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    The Cloud of Unknowing
    The Cloud of Unknowing
    The Cloud of Unknowing
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Cloud of Unknowing

    Written by Thomas H. Cook

    Narrated by Stephen Hoye

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    About this audiobook

    David Sears grew up in the shadow of his brilliant younger sister, Diana, convinced by their father that she would accomplish great things. Instead, she married and had a son, Jason, who-like David and Diana's father-is schizophrenic. Her husband, Mark, a geneticist, never made peace with Jason's condition.

    Perhaps this is why, when Jason drowns, Diana will not accept the authorities' conclusion that his death was accidental. Or perhaps Diana is going mad. She begins to send David faxes and e-mails about ancient murders, driven by her growing belief that the earth is Gaia, a living witness to her son's murder who could give evidence in the case she is building against her husband. David soon fears for his own family's safety as the seductive qualities of Diana's manic energy become impossible to ignore.

    In The Cloud of Unknowing, Cook explores the power of blood and family mythology.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 15, 2007
    ISBN9781400174096
    Author

    Thomas H. Cook

    Thomas H. Cook is the author of twenty-three books, including The Chatham School Affair, which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel, and, most recently, The Last Talk with Lola Faye.

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    Reviews for The Cloud of Unknowing

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    • 3/5
      Murder, schizophrenia interwoven in a family story about how the past forms our present. Interesting if sort of predictable and somewhat confusing.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological drama of madness, obsession, and family secrets. I will definitely read more books from this author.
    • 5/5
      The Murmur of Stones is the gripping story of a woman who begins to suspect that her husband drowned their schizophrenic son. Her father was paranoid schizophrenic, is she too? The story is told by her brother, who it seems has escaped the family curse. I loved this book. Both the way the story was told and the shifting sands of the story itself. Who was murdered...and by whom? And how many deaths were there...3 or 4? On the last page we find out there were 3 deaths, the final victim will survive. One death was murder for sure, one suicide...but was she given any other choice, and one...was it deliberate murder or a death by misadventure?
    • 5/5
      Wow. Every book by Thomas H. Cook has that same, inexorable quality to it; but played out in a different way each time. This is the best mystery novel I've read this year.
    • 4/5
      The Cloud of Unknowing (also the Murmur of Stones) by Thomas H. Cook is a 2007 Publisher’s Weekly Best Mystery. Cook is a favorite author of mine, so I was looking forward to reading this book.David and Diana are brother and sister whose father had schizophrenia. Diana’s son has recently drowned, and her behavior is becoming more and more erratic. She starts researching about strange ancient murders and starts suspecting her husband in their son’s death. David is worried that she is starting to develop schizophrenia as well. He even begins to wonder if he should put her away for her own good. Was Diana’s son murdered or was it an accident?I was a little disappointed in this book. My two favorites of his are Breakheart Hill and the Edgar-winning The Chatham School Affair. If you’ve never read Cook before, I suggest you start with one of those two.
    • 4/5
      A lawyer is questioned by a detective about a crime which is unclear at first. In a family riddled with paranoid schizophrenia, Dave has watched his father be committed twice and die at home under the care of his sister, and then his young nephew deteriorate and drown in the family's pond. The sister is convinced her husband killed the boy and proceeds, in a downward spiral, to try to prove it, even as she begins to exhibit their father's paranoia. As Dave is questioned, the consequences of these actions, and Dave's part in the tragedy which ensues, are slowly revealed in a tense story which is extremely hard to put down.