The Auctioneer
Valancourt 20th Century Classics
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The Auctioneer
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Narrated by:
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Matt Godfrey
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By:
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Joan Samson
About this listen
One of the finest and best-selling horror novels of the 1970s returns at last to chill a new generation.
In the isolated farming community of Harlowe, New Hampshire, where life has changed little over the past several decades, John Moore and his wife, Mim, work the land that has been in his family for generations. But from the moment the charismatic Perly Dinsmore arrives in town and starts soliciting donations for his auctions, things begin slowly and insidiously to change in Harlowe. As the auctioneer carries out his terrible, inscrutable plan, the Moores and their neighbors will find themselves gradually but inexorably stripped of their freedom, their possessions, and perhaps even their lives....
A chilling masterpiece of terror whose sense of creeping menace and dread increases throughout, Joan Samson's The Auctioneer (1975) is a rediscovered classic of 20th-century fiction. With echoes of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Stephen King's Needful Things, Samson's novel returns at last in this long-awaited new edition.
©1975, 2018 Joan Samson (P)2018 Valancourt Books, LLCWhat listeners say about The Auctioneer
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lady Stark
- 15-06-2023
Hmmm
A small town in New England gets a new resident. He started a community supplied auction. However, the auctions happen to go on and on until the residents have nothing left to donate. When they start to refuse, accidents start to happen.
Reading the synopsis of The Auctioneer it reminded me a bit of Stephen King’s Needful Things. Lo and behold, allegedly King fashioned his shopkeeper in Needful Things to The Auctioneer! How great is that?
The Auctioneer by Joan Samson had the air of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath. Not the story, but the style of writing. The author made sure the readers felt unease, slow-building but relentlessness until you feel as helpless as the characters. It was a continuous escalation of dread throughout the book until the end. She also left the readers to their imagination with some of the parts in book which I think made it feel more sinister. She set the scene and let the readers do the imaging. It’s bloody brilliant!
In my nothing opinion, I felt The Auctioneer was an allegory to what the colonisers of North America did to the native inhabitants of that land. That’s why while reading the book it was quite bittersweet for me because all I could think of was, that is exactly what the American aboriginal people must have felt instead of sympathising with the victims in the book.
This book was originally published in the 70’s. It was a hit but then the hubbub died down together with the author Joan Samson due to brain cancer. It’s sad because she has great writing prowess just based on what she came up with. I reckon she could have been one of the greats.
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