The Wheat Field [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Steve Thayer (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2002

New York Times best-selling author Steve Thayer introduces Deputy Sheriff Pennington of Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin, in a gripping story of sex, politics, and betrayal--where the lust for power leads one man through the explosive secrets of a small town. Maggie and Michael Butler are found naked and very dead in a wheat field, murdered by two vicious gun blasts. It's up to Pennington to find the killer. Convinced that the answer lies in the wheat field and in a missing reel of movie film, he is close to shutting the door on this investigation. But this is bigger than he imagined as the door re-opens into a far-reaching assassination plot set for election night.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books; Unabridged edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402521065
• ISBN-13: 978-1402521065
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,440,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, lots of porn...., March 17, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Wheat Field (Hardcover)

THE WHEAT FIELD by Steve Thayer is not the type of mystery I ordinarily read. I usually prefer women writers and/or mysteries set in England or American crime stories with hard-boiled female heros like Kay Scarpetta or Stephanie Plum. I was drawn to Thayer's book because the setting is Wisconsin--a state I have known and loved all my life. I think Thayer handled his descriptions of various places in Wisconsin pretty well.

Thayer's story is a compelling tale I read in a half day. This is the kind of book you take on a long plane flight or to the beach. Thayer is an excellent writer whose style is reminiscient of Hemingway's (not a particular favorite of mine but he wrote well). More than one aspect of THE WHEAT FIELD reminded me of THE SUN ALSO RISES.

Thayer's characterization of Pliny Pennington is believable. Pliny seems to be a cross between Forrest Gump and Micky Spillane and although there was a time when I would not have belived such a fellow could exist I now know there are innocents who are worldly-wise. Besides, Pliny the protagonist is relating the events in this story years later. Some of the dumb things he did as a younger man he would not have done in later life after he "wized" up.

Pliny is the Deputy Sherif of Kickapoo County, and although this book has been characterized as a "police procedural" it is not. There are NO forensics. Even though Pliny is a law enforcement officer, I would characterize him as more akin to the 1950s detective--you know the guy who was always in some kind of trouble because he trusted untrustworthy adversaries and was not above breaking the law himself. The other characters in this novel are shallowly drawn and generally as unlikable as the characters in a Mickey Spillane novel.

Thayer includes a good deal of pornography. He may have thought it was necessary for the plot, but his graphic descriptions seem a bit gratuitous at times. He introduces a character who knows a bit about voyeurism (a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin), a sort of "profiler" Pliny says. His unraveling of the plot stretches credibility at times. I figured out who the murderer was in the early part of the book. I think I mostly stuck with the book because it is a good read and I had to see what became of Pliny. This book will not appeal to Republicans.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars She must've been drunk, March 19, 2002

By 

Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wheat Field (Hardcover)

Steve Thayer is primarily known for his stories set in St. Paul, Minnesota. The city becomes a character in the novels. He shows us the Cathedral, the Mississippi and its caves, the beautiful homes on Summit Ave. He takes us back to the depression when gangsters, such as Dillenger and the Barker gang, were given free reign in the city.
In The WHEAT FIELD, Thayer moves the setting to the Wisconsin Dells, Kickapoo county. Again he uses the history of the Dells to provide texture for his novel. He mentions Joe McCarthy, who supposedly belonged to the gun club mentioned in the story, and Ed Gein, the murderous ghoul, who dug up corpses in the local graveyard and used their skin to upholster his furniture.
I had high hopes for this novel. It takes guts to make your main character a voyeur, and just a few pages in there's a lurid sex scene. Most of the writing books tell you to make your protagonist a likable character; and who likes peeping Toms? Just a bit on the plot. Two people are murdered in this wheat field in the midst of what looks like a crop circle. They're high school friends of Pliny Pennington, the deputy in charge of the murder investigation. He's in love with the female victim, Maggie Butler. We soon discover that two more of Pennington's high school friends, a senatorial candidate and his wife, were also involved. The evidence points towards a "snuff" film.
We don't really get to know any of these people, other than Pliny. Once more, those pesky book doctors insist that in a thriller there be less of an emphasis on character development, ignoring the danger that the reader just might not care what happens to these people. I also had a hard time with Thayer's choppy writing style. Very short sentences, even during those times when nothing much is happening. There's also implausibility galore. At the end, the setting shifts to Nantucket where we meet a ghost and a bunch of CIA types with a connection to the impending Kennedy assassination. In the acknowledgments, Thayer thanks his agent, the driving force behind the novel. She must've been drunk.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sex, murder and politics along the Dells, April 18, 2003

By 

Douglas De Bono - Author of No Safe Harbor (Minnetonka, mn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wheat Field (Mysteries & Horror) (Paperback)

I really like reading Steve Thayer's books. I remember after reading SAINT MUDD that I was driving along the St. Paul riverbanks and thinking about the caves used by gangsters.

This time he takes to the Wisconsin Dells and 1960 before the great tourist descent. Once again he writes about places and weaves legend into the story.

The story is written in the first person from the perspective of the investigating deputy. He arrives at the scene of the wheat field murders of Maggie and Michael Butler, who have been blown away by a shotgun in a perfectly formed crop circle.

So is it a murder/suicide, double homicide, something more, something less? Oh and the sordid tale of illicit sex and small town gossip runs rampant through out the story. There are no saints in this novel of deceit and treachery.

We follow the narrative down a road of personal discovery and shocking revelation, and just when you think you've got everything mapped Thayer twists down another avenue of inquiry you hadn't even considered. To give too many details would spoil an outstanding book.

So if I like it so much, why not 5 stars you ask? I just wish the sex would have been less graphic. I can get the idea without all the details.