The Cold Hard Light, Christopher Amenta
The Cold Hard Light, Christopher Amenta
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The Cold Hard Light

Author: Christopher Amenta

Narrator: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Unabridged: 5 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/02/2022

Synopsis

The Cold Hard Light is a spare and bracing literary debut that tells the story of a new father who falls into the grip of obsession.The novel begins when the man who assaulted Andrew Harrison’s sister is released from prison. Benjamin Williams was barely more than a kid when he was sentenced to eleven years, but it is impossible to know what he has become since. Andrew, nicknamed H, is compelled to learn for himself when his uncle Billy hands him a gun and says to go find the man. As H’s interest in Williams grows, he struggles to keep his world in balance. His hockey career has stalled, his girlfriend suffers from postpartum depression that is neither understood nor diagnosed, and the allure of vengeance threatens to erase his moral self.Set in present-day Boston, The Cold Hard Light explores the drama of modern American urban life, where the poor work gig jobs that cater to the rich, where race can be weaponized, guns are treated like toys, and the desire to blame others trumps the need to understand them. These forces and more weigh upon the characters in this crystalline novel, hurtling them toward an irrevocable conclusion.

About Christopher Amenta

Christopher Amenta received his undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his MFA from Boston University, where he has taught creative writing. Christopher is currently at work on his second novel. He lives in Boston with his wife and daughters. 

About Chris Andrew Ciulla

Chris Andrew Ciulla, an Earphones Award–winning narrator with over 350 credits, is an on-screen actor, voice actor, host, boxing analyst, and radio personality. He has performed characters for the popular video game series Fallout and Mafia, and can be heard frequently voicing commercial campaigns. A versatile performer with over twenty-five years of experience, he produces original audio content under his own production banner, Leonardo Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew

A dark tale indeed, this one. A working class man, known to everyone as simply H, learns that the man who raped his sister, then aged 15, has been released from jail. The news is delivered to H by his uncle, a dislikable character who also supplies a gun with his unspoken message that H should do th......more

Goodreads review by Bookworm

I’m sorry to say that this book just didn’t work for me. I think it was the narrative but I found the plot dragged and I had a difficult time staying engaged. For some reason, the M c’s name H bothered me. Who calls a person H? Regardless I was expecting a story with more action but instead found to......more

Goodreads review by Christina

A short book, The Cold Hard Light is a well written, literary novel trying to fit onto the crime fiction shelf. The ending had a decent twist, which was good, but it was a very slow burn getting there and I did find it hard to keep my attention focused on reading. I had to go back and reread paragra......more

Goodreads review by Jo

I was given an arc of this audio book in return for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers. I really enjoyed this novel, it’s fairly short, therefore difficult to do it enough justice in a review without adding spoilers. The narration is absolutely excellent. I’m not convinced I......more

Quotes

“Resonating with a dark, disturbing vision, The Cold Hard Light is an ambitious novel. The story, Andrew Harrison’s psychological struggle, is told with insights and nuances. An impressive accomplishment.” Ha Jin, National Book Award–winning author of Waiting

“Christopher Amenta has done something remarkable with The Cold Hard Light: he’s told a crime story that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve heard it all before; a Boston story that actually feels like Boston, and a revenge thriller that affords the hunter, the hunted, and all the tragedies in between the courtesy of a beating heart. Quite a debut.” Howard Bryant, author of Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston

“The Cold Hard Light is a fascinating, compelling read—a book that will haunt you long after you finish it. Amenta has a subtle, captivating voice that carries the story beautifully. The characters may remind you of Raymond Carver’s half-beaten, working-class survivors, but they’re caught up in a tale that is early George V. Higgins blue-collar noir. The novel’s Boston, and its modern-day service economy that chews up exhausted gofers without a second thought, is the backdrop for a story of trauma, conscience, hard choices, and the hand of fate. Amenta is a writer to watch.” Jack O’Connell, author of Word Made Flesh and The Resurrectionist 

“The Cold Hard Light is a stark, Dostoyevskian tale of obsession and the myriad of ways in which hatred corrupts the soul and, bit by bit, chisels away at our humanity. H is a contemporary American grotesque, a modern-day Raskolnikov, shaped and fueled by bigotry, by his own failings, and the very ‘white’ sense of what he is owed in the world and what he believe others have taken from him. Twisted into a paranoid shell of a man, and, like Raskolnikov, obsessed and subsumed by his own hatred and shame, H ultimately exists within a prison all of his own making.” Thomas O’Malley, author of This Magnificent Desolation

“Gripping and different…It will appeal to readers who appreciate heavy introspection and social commentary. Mr. Amenta’s writing is noteworthy. It is clean, crisp, and subtle. I love a book that leaves me with questions instead of all the answers.” Book Junkie Reviews

Awards

  • Barnes & Noble Favorite Indie Book
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