The Open Curtain

By: Brian Evenson

Narrated by: Neil Shah

A taut, otherworldly, and moving literary thriller investigating the contemporary aftermath of Mormonism’s shrouded and violent past.

When Rudd, a troubled teenager, embarks on a school research project, he runs across the secret Mormon ritual of blood sacrifice and its role in a 1902 murder committed by the grandson of Brigham Young. Along with his newly discovered half brother, Rudd becomes swept up in the psychological and atavistic effects of this violent, antique ritual.

As the past and the present become an increasingly tangled knot, Rudd is found—with minor injuries and few memories—at the scene of a multiple murder on a remote campsite. Lyndi, the daughter of the victims, tries to help Rudd recover his memory, and together, they find a strength unique to survivors of terrible tragedies. But Rudd, desperate to protect Lyndi and unable to let the past be still, tries to manipulate their Mormon wedding ceremony to trick the priests (and God) by giving himself and Lyndi secret new names—names that match the killer and the victim in the 100-year-old murder. The nightmare has just begun....

©2006, 2016 Brian Evenson (P)2022 Audible, Inc.

Superb

I found this book as challenging as I found it amazingly well written. In novel form, it is tough to read very long with a narrator we know to be unreliable. Even achieving that is well worth the listen. I'm an aspiring writer and I've learned A LOT from Evanson's writing. Buy this!

Fabulous narration

The narrator did an amazing job with the characters. He really brought them to life.

Theological Horror

As an ex-Mormon this novel really hits the spot. Evenson creates a boy unmoored in life in so many ways who finds meaning in violence and subverting Mormon doctrine, listen to it twice.

Puts me to sleep

I have a feeling the person who raved about the narrator is a member of his family.