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Gary A. Braunbeck

Prodigal Blues Kindle Edition

by Gary A. Braunbeck (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

29 ratings

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From award-winning author Gary A. Braunbeck comes Prodigal Blues, his first foray into non-supernatural horror.

After he finds himself stranded at a truck stop in Missouri, Mark Sieber gets one of the biggest shocks of his life when he recognizes the face of a little girl on a Missing poster as belonging to the same little girl he saw only a few minutes before. Looking around for some sign of her, he comes back to his table in the restaurant to find the little sitting there, waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, mister," is all she seems capable of saying.

As the police and media begin to converge on the truck stop, Mark retreats back to his hotel room to call his wife and let her know what's going on, only to be taken hostage by the same people who released the little girl. But his abductors are little more than children themselves.

Ranging in ages from 12 to 19, Mark's abductors are in the process of escaping from a sadistic pedophile known to them only as "Grendel" a man whose practices include torture and mutilation specifically, mutilation of the face.

Mark's abductors have all been mutilated by Grendel who may be very close behind them and need someone with a "normal face" to help them carry out their plan for justice and returning home.

For the next few days, Mark will come to understand not only the inhuman horror that these children have suffered, but how they eventually learned to fight back and how they discovered that Grendel and his practices are at the center of a very complex network catering to those who tastes run toward the molestation and mutilation of children.

Prodigal Blues is perhaps Braunbeck's most suspenseful and emotionally powerful work to date; a story of suffering, depravity, redemption, and in the end the individual's compassion for his or her fellow human beings that can lead some people to finding reserves of courage and determination they never thought they possessed.

Terrifying, suspenseful, sometimes surprisingly funny, and ultimately moving, Prodigal Blues is quintessential Braunbeck.

Print length

248 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 13, 2011
File size

875 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Gary A. Braunbeck centures into nonsupernatural horror terrority with Prodigal Blues. This tale of a sadistic tracer of abducted children who suffer loss of limbs and other cruel disfigurements is recommended only for the strong of stomach. --Publishers Weekly

This is a poignant cautionary thriller that grips readers from the moment the hero is abducted and never slows down until the final twist. --Midwest Book Review

5 stars...this is, by far, superior to anything and everything he's ever done before. I will never look at a crying child the same again. Why does he get a 5?... for making me wipe angry tears of distraught empathy off the visage that had become statuesque in my fevered attempt to read, absorb, and become part of the symphonic beauty that lies between the covers of Prodigal Blues. --Horror-Web --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0068TLKUQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crossroad Press; Crossroad Press Digital Edition (November 13, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 13, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 875 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,201,056 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #7,831 in Occult Horror
- #12,323 in Occult Fiction
- #138,200 in Literature & Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
29 ratings

About the author

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Gary A. Braunbeck

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Gary A. Braunbeck is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 24 books -- evenly divided between novels and short-story collections; his fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, Czech, and Polish. Nearly 200 of his short stories have appeared in various publications.

He was born in Newark, Ohio; the city that serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in many of his novels and stories. The Cedar Hill stories are collected in Graveyard People, Home Before Dark, and the forthcoming The Carnival Within, all published by Earthling Books.

His fiction has received several awards, including 7 Bram Stoker Awards: the first for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction in 2003 for "Duty"; the second -- also for Superior Achievement in Short Story -- in 2005 for "We Now Pause for Station Identification"; his collection Destinations Unknown won the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Fiction Collection in 2006; and 2007 saw Gary winning 2 Stoker Awards; the first for co-editing the anthology 5 Strokes to Midnight, and the second for his novella "Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway." (5 Stokes to Midnight was also nominated for The World Fantasy Award that same year.) In 2011 his non-fiction book, To Each Their Darkness, received the Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction; and at the recent 2013 Stokers, his novella "The Great Pity" took home the Long Fiction Stoker. His novella "Kiss of the Mudman" received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005.

As an editor, Gary completed the latest installment of the Masques anthology series created by Jerry Williamson, Masques V, after Jerry became too ill to continue.

He also served a term as president of the Horror Writers Association. He is married to Lucy Snyder, a science fiction/fantasy writer, and they reside together in Columbus, Ohio.

Gary is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches in an innovative MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction.

His nonfiction book To Each Their Darkness has been used as a text by several college writing classes. Gary has taught writing seminars and workshops around the country (including a week-long stint as the Writer in Residence at the 2011 Odyssey Writers Workshop) on topics such as short story writing, characterization, and dialogue.

His work is often praised for its depth of emotion and characterization, as well as for its refusal to adhere to any genre tropes; some joke that the term "cross-genre fiction" may have been invented to describe his work -- a rumor he does everything in his power to propagate.

Customer reviews

5 star		45%
4 star		42%
3 star		6%
2 star		7%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Artem44

Definitely worth reading

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2021

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Closer to 3.5 out of 5.
Disturbing, interesting and consisting of a villain who is handled very well. Strong desire to keep reading it and find out what would happen.
Characters are well formed and their dialogue natural for the most part. Some funny parts too based on some of the narrator's observations.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**
However there's a few things that prevent this from being a 5 star book. There are some very frustrating parts where there are pertinent questions that anyone would ask in that situation that don't get put forward by the main character, such as: "Where is the bad guy right now?" Main character just makes this strange assumption when another character mentions that he shot a man, main character assumes it was their captor.
Another: Main character doesn't think to read the number plates to the bus and trailer upon seeing the missing person poster for Denise. Maybe understandable to let a guard know at first, but then to not tell them which vehicle he saw her in or check plates at that point, very unrealistic.

One character is meant to be 12 but speaks like someone who is 40. Another is meant to be 20 but the main character mentions they "look like old buddies discussing their kids", when he and the character are chatting. Issues that could've been resolved fairly easily by the author.

Still a horrifying read and leaves a strong emotional impact no doubt.

Helpful

Donna Luciano

What a fantastic book that sharpened all of my senses---every step of ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

I've heard about Gary a lot over the past several years and I finally got a Kindle Fire. I bought this book as my first and all I can say is WOW!! Where have you been all my life?? What a fantastic book that sharpened all of my senses---every step of this journey.

Characters are well written (you get to know and love (or hate Grendel and his "business associates"). I can't tell you how many times I had to put the book down for a break to get my heart rate down to (somewhat) normal. I felt everything those children went through and the love they needed and their families they missed. I felt empathy for Mark and the children but nothing but hatred for Grendael--the evil one. Mark and Christopher, Thomas, Arnold and Rebecca were all heroes in their own way. I liked Mark's psychology used in situations.

I'll be reading many more of Gary A. Braunbeck's books.

Helpful

m.r.fruits

Not sure how he did it

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2009

Verified Purchase

This is the first thing I have read by Braunbeck, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. This sat on my wishlist forever, and I finally broke down and bought it because it was about to go out of print. I honestly expected the book to be sensationalistic trash given its topic, but to the author's credit he managed to tell the story in as sensitive a way as one possibley could. I am super impressed that he managed to pull that off. It was a fast paced and engaging read. My only real complaint is that I found the narrators ruminations on the power puff girls to be really distracting and out of place. Other than that, it was a good book. I daresay the finest book I've ever seen on the theme of mutilatization and sexual torture of children. How's that for an endorsement?

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mike Mehalek

This book both delighted and horrified me

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

Braunbeck is one of my favorite storytellers. I partially read this and partially listened as an audiobook and found what I always do when it comes to Braunbeck's works: make reading the #1 priority in my life. I stop whatever is going on and immerse myself in the story. I use every free second to keep reading and take twice as long as it should to read because

1. I don't want the story to end and
2. I find myself re-reading passages because of just how good Braunbeck is with language, cadence, and emotion.

Prodigal Blues was no exception. It's a tale of humanity, humility, and one of hope. It's also not for the faint of heart. You'll read it and say, "Nothing in life is that cruel, that unjust...that monstrous". And if you're like me, when you find yourself alone in a crowd--at a park, a mall, a subway stop--you'll add, "At least I hope it's not."

One person found this helpful

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Melissa

Wow...

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

Define page turner that invoked every emotion known to man in myself. Awesome...would read again and again. I am already searching for more books by this author.

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Top reviews from other countries

R T Twinem

Brilliant touching horror/crime story "spoilers"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

I loved it! Not often do I read a horror/crime (I suppose it cuts across the two genres) story that is emotionally powerful and uplifting yet with an ultimately sad conclusion.Mark Sieber's world is turned upside down when he is seemingly captured by a group of kids ranging in age from 12-19. As the story unfolds Mark has a mission to deliver the kids back to their parents and kill the perpetrator "Grendel" who should inflict such horror pain and mutilation on those so innocent. The reader is with Mark all the way from the emotional reunion of those longs lost kids with their parents...to the killing of Grendel..and the destiny that falls the scarred and emotionally injured Christopher. The writing is very powerful and one scene in particular had me on the edge of my seat...Christopher and Mark are travelling in the van and Christopher is explaining to Mark how Grendel has managed to destroy all their lives...as he talks the speed of the van increases from 50...to...60...up to 100 miles per hour. At this point I could feel the tension as if lifted off the pages of the book and entered my mind it was one stand out moment amongst many in this tour de force story. This is my first Gary Braunbeck book and most certainly not my last, it has been a great introduction into the mind of a first class author, and I look forward to reading many more of his books in the weeks to come..I highly recommend!

One person found this helpful

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