Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann, read by Ann Marie Lee, Will Patton, and Danny Campbell. Random House Audio, unabridged, 7 CDs, 9 hrs., $40 ISBN 978-0-307-74744-0
Three voice actors divvy up the task of narrating the audio edition of Grann’s saga of the mysterious murders of at least two dozen members of the wealthy Oklahoman Osage Indian nation. Actor Lee reads the first third of the book, entitled “The Marked Woman,” which largely focuses on the story of Mollie Burkhart Lee, an Osage woman whose family was killed off one by one in the early 1920s. Unfortunately her pacing is so slow that the grammatical structure of sentences is often lost, and she uses the same tone whether the subject is serene scenery or vicious murders. Luckily Patton picks up the pace when reading the middle portion of the book, entitled “The Evidence Man,” which chronicles FBI agent Tom White’s struggles to investigate the case. Campbell ultimately steals the show in the third section, “The Reporter,” which follows the man who uncovered the plot to steal the oil-rich Osage territory. He reads in a voice as gruff as the man the chapter is based on, while clearly communicating the complex plot twist that ends this fascinating chunk of American history. A Doubleday hardcover. (Apr.)
Details
Reviewed on: 06/05/2017
Genre: Audio
Compact Disc - 978-1-9848-8386-5
Compact Disc - 978-0-307-74746-4
Hardcover - 352 pages - 978-0-385-53424-6
Hardcover - 978-0-385-53425-3
Other - 1 pages - 978-0-593-37736-9
Paperback - 416 pages - 978-0-307-74248-3
Paperback - 512 pages - 978-1-5247-5593-5