The Ferryman

A Novel

By: Justin Cronin

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Suzanne Elise Freeman

Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.”—STEPHEN KING

From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia—where the truth isn't what it seems.

A POLYGON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity—or whatever remains of it.

Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing—but for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew.

Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, whose job it is to enforce the retirement process when necessary. He never questions his work, until the day he receives a cryptic message:

“The world is not the world.”

These simple words unlock something he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams of the stars and the sea. They give him the unshakable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important.

Something no one could possibly imagine, something that could change the fate of humanity itself.

©2023 Justin Cronin (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A feat of addictive storytelling.”—The Wall Street Journal

“The Ferryman is next to impossible to put down once you’ve read the first few pages. Exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying, this is a book to get lost in.”—Stephen King

“A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a roller coaster’s worth of twists and turns—so powerful and thrilling!”—Andy Weir

Wow

Anytime I’m in one or Justin Cronon’s books I can’t stop listening. Great story and great performance by the performers.

Often Annoying

The story itself is interesting - the way people can and will behave badly. The narration almost forced me to abandon ship as both the male and the female readers start at a fever pitch and have no where to go but practical hysteria when things get dramatic. Not sure how anyone thought that was a good idea. Did not make for a good listening experience.

Excellent Change of Form From The Passage

Just because you loved The Passage, doesn’t mean this book is for you. If you love great books, though, you’ll love this one.

Gone is the action and unrelenting pace of The Passage. Instead Cronin takes his readers into a new and completely different sci-fi tale that is full of heady ideas and rich philosophy. The Ferryman is a slower simmer than The Passage trilogy. Cronin takes his time to develop the characters in a way that can leave you out of breath when the inevitable twists come. The book is mostly told from the narrative perspective of Proctor Bennett, and his confusion when he realizes his own assumptions about his life may be incorrect are your confusions too.

Cronin drops enough breadcrumbs throughout the tale that you never feel cheated by the twists and turns of the story, but not so many that you can always anticipate what’s coming next. This book is masterfully written by someone who is proving to be a compelling storyteller and world builder.

Part mystery, part sci-fi, part philosophy, this is a book that will leave you thinking and wishing for more when the story ends. The narrators are compelling and it’s one of the few audiobooks I had trouble hitting pause on. This is also one of the few books, like The Martian, that I will likely read more than once.

Don’t miss this surprising gem!

A little bit too much in just about every way

I found this book to be a little bit too complex for its own good. The character development and world building are a little bit too much and the emotional range of the characters are a bit to dramatic.

The twists and surprises were a little bit too much for me and it feels like 3 stories mashed into one, which it really kind of is.

The narrator, whom I have liked on other books in the past, was way too strong in this one. He over stressed every emotion to a point where it made me weary. Every sentence was delivered with full-blown emotional pronunciation and often in places where it wasn't necessary.

The story is too long and there are too many stories going on within the same novel.

I really wanted to like this novel but, I found myself wamting it to end sooner rather than later. it's an decent book for all of its flaws and I do like the concept but, as is his style, he has more fun working on the world building and complex characters than he does telling a concise and interesting story.

With some changes, this could have been a great novel.

Overall a great story

Decent story. I thought his Passages trilogy was better but this was a nice listen. I could have done without the climate crap but that’s just me.

Good overall

It was an interesting read, but went a little long in some places. Good ending

Very long but overall nice story

The reader was a bit overly dramatic and story somewhat too long but I liked story

SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!!!!1

Such a great story told so well! The narrators were dynamite! Justin Cronin is such a great writer and what an imagination. I've listened to The Passage trilogy several times and I plan to listen to this one again and again. Several well-planned twists and many story lines that felt rooted in real life.... great book! I just hope that if it gets optioned for development on the screen, they do a better job than they did with the Passage adaptation. I really enjoyed Sott Brick and Suzanne Elise Freeman, they took the story over the top.

Cronin Deserves More Publicity; INCREDIBLE BOOK!

I'm a huge Justin Cronin fan and "The Passage" Trilogy happens to be my favorite trilogy/series OF. ALL. TIME. So, it is no surprise that I loved his standalone follow-up. Now, this book is completely different than the trilogy. I found that, because there were less characters covered, there was a lot less exposition that sometimes takes you out of the story. The Passage just happened to be so good that I could successfully get through all the explaining without losing interest. THE FERRYMAN is a completely different book with its accurate social commentary, believable characterization, and more! It's strange and, ultimately, very surprising.

I usually write a synopsis, but you can just look at the publisher's version. I don't want to accidentally give anything away. My main point that I want to get across is that Cronin, who Stephen King is a huge fan of, gets ZERO press outside the literary world and he deserves more press! I'd shout it from the rooftop if that would make a difference ;-)

Enter the strange world/island of Prospera where class inequality is completely obvious. Follow amazing characters like Proctor and all the elites and then the support staff's incredible fight for equality. Rebirth, anti-religion*, class inequality, and more make it so THE FERRYMAN will remain one of my favorites for the year! Plus, my physical copy of the book was personalized by Cronin himself, who is such an awesome, down to Earth writer who actually cares about his fans!

As far as the narration, Scott Brick (main narrator of THE PASSAGE Trilogy) who was PERFECT once again joined by Suzanne Elise Freeman. I'd never heard of her, but she was amazing as well. It's a performance that I will remember from now on: these two narrators will always stick out to me.

In my personal rating system, the book will receive a solid A from me and the narration gets an A+! Although this is a COMPLETELY different venture from his other books, I would recommend it to anyone who cares for good literature and doesn't overdo it with extremist social views that dominate the nonfiction and fiction world we currently live in!

*The BOOK is not anti-religion. That just happens to be one of the themes within it, so, as a religious person myself, I will say that most religious people can enjoy this one without being offended by the thematic elements used by Cronin.

not his best work over voice acted

first off you really dont understand where your at in the world till the end. There are to many side stories going on all at once. For example one main character the leads wife could and should of had a bigger more detailed role. The voice acting come off kind of dry and over delivered . To discribe this story the rich elites live a perfect life living , nearly several 100 years while the peons live as servants. just imagine the truman show but more than one person is special.