Hear the Dead - by Ann Dávila Cardinal (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Full of twists and turns with just the right hint of the supernatural...a rollicking ride into the heyday of the New York City punk scene." -- Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and Stay Buried

From award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes an edgy, genre-bending thriller following a retired photographer who begins to hear the murders of women she knew in her punk youth, forcing her to reckon with the past she's desperate to forget.

One woman. A string of unsolved murders. Only she can hear the victims.

For more than forty years, Elena Altieri has been hiding from the tragedies of her New York City punk rock youth. Tragedies that left her best friend, Sin, dead, and other women in their orbit missing. Now, the past is catching up with her in more ways than one. Not only is she hearing strange noises under the hum of her tinnitus, but the photographs she took of a recently deceased musician are going viral, thrusting her back into a world she hoped would remain locked away forever.

When Elena begins to hear the screams of a woman ringing in her ears, she becomes convinced that she's somehow hearing Sin's murder. Desperate for answers, she has no choice but to revisit her past, and what she'll uncover will not only force her to reckon with her own fractured memories, but might prove that Sin, and other innocent women from their youth, were the victims of an unspeakable crime that only she can solve.

Old punks never die, and Elena's going to prove that.

Edgy, mysterious, and full of heart, Hear the Dead is at once an inventive and biting story following one aging woman desperate to solve crimes from her past, and a thought-provoking meditation on friendship, justice, and what it means to remember who we are.

Review Quotes

"An aging punk rock photographer is drawn back into the spotlight and the past in Cardinal's atmospheric new thriller...An immersive story with a root-worthy protagonist." -- Library Journal

"Reading Hear the Dead is like holding a lit cherry bomb. A flat-out blast of a mystery with thriller beats and a gorgeous beating heart. I freaking love Elena Altieri. I'm besotted with her punk wisdom--what she's found and what she's lost unraveling this most dangerous and curious riddle. " -- Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of the Sister Holiday Mysteries

"Hear the Dead is a brilliant blend of punk history, murder mystery, and the supernatural. I never realized how much I wanted to read a book like this before." -- Johnny Compton, author of The Spite House and Dead First

"Hear the Dead is a thrilling, fun-filled mystery with a punk rock beat that throbs its way through plot and prose all the way toward its climax. Fueled by auditory hallucinations only she can hear, aging rocker Elena Altieri is forced to confront the past she fled as she goes on the hunt for her best friend's killer, a pursuit that may be larger in scope and more deadly than she ever imagined." -- Jonathan Santlofer, author of The Last Mona Lisa

"Hear The Dead is a haunted, gripping and emotional thriller you'll devour in one sitting as Elena exposes the evil secrets of last century's punk-rock scene to finally find justice for her wrongly maligned friend. Impressively unique. Will make you nostalgic for the days of sex, drugs and relentless shredding" -- Sarah Strohmeyer, bestselling author of Do I Know You? and Worst. Wife. Ever.

"I loved this book! Hear the Dead is a wild ride through punk's New York heyday, as remembered by an aging photographer who's losing her hearing at the same time as she's gained the ability to listen to the calls for help from her long-dead friends. Pulled back into the world she left behind, the 60-something Lens is finally able to face her past and seek justice for the women the world would just as soon forget. Pulsing with tension and alive with authenticity, I couldn't put it down." -- Stacie Grey, author of She Left

"Hear the Dead is a heartfelt headbanger. Ann Davila Cardinal rocks!" -- Richie Narvaez, author of Noiryorican

"Full of twists and turns with just the right hint of the supernatural, Hear the Dead will leave you reeling as the past and present collide on the page. Ann Dávila Cardinal takes us on a rollicking ride into the heyday of the New York City punk scene, and shows us that an older woman shouldn't be overlooked or underestimated, but seen for what she truly is: a force to be reckoned with." -- Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and Stay Buried

"Clever and beautifully written!" -- Helene Tursten, author of An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good