The Painter

Part character study and part psychological thriller, Heller's stunning novel captures a few weeks in the life of a man who is haunted by personal losses and a blind rage he can't control. Narrator Mark Deakins taps into the painter's deepest self, bringing a full range of emotion to his performance in a way that gives listeners room to form their own reactions. Tuning into the rhythm of the prose, Deakins's reading flows no matter the nature of the scene--from a frenzied painting session in the art studio to a contemplative afternoon on a trout stream and from the violence of men to the sweetness of love. His respectful narration enlivens the story yet keeps the spotlight fully on the author's stark prose and vivid descriptions. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 24, 2014
Jim Stegner, celebrated painter, ardent fisherman and homespun philosopher, narrates this masterful novel, in which love (parental and romantic), artistic vision, guilt, grief, and spine-chilling danger propel a suspenseful plot. In one aspect of his personality, Jim is a gentle, introspective man who reads and quotes poetry, feels at one with nature, and has full-hearted empathy with animals. But every now and then, if provocation occurs, rage—“a red blindness”—swells up in him and destroys any restraint. When the novel opens, Jim has already served prison time for beating a man who leered at his teenage daughter. Now his daughter is dead, murdered at age 15, and Jim feels bitter guilt and endless remorse for the girl’s death. After the tragedy, Jim’s wife left him. He has retreated to a little house in a Colorado valley where he is painting with new urgency, beginning an affair with his young model, and conquering his alcohol and gambling addictions. When he comes upon a man brutally beating a horse, however, Jim’s rage rises again. The rest of Heller’s story includes two murders that Jim is involved with, and also a period of artistic flowering, as paintings that portray his psychological state flow from his palette. Heller (The Dog Stars) is equally skillful at describing the creation of a painting as he is at describing the thrilling details of a gunfight. Here, he explores the mysteries of the human heart and creates an indelible portrait of a man searching for peace, while seeking to maintain his humanity in the face of violence and injustice.