Preview
  • Down City

  • A Daughter's Story of Love, Memory, and Murder
  • By: Leah Carroll
  • Narrated by: Leah Carroll
  • Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (54 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Down City

By: Leah Carroll
Narrated by: Leah Carroll
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.81

Buy for $14.81

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Like James Ellroy's My Dark Places, Down City is a gripping narrative built of memory and reportage, and Leah Carroll's portrait of Rhode Island is sure to take a place next Mary Karr's portrayal of her childhood in East Texas and David Simon's gritty Baltimore.

Leah Carroll's mother, a gifted amateur photographer, was murdered by two drug dealers with Mafia connections when Leah was four years old. Her father, a charming alcoholic who hurtled between depression and mania, was dead by the time she was 18. Why did her mother have to die? Why did the man who killed her receive such a light sentence? What darkness did Leah inherit from her parents?

Leah was left to put together her own future, and now in her memoir she explores the mystery of her parents' lives through interviews and police records. Down City is a raw, wrenching memoir of a broken family and an indelible portrait of Rhode Island - a tiny state where the ghosts of Mafia kingpins live alongside the feisty, stubborn people working hard just to get by. Heartbreaking and mesmerizing, it's the story of a resilient young woman's determination to discover the truth about a mother she never knew and the deeply troubled father who raised her - a man who was, Leah writes, "both my greatest champion and biggest obstacle".

©2017 Leah Carroll (P)2017 Hachette Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Quick and clear as glass, evocative and engaging, Down City is a story of a daughter's moving search for the truth about the parents whose dark complexities have left a mystery at the center of her existence." (George Hodgman, author of Bettyville)
"Leah Carroll's Rhode Island is seedy, charismatic, broke-down, and irresistible: so much like the characters in her gripping heartbreak of a memoir. Only a writer as brave in her heart as she is on the page could make us love the ghosts she chases through police reports, memory, and the desolate landmarks of her own tragedy. Leah Carroll is that writer, proving that no matter who haunts you or for how long, only forgiveness can set you free." (Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me)
"Carroll's understated prose complements this daunting material, and her struggles as an unhappy, rebellious teen seem almost idyllic in contrast to the dysfunction and tragedy that shadow her...Carroll's determined grappling with the burden of her past is honestly and skillfully done." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Down City

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing story of murder, growth, loss, and love

I cannot recommend this book more highly. I laughed, I cried, I contemplated why I didn’t call my parents more often. Read/listen to it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great sad book.

This was a quick read and a very well written sad book that I highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Such a connection for me ...

Enjoyed this book as I lived through this time in RI. Great narration Leah! Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exceptional

Honest and interesting. Beautiful voice to listen to. A young women that we can some how relate to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!