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    Tropic of Night
    Tropic of Night
    Tropic of Night
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Tropic of Night

    Written by Michael Gruber

    Narrated by Margaret Whitton

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Jane Doe was a promising anthropologist, an expert on shamanism. Now she's nothing, a shadow living under an assumed identity in Miami with a little girl to protect. Everyone thinks she's dead. Or so Jane hopes.

    Then the killings start, a series of ritualistic murders that terrifies all of Miami. The investigator is Jimmy Paz, a Cuban-American police detective. There are witnesses, but they can recall almost nothing of the events, as though their memory has been erased -- as if a spell has been cast on each of them. Equally bizarre is the string of clues Paz uncovers: a divination charm, exotic drugs found in the bodies of the victims, a century-old report telling of a secret place in the heart of Africa.

    These clues point Paz inexorably toward the fugitive, Jane Doe, and force Jane to realize that the darkness she has fled is hunting her down. By the time her path intersects with Jimmy Paz's, the two will be thrust into a cataclysmic battle with an evil unimaginable to the Western mind.

    Performed by Margaret Whitton.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 4, 2005
    ISBN9780060829193
    Tropic of Night
    Author

    Michael Gruber

    New York Times bestselling author Michael Gruber is the author of five acclaimed novels. He lives in Seattle.

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    Reviews for Tropic of Night

    4/5

    161 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I always wanted to get a Ph.D. In Anthropology. After reading this, I think I’ve earned it.

      This is an excellent book! Very well-written, incredibly well researched, a delight to read and so exciting. The concepts are intriguing and I’ll be thinking about them for a long time.
    • 4/5
      in the middle of this one... i like it but parts of it are creepy so I can't read it at night (LOL!)
      --
      finished this book - didn't like it as much as first Jimmy Paz novel, but very well done nevertheless.
    • 1/5
      My bad streak continues. I even gave it more than my usual 100 pages to decide but the story just never caught my attention. I am starting to wonder if I am just not in the mood to read right now.
    • 5/5
      I am glad to have found this terrific writer and a new series to follow. In this thriller he blends all my favorite obsessions, anthropology, mysticism, spirituality, and sailing into a compelling journey through Africa, Siberia, privileged Long Island, and tropical Miami. I was hooked from the first page.
    • 3/5
      The Tropic of Night starts off with a bang as Jane Doe, an anthropologist, kills a woman and rescues an abused child, who she then raises as her own. The story moves all over the globe from Miami to New York to Africa. She marries a poet and playwright. When she goes with her husband to Nigeria, where he is looking to reconnect with his roots, they visit a tribe of spiritual ritualists where he falls under the influence of a witch and becomes a sorcerer. Fearing for her life, Jane fakes suicide, changes her identity and moves to Miami fearful that her husband will try to find and kill her. Her husband comes to the US trying to spread terror into white America where he murders pregnant women and steals their babies to use in a ritual that will give him unlimited power. She brings together a band of people to fight off her husband.

      I found this to certainly be an interesting novel. It teeters from being a mainstream thriller to being a supernatural horror. Part of the problem was that it didn't always know what it wanted to be. One thing is certain is that it was sufficiently dark for my liking. There were some believability and plot issues that held it back from being a great novel instead of one that was merely good and interesting to read. All in all, it was a mixed bag, but I would still recommend reading it.

      Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
    • 3/5
      A few good passages buried amidst a ton of mumbo-jumbo. I found the style bold but hard to get into, the woman's narrative and the "historical diary" especially. The Paz chapters, traditional third-person, worked much better. Obviously a huge effort went into writing this, but it's competing directly with works like "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Shutter Island", both of which are far more readable.
    • 5/5
      This is a rare treat, a tour de force in which a strong female character, an anthropologist by profession, becomes involved with powerful men in Siberia, the Sahel, and Miami Beach. One of these men has become a serial killer and uses the "old technology" of sorcery to evade capture or detection. Can he be stopped? To find out, readers discover through field- work journals what life is all about for two "primitive tribes" who live off the radar in Siberia and Mali. When you enter their distinctive cultures, you encounter two alternate realities, societies that would cause Western scientists to scoff; yet, they are as real and vibrant to their inhabitants as any other center of human habitation. The characters are well drawn, especially the leads. The heroine immerses herself in sorcery and almost kills herself in the process. She also is quite skilled in the martial arts and has a Ph.D. (which she obtained in a study of the Siberian group). She's married to a leading African-American poet and prose writer, and hails from a centuries-old, wealthy American family from whom she is forced to hide for a number of years. At once a vivid mystery, a tour of places you will never visit, and a meditation on how the "primitive" relates to the contemporary world, this is an unforgettable reading experience and highly recommended. The only comparable title that comes easily to mind is the superb Smilla's Sense of Snow.
    • 4/5
      Excellent, well-done thriller. I loved the backdrop of Africa, the anthropological approach, the damaged heroine, the African sorcery. It was an addictive read, and I plan to read the others.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful debut novel that is as polished as many seasoned writers! Miami is a hot bed for murders, but these latest murders have Jimmy Paz confused and concerned - mutlitated pregnant women and clues that are anything but normal. Jan Doe is an anthropologist that has seen things most people would hardly believe in a book, let alone real life. The two collide in this gripping and fascinating tale about African witchcraft, Santeria and the mixture of Cuban, American and African cultures in one city. I couldn't put this book down. I loved that the author did not talk down to the reader or feel the need to repeat things endlessly. Rather, the story and characters are presented point in time and full bodied. Excellent!
    • 4/5
      Jane Doe was a promising anthropologist, an expert on shamanism. Now she’s nothing, a shadow: after faking her own suicide, she’s living under an assumed identity in Miami with a little girl to protect. Everyone thinks she’s dead. Or so she hopes.

      Then the killings start, a series of ritualistic murders that terrifies all of Miami. The investigator is Jimmy Paz, a Cuban-American police detective. There are witnesses, but they can recall almost nothing of the events, as though their memories have been erased -- as if a spell has been cast on each of them. Equally bizarre is the string of clues Paz uncovers: a divination charm, exotic drugs found in the bodies of the victims, a century-old report telling of a secret place in the heart of Africa.

      These clues point Paz inexorably toward the fugitive, Jane Doe, and force Jane to realize that the darkness she has fled is seeking her out, hunting her down. By the time her path intersects with Jimmy Paz’s, the two will be thrust into a cataclysmic battle between good and an evil unimaginable to the Western mind.
    • 4/5
      Strong plot, unforgettable characters and a wide range of locals blend with diverse anthropological information to make this book a riveting read.
    • 4/5
      Jane Doe used to be an anthropologist and an expert on shamanism and witchcraft. She's hiding under a assumed name as far away from her husband as she can. He did kill her sister.

      Jimmy Paz is a Cuban-American police detective. He lives in neither world, having sex with as many women as he can without giving much of himself.

      They are both faced with the fact that someone is murdering very pregnant women in Miami, she's fairly sure it's her husband but can she fight him? Can he accept that magic isn't just superstition?

      It's the kind of book that you leave wondering about your own relationship with reality and whether or not you want to continue living an ordinary life or if you should follow your dreams. I found it interesting but in some places it lagged a lot.
    • 3/5
      Voodooism, balmy Florida nights, tales of Africa's deepest regions, and one single, driven detective all come together to make this a page turner. Gruber obviously did his research on this novel and brings the reader a deep and broad history of voodoo. His characterizations and plotting drive the story and I found myself up late at night with this one. Well worth the time.