Radiant Night

by Patrick Lohier, Cary Hite (Read by)

Overview

"A rich neo-noir thriller that feels as original as it does compelling." (Kirkus)  

Ludwig Mason is the only Marine to have survived an explosion that reduced his military Humvee to a smoldering wreck in war-torn Fallujah. Back home on American soil, the 28-year-old Iraq War vet struggles through the traumatized, booze-and drug-addled aftermath. He fears that he's lost his family, his friends, and his last chance at anything when something like fate intervenes in the form of a mysterious stranger named Mrs. S.   

The old fortune-teller tells Ludwig about an heirloom seized from her family by Nazis decades ago - a fabled tarot deck that has 23 major arcana cards instead of the customary 22. A deck that she believes is now located somewhere in Mobile, Alabama.   

Whatever it was that brought Ludwig to Mrs. S. - be it chance, or fate - now draws him into an hallucinatory odyssey fraught with arcane symbols, danger, and paranoia as he ventures to retrieve the missing tarot deck and, with any luck, a piece of his own lost soul.   

Patrick Lohier's enticing debut novel blends history, mystery and adrenaline to produce a wildly entertaining and fast-paced literary thriller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781721371846
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	12/04/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Patrick Lohier's stories, book reviews, and essays have appeared in African American Review, the Georgia Review, Callaloo, the Globe & Mail, Boing Boing and other publications. He is an alumnus of the Caldera Artists Residency program, in Sisters, Oregon, and lives in Toronto with his wife and two kids.

Interviews

"Lohier's prose is enthralling. One dark secret dissolves into another, each one more treacherous and shocking. Ludwig Mason, broken and searching, is a character you'll never forget; more than a hero or anti-hero, he is heartbreakingly human." — Matt Marinovich, author of The Winter Girl

Editorial Reviews

09/24/2018
An explosion near Fallujah leaves Marine Ludwig Mason, the hero of Lohier’s uneven first novel, the sole survivor of his squad. While recovering in the hospital, he becomes addicted to pain medicine. When he returns home to Philadelphia, where his wife, Charlotte, and toddler son, Sam, have been waiting for him, Ludwig, who has PTSD, falls apart: he cheats on Charlotte, is unable to find gainful employment, and seeks oblivion in the bottle. Eventually, he lands a lucrative job when the nurse who cared for him directs him to Connecticut, where an old woman known only as Mrs. S. hires Ludwig to track down a rare tarot deck that contains 23, rather than 22, major arcana cards. Ludwig’s lack of any relevant investigative skills makes it hard to suspend disbelief in the MacGuffin story line. Readers will readily sympathize with Ludwig, but will wish that Lohier had kept his focus on his lead’s psychological struggles. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Lohier's prose is enthralling. One dark secret dissolves into another, each one more treacherous and shocking. Ludwig Mason, broken and searching, is a character you'll never forget; more than a hero or anti-hero, he is heartbreakingly human." — Matt Marinovich, author of The Winter Girl

From the Publisher

2018-09-02

A wounded Iraq War veteran struggling with PTSD and drug addiction embarks on a mission to find a mysterious family heirloom in the depths of the American South.

Ludwig Mason survived an IED attack that destroyed his Humvee and killed the Marines in his battalion during his tour in Fallujah. Upon returning home to West Philadelphia, he struggles to reconnect with his wife and young son, earn a living, and overcome his addiction to alcohol and opioids. But when a mysterious woman named Mrs. S calls one day and tells Mason she can pay him to do a job, he finds himself drawn in to a journey that takes him first to Connecticut and then through the murky history of Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans. As Mason begins to draw connections between the Ghebelins, a Southern industrial dynasty; the mysterious Mrs. S; and the ways of the occult, he finds himself in increasing danger and eventually crosses paths with one of the most destructive storms in American history. Lohier's debut thriller ranges from the suppression of the Roma in Armenia and France to the destructive toll of the war in Iraq to the failure of the U.S. government to respond to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Mason proves to be a vivid and dynamic protagonist, and the cast of characters he encounters across Europe, the Rust Belt, and the South sets the tone for a nerve-wracking narrative. Though much of the dialogue is clichéd, expository passages can feel overlong, and Mason's struggle with PTSD and substance addiction becomes repetitive, the novel finishes with a riveting final sequence that will keep the reader guessing right up until its heart-wrenching conclusion.

A rich neo-noir thriller that feels as original as it does compelling.

Kirkus Reviews