The Invention of Sound

 

A father searching for his missing daughter is suddenly given hope when a major clue is discovered, but learning the truth could shatter the seemingly perfect image Hollywood is desperate to uphold.

Gates Foster lost his daughter, Lucy, seventeen years ago. He's never stopped searching. Suddenly, a shocking new development provides Foster with his first major lead in over a decade, and he may finally be on the verge of discovering the awful truth.

Meanwhile, Mitzi Ives has carved out a space among the Foley artists creating the immersive sounds giving Hollywood films their authenticity. Using the same secret techniques as her father before her, she's become an industry-leading expert in the sound of violence and horror, creating screams so bone-chilling, they may as well be real.

Soon Foster and Ives find themselves on a collision course that threatens to expose the violence hidden beneath Hollywood's glamorous façade. A grim and disturbing reflection on the commodification of suffering and the dangerous power of art, The Invention of Sound is Chuck Palahniuk at the peak of his literary powers -- his most suspenseful, most daring, and most genre-defying work yet.

My Review

After reading this book and going to check out the other books written by this author, I actually was a bit surprised that this is my first introduction to Mr. Palahniuk. So you could say I popped my "cherry" with this book. What a book too. 

It just goes to show that you don't always need all the gory details. I meant look at Alfred Hitchcock. Point in case...Psycho. The shower scene did not show you the woman being stabbed multiple times but just the image of the blood running down the shower drain was enough to give you chills. Same goes with Mitzi. Just like the descriptions she provided about her "extracurricular activities" was enough to give you some chills. I know because my imagination was going crazy with the images playing in my head. 

Then there is Foster. He may not be the perfect vigilante but he had tons of heart Which made cheering for him easy. I was so engaged in this book that I read it in a matter of hours. Yes, hours! I will tell you that I will not be listening to horror movies the same way again. The Invention of Sound is not to be missed.