Audiobooks by Peter Heller

From the acclaimed author of The Last Ranger, a novel about two men-friends since boyhood-who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country wracked by bewildering violence Every year Jess and Storey have made an annual pilgrimage to northern Maine, where they camp, hunt, and hike, leaving much from their long friendship unspoken. Although the state has convulsed all summer with secession mania-a mania that had simultaneously spread across other states-Jess and Storey figure it's a fight reserved for legislators or, worse-case scenario, folks in the capitol. But after two weeks hunting moose off the grid, the men reach a small town and are shocked to find a bridge blown apart, buildings burned to the ground, and bombed-out cars abandoned on the road. Trying to make sense of the sudden destruction all around them, the men set their sights on finding their way home, dragging a wagon across bumpy dirt roads, ransacking boats left in the lakes, and dodging men who are armed-secessionists or military, they cannot tell-as they seek a path to safety. And then, a startling discovery, a child in the cabin of a boat, drastically alters their path and the stakes of their escape. Drenched with the beauty of the natural world, and attuned to the specific cadences of male friendship, even here at the edge of doom, Heller's magisterial new novel is both a blistering warning of a divided country's political strife and an ode to the salvation of our chosen families.

Peter Heller (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Celine

From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter, a luminous, masterful novel of suspense--the story of Celine, an elegant, aristocratic private eye who specializes in reuniting families, trying to make amends for a loss in her own past. Working out of her jewel box of an apartment at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Celine has made a career of tracking down missing persons, and she has a better record at it than the FBI. But when a young woman, Gabriela, asks for her help, a world of mystery and sorrow opens up. Gabriela's father was a photographer who went missing on the border of Montana and Wyoming. He was assumed to have died from a grizzly mauling, but his body was never found. Now, as Celine and her partner head to Yellowstone National Park, investigating a trail gone cold, it becomes clear that they are being followed--that this is a case someone desperately wants to keep closed. Inspired by the life of Heller 's own remarkable mother, a chic and iconoclastic private eye, Celine is a deeply personal novel, a wildly engrossing story of family, privilege, and childhood loss. Combining the exquisite plotting and gorgeous evocation of nature that have become his hallmarks, Peter Heller gives us his finest work to date.

Peter Heller (Author), Kimberly Farr (Narrator)

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Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave

With grit, poetry, and humor, Peter Heller, acclaimed author of The Whale Warriors, recounts his remarkable journey of discovery-of surfing, an entirely new challenge; of the ocean's beauty and power; of the strange surf subculture; of love; and, most of all, of how to seek adventure while crafting a meaningful life. Having resolved to master a big-hollow wave-that is, to go from kook (surfese for beginner) to shredder-in a single year, Heller travels from Southern California down the coast of Mexico in the company of his girlfriend and the eccentric surfers they meet. Exuberant and fearless, Heller explores the technique and science of surfing the secrets of its culture, and the environmental ravages to the stunning coastline he visits. As Heller plumbs the working of his own heart and finds joy in both love and surfing, he affords listeners vivid insight into this fascinating world, with all of its perils and pleasures, its absurdity and wonder. Exhilarating, entertaining, and moving, Kook is a love story between a man and his surfboard, a man and his girlfriend, a not-so-old man and the sea.

Peter Heller (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

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Das Ende der Sterne wie Big Hig sie kannte (ungekürzt)

Eine Liebeserklärung an die Welt, wie sie hätte sein können. Die Welt ist untergegangen, aber Hig hat überlebt. Ebenso sein einziger Nachbar, ein menschenfeindlicher Waffennarr mit dem Herz auf dem rechten Fleck, der ihn - brutal, aber verlässlich - beschützt. Hig lebt im Hangar eines verwilderten Flughafens und tuckert mit einer alten Cessna übers Gelände, sein Hund Jaspar ist sein treuer Copilot. Man schlägt sich halt so durch. Dann empfängt er plötzlich ein Funksignal. Gibt es doch noch Leben, jenseits seines kleinen Flughafens? Hig beginnt eine abenteuerliche Reise, und was er entdeckt, übertrifft seine schlimmsten Ängste - und seine größte Hoffnung.

Peter Heller (Author), Peter Lontzek (Narrator)

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The Painter: A Novel

Peter Heller, the celebrated author of the breakout best seller The Dog Stars, returns with an achingly beautiful, wildly suspenseful second novel about an artist trying to outrun his past. Jim Stegner has seen his share of violence and loss. Years ago he shot a man in a bar. His marriage disintegrated. He grieved the one thing he loved. In the wake of tragedy, Jim, a well-known expressionist painter, abandoned the art scene of Santa Fe to start fresh in the valleys of rural Colorado. Now he spends his days painting and fly-fishing, trying to find a way to live with the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him. He works with a lovely model. His paintings fetch excellent prices. But one afternoon, on a dirt road, Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. Fleeing Colorado, chased by men set on retribution, Jim returns to New Mexico, tormented by his own relentless conscience. A stunning, savage novel of art and violence, love and grief, The Painter is the story of a man who longs to transcend the shadows in his heart, a man intent on using the losses he has suffered to create a meaningful life.

Peter Heller (Author), Mark Deakins (Narrator)

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Das Ende der Sterne wie Big Hig sie kannte

Big Hig gehört zu den Wenigen, die eine verheerende Epidemie überlebt haben. Ebenso wie sein einziger Nachbar, ein menschenfeindlicher Waffennarr mit dem Herz auf dem rechten Fleck, der ihn - brutal, aber verlässlich - beschützt. Hig lebt im Hangar eines verwilderten Flughafens und tuckert mit einer alten Cessna übers Gelände, sein Hund Jasper ist sein treuer Copilot. Eines Tages empfängt er plötzlich ein Funksignal von weit her. Gibt es doch noch weitere Überlebende, jenseits seines kleinen Flughafens? Hig beginnt eine abenteuerliche Reise, und was er entdeckt, übertrifft seine schlimmsten Ängste - und seine größte Hoffnung. Hig liebt die Welt, wie sie einmal war, und wie sie hätte sein können. Und weil er zudem die Poesie liebt, wird sein Bericht aus dem Innersten der Kampfzone zu einem herzzerreißenden, anrührenden Dokument.

Peter Heller (Author), Olaf Pessler (Narrator)

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The Dog Stars

"Leave it to Peter Heller to imagine a postapocalyptic world that contains as much loveliness as it does devastation. His hero, Hig, flies a 1956 Cessna (his dog as copilot) around what was once Colorado, chasing all the same things we chase in these pre-annihilation days: love, friendship, the solace of the natural world, and the chance to perform some small kindness. The Dog Stars is a wholly compelling and deeply engaging debut." - Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss - and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace. Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life - something like his old life - exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return - not enough fuel to get him home - following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face - in the people he meets, and in himself - is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for. Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

Peter Heller (Author), Mark Deakins (Narrator)

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The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals

In the tradition of The Perfect Storm, The Whale Warriors takes us on a hair-raising journey aboard a whale-saving pirate ship with a vigilante crew whose mission is to stop illegal Japanese whaling in the stormy remote seas off Antarctica. For two months, journalist Peter Heller rode aboard the vegan pirate ship Farley Mowat as it stalked its prey—a Japanese whaling fleet—through the storms and ice of Antarctica. The ship is black, flies under a jolly roger, and carries members of the Sea Shepherd Society, a radical environmental group who are willing to die to stop illegal whale hunting. The Sea Shepherd ship, led by the charismatic Captain Paul Watson—a modern-day anti-Ahab—takes extreme risks in defense of whales and ratchets up the stakes. The ship is almost sunk twice, once in a force gale. Heller re-creates a nail-biting showdown when Watson and the crew attempt to ram an enormous Japanese whaling ship on the high seas, trying to tear open its hull with a steel blade called a "can opener." The crews on board both ships know that there will be no assistance in this desolate part of the ocean. In thirty-five-foot seas, it is a deadly game of Antarctic chicken and a fast-paced, rollicking adventure in which the stakes cannot be higher.

Peter Heller (Author), James Boles (Narrator)

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Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River

The Tsangpo Gorge in southeastern Tibet has lured explorers and adventurers since its discovery. Sacred to the Buddhists, the inspiration for Shangri La, the Gorge is as steeped in legend and mystery as any spot on earth. As a river-running challenge, the remote Tsangpo is relentlessly unforgiving, more difficult than any stretch of river ever attempted. Its mysteries have withstood a century's worth of determined efforts to explore its length. The finest expedition paddlers on earth have tried. Several have died. All have failed. Until now. In January 2002, in the heart of the Himalayan winter, a team of seven kayakers launched a meticulously planned assault of the Gorge. The paddlers were river cowboys, superstars in the universe of extreme kayaking who hop from continent to continent ready for the next death-defying pursuit. Accompanying them was author Peter Heller. A world-class kayaker in his own right, Heller has logged countless river miles and several major first descents. He joined the Tsangpo Expedition as a member of the ground support team and official expedition journalist and was also granted the exclusive opportunity to write the book about the descent. Hell or High Water is that book-greatly expanded from his coverage for Outside magazine. Filled with history, white-knuckle drama, and mutiny in one of the world's most storied-and remote-locations, Hell or High Water is as riveting as any of the great epic adventures throughout history. Publication coincides with the release of a documentary about the expedition by National Geographic.

Peter Heller (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

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