Denial

By: Jon Raymond

Narrated by: George Newbern

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE

A futuristic thriller about climate change by the acclaimed screenwriter of First Cow, Meek’s Cutoff, and HBO’s Mildred Pierce.

The year is 2052. Climate change has had a predictably devastating effect: Venice submerged, cyclones in Oklahoma, megafires in South America. Yet it could be much worse. Two decades earlier, the global protest movement known as the Upheavals helped break the planet’s fossil fuel dependency, and the subsequent Nuremberg-like Toronto Trials convicted the most powerful oil executives and lobbyists for crimes against the environment. Not all of them. A few executives escaped arrest and went into hiding, including pipeline mastermind Robert Cave.

Now, a Pacific Northwest journalist named Jack Henry who works for a struggling media company has received a tip that Cave is living in Mexico. Hoping the story will save his job, he travels south and, using a fake identity, makes contact with the fugitive. The two men strike up an unexpected friendship, leaving Jack torn about exposing Cave—an uncertainty further compounded by the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness and a new romance with an old acquaintance. Who will really benefit from the unmasking? What is the nature of justice and punishment? How does one contend with mortality when the planet itself is dying?

Denial is both a page-turning speculative suspense novel and a powerful existential inquisition about the perilous moment in which we currently live.

Critic reviews

"Narrator George Newbern gives an unflappable performance as Jack Henry, an investigative reporter who finds an escaped executive hiding in plain sight in Mexico. When Jack befriends Robert Cave, listeners can hear the sincere relationship between the two. Even so, Jack knows his discovery could enhance his reputation. Newbern does an excellent job of leading listeners through the complexities of Jack’s transformation and his understanding of what it would mean to reveal the whereabouts of Cave."

Denial

I have to say I was not impressed with this book. The voice actor was great, but the story…
I could not find myself caring about any of the characters. The main character having CJD was so unbelievable. My other gripe is the author’s use of “he/she said” there are many more ways of putting this. He explained, she stated, he replied. It was very distracting for me. I would not recommend paying for this book. If you want to read it, borrow it.

Disappointed

This one didn’t really live up to its billing as a post climate change thriller. Story was somewhat boring. I kept listening thinking it might pick up but it never did.

Painful To Listen To

The climate denier is the good guy. The reporter who turns him in has a disease no one wants to hear about. There is not much redeeming about this book, except for the reader, who does a good job.