Tom's Crossing

A Novel

By: Mark Z. Danielewski

Narrated by: Susan Dalian

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of House of Leaves comes a magisterial novel about two friends determined to rescue a pair of horses set for slaughter.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Vulture, and Library Journal

“This is an amazing work of fiction. I absolutely loved it. At the heart you’ll find a blood-drenched story of pursuit and two brave and resourceful children. But there’s so much more. I immersed myself. Have never read anything like it.” —Stephen King

Hard to figure how so much awful horror could've started out with just them two horses and not a one yet named...

While folks still like to focus on the crimes that shocked the small city of Orvop, Utah, back in the fall of 1982, not to mention the trials that followed, far more remember the adventure that took place beyond municipal lines.

For sure no one expected the dead to rise, but they did. No one expected the mountain to fall either, but it did. No one expected an act of courage so great, and likewise so appalling, that it still staggers the heart and mind of anyone who knows anything about the Katanogos massif, to say nothing of Pillars Meadow.

As one Orvop high school teacher described that extraordinary feat just days before she died, Fer sure no one expected Kalin March to look Old Porch in the eye and tell him: You get what you deserve when you ride with cowards.

very unique book

loved how the whole thing reads like the origins of a myth or the building blocks of a religion. Well worth the read...

Loved the story of the people, the horses and the country.

A tiny bit long-winded on the analyzing and lists of the dead. I really enjoyed this read.

This is a MUST READ novel!

Wow, what a novel! This is an amazing work that astounds! Although it incorporates some ghostly inhabitants the main characters are simply astounding. Kaylan who is the young teenager with the most activity is an outstanding horseman and an impressive master of a handgun. He refuses to disrobe in front of his mother or anyone but when the opportunity to confront a group intent on murdering him takes off all his clothes except his hat and boots but secures a weapon attached to one of his raised hands. Although he is an expert horseman one horse refuses to be ridden by him during a time he is severely wounded and even defecates upon him after throwing him from the saddle!
The evil and totally dysfunctional family headed by a totally inhumane and evil father who on several occasions commits filicide on several sons and really has no redeeming qualities manages to mostly escape judicial justice. There are many instances in this novel when Murphey's law that if something can go wrong it will takes center stage.
The one thing that I think was missed is that that awful father had a bat with an attached horse shoe and I think it was used to murder the Father of the Tom character in the novel and puzzled that was not brought out?
This novel is certainly a MUST READ!

A Modern Classic!

Susan Dalian does a magnificent job in narrating one of the best books I have ever read. Her voice is what I hear when I think of Landry Gatestone and the amazing way this book is constructed. Danielewski has created a masterpiece of modern literature set in the guise of a coming of age ghost story about two young people trying to save a pair of horses from slaughter.

Having just finished the audiobook (and having read-along with the physical book), I still have quite a bit to process, think and re-think, about it. This novel will stay with me for many years to come and I am sure that I will revisit it again. There are many references to Greek mythology, and I understand there are many Easter eggs to MZD’s other stories, but the story itself feels like a Greek myth in its own right.

This is absolutely a new classic piece of literature that should be read, and heard, by everyone! Highly recommended!!

An epic masterpiece that would make a great movie!

When I first started listening to this book, I wasn't sure I would like it. However, it soon became apparent to me that this exceptional and gripping story set in the West is not to be missed.. The contrast between good and evil, the battle against overwhelmingly difficult forces of nature, and the courage of two young people trying to fulfill a promise to a dying friend and brother make for a literary tour-de-force.

The narrator does a spectacular job of performing the story, holding the listener's attention during an extremely long book.
Don't miss this outstanding story.