The Devil's Footprints: A Novel

By: John Burnside

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Michael Gardiner has lived in Coldhaven all his life, yet he still feels like an outsider. When Moira Birnie, convinced that her abusive husband is the devil, kills herself and her two young sons but spares her 14-year-old daughter, Hazel, Michael uneasily recalls his past connections to Moira. As teenagers, Michael and Moira had a brief romance; more troubling, Michael was responsible for the death of Moira's brother, the town bully. In the wake of the tragedy, Michael becomes obsessed with Hazel, who is just old enough to be his daughter. Aware of his obsession, Hazel convinces Michael to take her away from the village and her father. Their journey will take listeners backwards and forward in time, gradually uncovering the secrets of the past.

Set against the untamed Scottish landscape, The Devil's Footprints explores the elemental forces of everyday life: love, fear, grief, and the hope of redemption. It is a novel of mysterious beauty, written with the clarity and power of a folktale.

©2007 John Burnside (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

the Dark Woods of Scotland

After reading this chiller. one becomes convinced that The Scots make great whiskey, but they have the darkest, most chilling woods in the world (outside Russia) and this setting for real Gothic novels has been too long neglected. The combination of the reader's brogue and the setting fixes this story perfectly--although at times a little exposition would clarify names and places. There is also a fine balance of illusion and reality.

Unexpectly brilliant book, superb narration

Bought this because I would line up to listen to Simon Prebble read a grocery list. And then was deeply engaged by the story and the prose style. A narrator who begins his tale in a neutral stance to the reader/listener then shockingly reveals some dark truths, but with so little affect that you suspect he might be a sociopath. I couldn’t help thinking of Patricia Highsmith’s taut psychological thrillers where you are drawn into collusion, bit by bit, with someone truly reprehensible, a thrill of its own.

But as you hear more and more of the inexhaustible inner thoughts of the narrator, the book develops subtlety and depth that transcends its presumed genre. It has no genre, really, one of my favorite traits in a book. Settings that feel real. Events that happen insensibly as so much of life actually does, careful attention to the inner life.

It gives you a lot to think about. Unflinching truths are articulated in a rich vocabulary of words and images. And Prebble is magisterial in his intonations, accents, ear for dialogue. If anyone else were narrating, it wouldn’t be as good.