the author's first novel, this book shows promise in the writer. Although it was not a very deep story, this read was a quick and pleasant one. Hoping for a more in depth novel, I would pick up his next release. "
— Nicolette, 1/31/2014 -
" Hard-boiled and no-words-wasted crime story about a southern hit man on the run, and the young girl he accidentally rescues during a break-in gone wrong. The characters are compelling; the language is plain; the action when it comes, out of nowhere and surprising. A quick and satisfying read. "
— Margee, 1/25/2014 -
" Incredible noir debut. Hard to put down. Only three or four characters but an incredibly well-done story. Easy to see why this novel was nominated for an Edgar. "
— Harry, 1/19/2014 -
" A first novel, discovered by my friend Carol (herself a mystery novelist), and gifted to me for my birthday, Galveston is a terrific read, not really so much for the story, (the tale of a bad guy who finds redemption of a sort because, against his better judgment, tries to save a fellow damaged gal, and especially her innocent kid) or even the settings (cheap motels, roadhouses and donut shops along the Gulf Coast from NoLa to Galveston), no: the charm is in the language. With a nod to James Lee Burke, the poet laureate of police procedurals (one of the characters in GALVESTON is named Robicheaux) and the downbeat vibe of Henning Mankell and Andrew Vachss, Pizzolatto's sentences burrow into the recesses of your own memory, your own weaknesses, your own humanity. It's why we read about contract killers with tarnished honor and runaways who turn tricks and kill people, even though we don't do those things ourselves. "
— Nick, 1/14/2014 -
" This dark & gritty book snuck up on me. For the first half, I thought it was a decent, engaging book with a typical "hardened tough guy finding redemption" plot, but by the end I had become totally engrossed in the characters without realizing it. I couldn't put it down when I came to the final chapters. "
— John, 1/11/2014 -
" Way too noir for my taste. I only finished to find out what happened to the characters. "
— Diane, 1/8/2014 -
" Noir set in Galveston. Typically hard bitten with a slightly gooshy heart (not unlike Galveston itself). Tracks the story of a retiring mobster who gets stuck caring for a hard bitten young woman and her infant daughter. Haven't we seen this before? "
— Booth, 11/3/2013 -
" Galveston received glowing reviews. Roy is running for his life as is Rocky, a hard-boiled young woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This will keep you turning the pages. "
— Maryellen, 10/12/2013 -
" This one is so noir it finds "terrible beauty" in its bleakness. I like it and I'm looking forward to the next one. "
— John, 5/17/2013 -
" Really good. Suspenseful, sad. Not a mystery, but it does keep you guessing until the past and present merge. "
— Lori, 10/4/2012 -
" This is what modern day Noir should inspire to be, it's been two years since I read this book, yet it still remains fresh in the back of my head like smoke dancing upwords from a barel of a gun, a rank sea breeze at roadside motel no one checks in with joy on thier minds... "
— Con, 8/12/2012 -
" This was the best book I have read in a long time. Full of brutal violence that has inevitable, inescapable repurcussions, yet the book still manages to eek out some humanity in these desperate, lost and broken characters. Powerful stuff. "
— Mr., 6/2/2012 -
" This is a tough book for me to rate. It is a very generic story but has moments of great writing. Nice, somehwat understated ending that i enjoyed as well. I still cant give it more than 3 stars though. "
— Jason, 3/24/2012 -
" Good noir. This book was given to me by someone who has never let me down. It was a great vacation read "
— Sandy, 3/12/2012 -
" The author tries too hard to mimic James Lee Burke's metaphors. "
— Jess, 1/18/2012 -
" a criminal thug with a terminal illness befriends two sisters and tries to protect them - well written, harsh story about redemption "
— Martha, 1/9/2012 -
" I believe this writer is headed for a very bright future. I'm always tickled inside when I come across someone who's writing is so cold bloodedly great. It's a great book of redemption, and Roy Cady and Rocky and her sister fight for theirs over an absolutly thrilling backdrop. "
— Jack, 9/3/2011 -
" Way too noir for my taste. I only finished to find out what happened to the characters. "
— Diane, 5/14/2011 -
" Really good. Suspenseful, sad. Not a mystery, but it does keep you guessing until the past and present merge. "
— Lori, 4/24/2011 -
" I picked up this book at the library largely because of the title--I lived in Galveston for 14 years--and the fact that I like mysteries. It surprised me by being much more gripping and well written than I had expected. It is pretty depressing, so be warned, but with that caveat, I recommend it. "
— Joan, 4/2/2011 -
" This was the best book I have read in a long time. Full of brutal violence that has inevitable, inescapable repurcussions, yet the book still manages to eek out some humanity in these desperate, lost and broken characters. Powerful stuff. "
— Mr., 3/11/2011 -
" For being the author's first novel, this book shows promise in the writer. Although it was not a very deep story, this read was a quick and pleasant one. Hoping for a more in depth novel, I would pick up his next release. "
— Nicolette, 2/3/2011 -
" Galveston received glowing reviews. Roy is running for his life as is Rocky, a hard-boiled young woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This will keep you turning the pages. "
— Maryellen, 12/27/2010 -
" Good noir. This book was given to me by someone who has never let me down. It was a great vacation read "
— Sandy, 9/27/2010
About Nic Pizzolatto
Nic Pizzolatto’s fiction has appeared in the Atlantic, the Oxford American, the Missouri Review, the Iowa Review, Best American Mystery Stories, and several other publications. His work has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award, and his story collection Between Here and the Yellow Sea was named by Poets & Writers magazine as one of the top five fiction debuts of the year. In 2012 he created a new series for HBO titled True Detective, the first season of which was nominated for the Emmy for Best Drama Series.
About Michael Kramer
Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area’s theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.