Oblivion [Audio CD]

Peter Abrahams (Author), Ken Marks (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books (December 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1428122788
• ISBN-13: 978-1428122789
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,164,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Abrahams - "criminally gifted" according to the New York Times Book Review - is the author of 27 novels. These include the New York Times bestselling Echo Falls mystery series for middle-graders (DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, BEHIND THE CURTAIN, INTO THE DARK) and REALITY CHECK (2009) for teens. Among his adult books are OBLIVION (Shamus prize finalist), THE FAN (made into a movie with Robert DeNiro) and LIGHTS OUT (Edgar award finalist). DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE was a finalist for the Edgar best young adult mystery award and won the Agatha in the same category. BEHIND THE CURTAIN and INTO THE DARK were Agatha finalists. In her Cleveland Plain Dealer review of NERVE DAMAGE (2007), Michelle Ross wrote: "I swear, if one more literary person says in that oh-so-condescendng tone, 'Oh, I don't read ... mysteries,' I'm going to take a novel by Peter Abrahams and smack him on his smug little head." REALITY CHECK won the best young adult mystery Edgar award in 2010. ROBBIE FORESTER AND THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD STREET, January 2012, is first in a new middle-grade series about a twelve-year-old Robin Hood in contemporary Brooklyn.
As Spencer Quinn, Abrahams also writes the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series: DOG ON it, THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, TO FETCH A THIEF, and THE DOG WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. He has a website - peterabrahams.com; and so does Chet - chetthedog.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, well-crafted thriller, June 4, 2005

By 

I. Martinez-Ybor "Ignacio Martínez-Ybor" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oblivion: A Novel (Hardcover)

I started to read this novel at a normal pace not noticing that, surreptitiously, it was becoming for me a "page-turner."

The structure is not as complex as some make it out to be: it's a missing person's case that turns into a murder mystery and ends as an action thriller, all of it overlayed by the conceit of having the main character develop amnesia (for credible reasons) well into the initial, missing person's phase of the tale. The story would have been there without the protagonist's malady; the malady adds spice to the read.

Mr. Abrahams handles the narrative with lucidity and aplomb. Contrivances of the genre are never heavy handed, even an almost obvious "red herring" causes anxiety though one would feel awfully cheated were it to be true and therefore one knows it could not possibly be... Mr. Abrahams demands that readers remember; his is not the short-chapter, cliff-hanger, serial-style writing of the "da Vinci Code" but rather a well-crafted, cannily developed novel where most characters and relationships are fleshed-out and reveal themselves as the plot advances and the protagonist recovers memories. Only towards the end, when the murder-mystery turns into action-thriller does the story perilously come close to getting "hokey." Somehow it survives.

The writing is always mature, intelligent and engaging.

This is an amusing read; I enjoyed it very much. I recommend it particularly if you can give it good chunks of time, such as by a lake, on a long plane ride, or at the beach. Summer is here.

To answer somebody's query: my star ratings are based on comparisons within the same genre(more or less) and mean nothing about my estimation of a book such as Mr. Abraham's as compared to say, Mann's "Magic Mountain" or Weinberg's "A World at Arms." All three are very fine writers in widely different spheres, the spheres themselves susceptible to different estimation.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, pedestrian execution., March 27, 2006

By 

Robert F. Gaydos (Nashua, NH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oblivion : A Novel (Hardcover)

I love Peter Abrahams books. His clear, concise writing is a joy to read and his characters are always fascinating.

"Oblivion" starts off with a bang, and I rushed through Part One in record time. Even though Petrov seems to have the easiest job of any detective out there ---- clues fall into his lap faster than candy at a parade --- his creepily flawed character keeps you engaged.

Once he develops brain cancer and a crippling case of amnemia that erases everything he accomplished in the first section of the book, he becomes a "nice guy" --- and this is not a good choice. The middle (the largest part) of the book is a redundant slog, with the detective accumulating all the evidence once more and struggling to put it together. Of course, we're ahead of him half the time, and this makes for a tedious read.

The last section of the book, though clever, is something that's been telegraphed much too vividly earlier and we're never really surprised. And the showdown is about as realistic as the end of a Mannix episode.

All this aside, Oblivion is an extremely well-written crime novel. But to call it a thriller is a stretch. What it lacks is a more ambiguous tone and plot twists that don't scream GOOD or EVIL at you from miles away.

PS: To echo another reviewer, this is a truly handsome, visually pleasing book to read. Clever chapter titles type face, lead-off letters, and such.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars is being kind., June 11, 2006

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oblivion: A Novel (Hardcover)

Private Investigator Nic Petrov is asked by Lisa Rummel to find her daughter Amanda. The missing person case leads to murder and presents Nic with more questions than answers. The case keeps cycling back to a Hollywood movie made about Nic and the capture of a serial killer. But putting the clue together keeps getting harder as Nic's mental abilities degrade and when amnesia requires that he start back at the beginning.

Nic is presented as a somewhat larger-than-life character, even as his illness progresses. There is a romantic relationship which is completely implausible, if not bordering on silly. The writing style is choppy which, I am guessing, was meant to convey Nic's mental processes but I found rather annoying. Without coincidences the story would have gone nowhere. The identity of the killer, which was a surprise, seemed absurd to me. There was some good tension, it did keep me reading and I liked another book written by Abrahams, which is why I rate it Okay rather than Poor. I'm willing to give Abrahams another try, but I'd recommend passing on this book.