Mark Seal has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 34 ratings. The most-rated is Blue Labyrinth.
Blue Labyrinth
Summary
A long-buried family secret resurfaces when one of Aloysius Pendergast's most implacable enemies shows up on his doorstep as a murdered corpse. The mystery has all the hallmarks of the perfect murder, save for an enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased. The gem leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California's desolate Salton Sea, which in turn propels him on a journey of discovery deep into his family's sinister past. But Pendergast learns there is more at work than a ghastly episode of family history: he is soon stalked by a subtle killer bent on vengeance over an ancient transgression. In short order, Pendergast is caught in a wickedly clever plot, which will leave him stricken in mind and body...and may well end with his death.
©2014 Douglas Preston (P)2014 Hachette Audio
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
Summary
A real-life Talented Mr. Ripley, the unbelievable 30-year run of a shape-shifting con man. The story of Clark Rockefeller is a stranger-than-fiction twist on the classic American success story of the self-made man - because Clark Rockefeller was totally made up. The career con man who convincingly passed himself off as Rockefeller was born in a small village in Germany. At 17, obsessed with getting to America, he flew into the country on dubious student visa documents and his journey of deception began. Over the next 30 years, boldly assuming a series of false identities, he moved up the social ladder through exclusive enclaves on both coasts-culminating in a stunning 12-year marriage to a rising star businesswoman with a Harvard MBA who believed she'd wed a Rockefeller. The imposter charmed his way into exclusive clubs and financial institutions-working on Wall Street, showing off an extraordinary art collection - until his marriage ended and he was arrested for kidnapping his daughter, which exposed his past of astounding deceptions as well as a connection to the bizarre disappearance of a California couple in the mid-1980s. The story of The Man in the Rockefeller Suit is a probing and cinematic exploration of an audacious imposer - and a man determined to live the American dream by any means necessary.
©2011 Mark Seal (P)2011 Penguin Audiobooks
The Devil and Harper Lee
Summary
In the 1970s, a mysterious man captivated and terrorized a small Alabama town. He was elegant and handsome, a charismatic pastor and leader in the African American community. But rumors swirled. "Preaching on Sunday," people would say, "killing on Monday." Far away in New York City, one of America’s most beloved writers was about to get caught up in the strange and violent tale of Reverend Willie J. Maxwell. Harper Lee, author of the modern-day classic To Kill a Mockingbird, was searching for her next book when the perfect story came her way: There was a man, the reverend, who had allegedly murdered five of his family members and managed to do it without getting caught. Thanks to the skills of his talented lawyer, he collected sizable amounts of money from insurance policies that named him as the beneficiary. It was said the reverend used voodoo to commit the murders and that his magical powers made him untouchable. And then, at the funeral of his most recent alleged victim - his 16-year-old stepdaughter - someone pointed a pistol at Reverend Maxwell’s head and shot three times. Mesmerized by the string of bloody deaths, Harper Lee returned to her native Alabama. She spent months in Alexander City, getting to know the town and the people, slowly pulling out the threads of this macabre tale. She found a story that only a writer of her caliber could do justice to: a modern Southern Gothic tale of death, fraud, superstition, and race. But apparently she never finished the book. After all that research, all the time spent tracking leads, speaking with crucial sources, and examining records, she dropped the project. Why? Acclaimed investigative reporter Mark Seal, himself an Alabama native, follows the trails of both the reverend and Harper Lee, bringing the lurid tale back to life. He interviews key players, including relatives and other survivors who bore witness to this astonishing true story. One can only wonder how Lee herself would have told it. With The Devil and Harper Lee, Seal has woven together a new and uniquely American mystery.
©2019 Mark Seal (P)2019 Scribd Originals
Raising the Bar
Summary
Gerald D. Hines stands at the top of the international real estate investment and development world. A Purdue graduate with a degree in engineering, Hines may have arrived in Houston in 1948 for a nine-to-five job at a heating and air conditioning company, but before long he was making the deals that would transform Houston’s skyline. Later, with his revolutionary idea that great architecture was good business, he was reshaping the skylines of the world. Today, Hines is a respected global organization with a presence in 20 countries that has developed, redeveloped or acquired more than 1,100 properties. Raising the Bar: The Life and Work of Gerald D. Hines tracks one man’s incredible rise, from building small office/warehouses to manifesting Houston icons like The Galleria, One Shell Plaza, and Pennzoil Place to cultivating the national and then global expansion of his company. It paints the portrait of a man who himself is a study in contradictions: a child of the Depression and a citizen of the world; an engineer who still carries the slide rule that has guided his career yet commissions daring feats of art and architecture; a reserved and humble man in a field known for being brash and aggressive who takes on physical challenges with wild abandon. With enlivening anecdotes and revealing characterizations, Raising the Bar reveals the man behind the premier real estate company in the world like never before. The world’s premier commercial real estate company began more than a half century ago with the vision of one man: Gerald D. Hines. A slide rule-wielding engineer by trade and mild-mannered Midwesterner by temperament, Hines defied expectations by making his mark on oil-boom Houston in a field notorious for boldness and bluster. But bold Hines has proven to be, taking calculated risks and building a respected global empire. Raising the Bar: The Life and Work of Gerald D. Hines tells the story of Hines’ achievements in business and in life, providing rich detail for anyone interested in understanding the stories behind the world’s skylines.
©2016 Mark Seal (P)2020 Greenleaf Book Group