Wolf at the Table

By: Adam Rapp

Narrated by: Paul Sparks

The Corrections meets We Need to Talk About Kevin in this harrowing multigenerational saga about a family harboring a serial killer in their midst, from the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award finalist playwright Adam Rapp.

As late summer 1951 descends on Elmira, New York, Myra Larkin, thirteen, the oldest child of a large Catholic family, meets a young man she believes to be Mickey Mantle. He chats her up at a local diner and gives her a ride home. The matter consumes her until later that night, when a triple homicide occurs just down the street, opening a specter of violence that will haunt the Larkins for half a century.

As the siblings leave home and fan across the country, each pursues a shard of the American dream. Myra serves as a prison nurse while raising her son, Ronan. Her middle sisters, Lexy and Fiona, find themselves on opposite sides of class and power. Alec, once an altar boy, is banished from the house and drifts into oblivion. As he becomes an increasingly alienated loner, his mother begins to receive postcards full of ominous portent. What they reveal, and what they require, will shatter a family and lead to devastating reckoning.

Through one family’s pursuit of the American dream, Wolf at the Table explores our consistent proximity to violence and its effects over time. Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp writes with gorgeous acuity, cutting to the heart of each character as he reveals the devastating reality beneath the veneer of good society.

©2024 Adam Rapp (P)2024 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

“Wolf at the Table is a masterful novel—strange and affecting, and immersive reading. Adam Rapp peers into the dark heart of America with shrewd and eerie grace, the likes of which I have not encountered since Kosiński.”—Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Independence Day and Canada

What is the problem with the audio?

A dark, compelling story that sucks you in, only to have that concentration broken when the audio changes. Usually it sounds like lines that were dropped in to correct an incorrect read. But the drop-ins were clearly recorded at a different time, because the drop-in voice is hoarse and sometimes at a different volume, it almost sounds like a different narrator altogether. This should not be the case, and the author, not to mention listeners, should be annoyed that no one took greater care to make this sound perfect.

A great story

Beautifully written with astounding character development. I found myself listening at any free moment to continue to unwrap the story. This book is likely not for everyone but captured my attention from the beginning and hooked me through the end. Highly recommend.

No joy in Mudville

Wolf at the Door reminded me yet again of the annoying attributes of literary fiction. All the well crafted similies and and metaphors could not mask the fact that this was a morose, hopeless tale. There are no real, lasting moments of joy in the entire novel, not even one ounce of balance or humor to flesh out these two dimensional characters. I kept reading in hopes of some kind of twist or revelation. Nope. To sum up, it was a depressing piece of “well crafted” literature that i could have just as well missed.

Interesting Story on Family and Mental Disorders

Deep detailed character development made you genuinely interested in all the characters but sometimes narrator’s voice level changes which was a little distracting listening to the recording

Dark as pitch

Hard for me to understand the purpose of this novel. There is enough plot development to maintain the reader’s interest to the end, but the characters are shallow, the theme is disjointed, and the research flawed. Many reviewers have commented on the amateurish audio editing, which I also found distracting, but not a deal breaker.

Gripping

From the very first paragraph you can feel the simmering undercurrent of something sinister. This book is dark and grim but utterly compelling. A bit long in certain parts but Rapp writes a full bodied story brimming with complex characters.

extraordinary writing.

Deeply disturbing but worth the gut punch to experience this gifted writer and his creative attention to every sentence.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

This book is brilliantly written. While very dark, the story of the Larkin family is riveting. The only problem is the sound editing of this Audible. The narrator is fantastic, but it is poorly edited. There are sudden changes in tone, volume, and cadence. Thankfully, the story and Paul Sparks’ (narrator) voice kept me engaged.

One of the best books I’ve read in awhile. What’s up with the audio?

Gripping story that, while pretty dark, kept me very interested. I couldn’t put it down and finished in a few days around a business trip. The only thing that was disappointing was the audio, specifically the editing. There were tons of cut ins that sounded like the narrator was sick or something when they edited parts, and it was very distracting. Otherwise, great book!

Very disturbing story, but for some reason I enjoyed this book.

The story itself is quite disturbing. However, I liked the scattering of truth in the book.