The Never-Open Desert Diner
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Kirby Heyborne
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By:
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James Anderson
About this listen
A singularly compelling debut novel about a desert where people go to escape their pasts and a truck driver who finds himself at risk when he falls in love with a mysterious woman.
Ben Jones lives a quiet, hardscrabble life, working as a trucker on Route 117, a little-traveled road in a remote region of the Utah desert that serves as a haven for fugitives and others looking to hide from the world. For many of the desert's inhabitants, Ben's visits are their only contact with the outside world, and the only landmark worth noting is a once-famous roadside diner that hasn't opened in years.
Ben's routine is turned upside down when he stumbles across a beautiful woman named Claire playing a cello in an abandoned housing development. He can tell that she's fleeing something in her past - a dark secret that pushed her to the end of the Earth - but despite his better judgment he is inexorably drawn to her.
As Ben and Claire fall in love, specters from her past begin to resurface, with serious and life-threatening consequences not only for them both but for others who have made this desert their sanctuary. Dangerous men come looking for her, and as they turn Route 117 upside down in their search, the long-buried secrets of those who've laid claim to this desert come to light, bringing Ben and the other locals into deadly conflict with Claire's pursuers. Ultimately the answers they all seek are connected to the desert's greatest mystery: What really happened all those years ago at the never-open desert diner?
In this unforgettable story of love and loss, Ben learns the enduring truth that some violent crimes renew themselves across generations. At turns funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling, The Never-Open Desert Diner powerfully evokes an unforgettable setting and introduces listeners to a cast of characters who will linger long after the last words.
©2016 James Anderson (P)2016 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By cindy on 03-03-15
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Dangerous Refuge
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Lowell
- Narrated by: Betsy Zajko
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Beautiful, sweet Shay and dark, dangerous Tanner don′t have a lot in common. He′s a suspicious big city cop come home to his family′s ranch and she′s a bleeding heart who works for a group that seeks out ranches to conserve after the owners have passed away. But the suspicious death of Tanner′s uncle at his ranch throws the two opposites together and sparks fly.
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SADLY, IT'S NOT UP TO HER USUAL STANDARDS
- By CAROLYN 🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹 on 04-12-13
By: Elizabeth Lowell
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Hour of the Hunter
- By: J. A. Jance
- Narrated by: Gene Engene
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A brutal, psychopathic murderer is released from prison - and stalks his prey with intent to kill.
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Hour of the Hunter
- By Marion Burke on 03-01-08
By: J. A. Jance
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Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
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Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
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Iron Lake
- Cork O'Connor, Book 1
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Anthony Award-winning author William Kent Krueger crafts this riveting tale about a small Minnesota town’s ex-sheriff who is having trouble retiring his badge. Cork O’Connor loses his job after being blamed for a tragedy on the local Anishinaabe Indian reservation. But he must set aside his personal demons when a young boy goes missing on the same day a judge commits suicide—and no one but O’Connor suspects foul play.
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Great New Series
- By Lia on 06-01-18
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A Killing in the Hills
- A Novel (Bell Elkins, Book 1)
- By: Julia Keller
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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What’s happening in Acker’s Gap, West Virginia? Three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner, and seemingly half the town is there to witness the act. Still, it happened so fast, and no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing poor areas of the country just like Acker’s Gap? Or were Dean Streeter, Shorty McClurg, and Lee Rader targeted somehow?
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A wonderful treat!
- By Joanne on 09-11-12
By: Julia Keller
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The Deep Blue Good-By
- A Travis McGee Novel, Book 1
- By: John D. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.
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Before the A-Team, there was Travis McGee
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-12-16
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Open Season
- A Joe Pickett Novel
- By: C. J. Box
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in.
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Disappointed.
- By Kristina on 02-18-14
By: C. J. Box
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American Rust
- By: Philipp Meyer
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation-as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love-that arise from its loss. From local bars to train yards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.
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A Web of Despair and Desperation
- By Darwin8u on 07-16-12
By: Philipp Meyer
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Practical Demonkeeping
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets.
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I named my cat after the demon Catch
- By colleen on 08-24-11
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Track of the Cat
- By: Nevada Barr
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From the vivid opening vista, high in craggy mountains, to the final haunting glimpse of a moonlit canyon, Nevada Barr's first mystery, Track of the Cat, instantly caught the attention of readers and reviewers. Its popularity gained it both an Agatha and an Anthony Award.
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Guadalupe Mountain Mystery
- By Sara on 10-15-15
By: Nevada Barr
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Bullet in the Brain
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
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The Perfect Example
- By Sarah on 08-01-17
By: Tobias Wolff
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Since We Fell
- A Novel
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel's marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths.
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Wait ....
- By Ann on 05-17-17
By: Dennis Lehane
What listeners say about The Never-Open Desert Diner
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JudyinDisguise
- 06-25-24
I Didn’t Want it to End
Maybe it was because I listened while visiting New Mexico, which is similar in so many ways to the Utah landscape described in this book, but the story completely enchanted me. I liked the main character immensely, and the supporting characters were well-drawn human beings who also won my heart in many ways. The narrator was pitch perfect for this book. I give the entire thing my highest recommendation
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- Sherri
- 04-16-16
The desert drags you in
If, like me you enjoy books where the landscape is a main character, line up for this one. The story of Ben Jones unfolds gradually, the action happening on the long desert highway stealthily takes hold and the narrator is masterful. But it's the desert that holds you in its grip from start to end. It's all about the light. Very satisfying read.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Fay
- 05-14-18
Too Depressing by Half
I'm not quite sure I got sucked into this one, but I was intrigues with the idea of the desert as a character in the book, and I guess it sort of was, but in the end the whole thing was sort of a downer.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Stephen Victor
- 04-28-19
Kudos
My first read of James Anderson, too listening to Kirby Heyborne. Kudos to each. Brilliant story. Good writing. Great reading performance. Thank you. On to Jame Anderson’s next book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- peggy johnston
- 05-24-18
great narrator
loved this story and the narrator was perfect. Much better narrator than LullabyRoad. The story takes you away and when it ends, you will miss it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dane
- 04-13-16
Haunting story
Highly recommend this story. Great characters, well developed. They haunt you well after you finish the book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Alex Hall
- 06-14-24
slow but haunting
this story is very slow and quiet. it is written very well though, it has a very lingering presence for me. it's not boring, it's just quiet. peaceful. I very much like the main character. he is very human. the plot and characters are great.
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- RueRue
- 06-14-16
Don't waste a credit
(3) strikes against this audiobook (1) the narrator / Kirby Heybourne has a flat tone in his reading that drains the energy out of the prose (2) preposterous plot ! Who cares about a million dollar cello ? (3) too many subplots, none of them very compelling (Ben is about to lose the lease on his truck, why is Claire hiding out from her soon-to-be ex-husband ). Honestly, this wasn't very good. I expected more but this didn't deliever.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Regina
- 07-15-18
Broken-hearted hokum
This story seals itself in a vault with no oxygen supply. Everybody's tragic, tragic, tragic. Everybody does the weird thing. We've got manly suffering and sphinx-like women. They suffer too. The writing's good and the narrator does what he can to sell this, but it's tiresome nonsense.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Colin
- 06-05-24
This Book is nothing like what was described
This description makes this seems like some heist adventure of a woman hiding in the desert with a stolen cello. The reality is this book is about a guy driving around in the desert tending to a bunch of meaningless sub-plots that are all every boring and uneventful in their own way. You keep waiting for the "dangerous men" but they never make an appearance. Absolutely NOTHING happens in this book except esoteric conversations with flat characters who never really come to matter. There's really no plot here. The narrator's droning voice only makes it worse.
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