I loved the premise of this book, but the pacing of the plot fell a tiny bit short for me. I really enjoyed that it focused more on the impact of the "hum" and the search for an understanding community, whilst touching on the diversity of the group, as opposed to being a quest to find the source. The characters were strong and you really empathise with Claire's plight and I enjoyed her grappling with the differences between faith and mania.

For me, however, I think the pacing meant that I didn't have enough time to get invested in the dynamics between the support group, particularly Howard's so-called "grooming", which resulted in the showdown between them and the police feeling a bit disjointed. There were some slightly cringe-worthy moments towards the climax of the plot (pun intended), but I found the aftermath and Claire's journey to rebuild her life fascinating too.

A mixed read overall! It was enjoyable but needed a bit more.

The Listeners is the story about a woman named Claire who starts hearing a humming sound and gets drawn into a strange and intoxicating group, almost a cult, as they process The Hum. This novel has a great premise and explores the wider impact of cults and obsessive behaviour on an individual’s loved ones. The most successful part of this book was in the aftermath and Claire struggled to get her life back and move on from events.

For me the book never quite lived up to its premise and I found it was more philosophical than engrossing and thriller esque and the humour didn’t quite land for me either. While the group was interesting in its diverse range of “listeners” showing who can be sucked into that kind of community, I never bought into Claire’s commitment and I didn’t feel like there was enough of Howard’s grooming of the followers to understand why they all became so involved. Even though we were told they became like a family, that kind of bond never rang true.

Overall, interesting themes but not strong enough to be memorable or resonating.

Wow this was incredible! It got me hooked from the very start, and I stayed well past my bedtime reading it compulsively! So original and utterly believable. The characters were spot on, and I was there for the whole of tuning in when it got properly weird. What a fantastic read - I am completely intrigued by what this book with inspired by! 100% recommend!

Going by the blurb, I was fully read for either a great conspiracy plot or maybe some paranormal indulgence! However, Tannahill gives us so much more than that. With amazing writing, a male author gives us a believable and interesting female main character named Claire.

Throughout the book, we see Claire struggle with daily life and end up driven to despair, along with a group of other residents who can also hear the 'hum'.
And now this is where it gets interesting!
Sanity is lost. Faith or mania? Conspiracy theories inevitably get slapped on the table, relationships reach breaking point and is there a cult involved?
Humm maybe? ;)

Overall, a brilliant read that will have you questioning how fiercely we will hold on to what we perceive is reality and the results of those actions.

A compelling examination of conspiracy and truth, and how we often fear those who hold different beliefs to our own. Claire was an intriguing narrator, and a reminder of how easy the lines between rationality and mania can blur in our times.

This would have worked better as a straightforward novel for me, rather than the device of Claire writing her 'true story' account. The pacing was slightly off in places and some of characters in the group weren't fully developed, so I lost track of who was who.

All in all, a thought-provoking read and I look forward to seeing what Tannahill writes next.

I'm sort of on the fence on this one - I loved the premise, and set up at the beginning as Claire goes to bed one evening and hears a low level hum, her disorientation and confusion is well written but then things start to stretch credibilty. Her family's reactions just don't ring true and a developing relationship with a student at the school where she teaches who also hears the sound just feels very unikely as it plays out, as the two reach out with a group of others who hear the hum. here the book really lost me - dialogue doesn't flow and characters in the group merged into one for me they weren't clearly defined and developed as characters. Huge strange plot leaps just seemed contrived and not to flow well - so while I loved the idea it felt like a waste of potential for me I'm afraid.

I was not sure what to expect before I started reading this novel- on the surface, a novel about characters who can hear a constant, low humming noise feels like it could potentially feel like a tense and taut horror film, or could be something mundane.

For me, the book definitely felt like the former, but done so well that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and read it in just over a day.

Claire Devon, the narrator of the book and one of its main characters, starts with almost an apology, recognising that what she is about to say will sound bizarre or may not paint her in the best light, and there is something so immediately charming and unnerving about this confession- we start feeling from the beginning that she is simultaneously the best person to tell this story (as she was there and it all happened to her), but that she may be unreliable, having a reason behind wanting to clear her name and tell her story.

Throughout the book, we watch as Claire, along with a growing number of others, are driven to despair by the sound, in a way that felt very Kafka-esque in its suffocating tightness. She loses sleep, damages relationships, and makes a series of poor decisions that drive her further into the arms of a support group- the titular 'Listeners'.

But this is where the book strikes gold for me. Tannahill could have very easily stopped the story here, or rounded the tale off with a nice happy ending where she no longer hears the sound, or where she learns to live with it. Instead, we get a tense tale of conspiracy theorists, troubled relationships, and a real breakdown in both Claire's sanity, but also her relationships with others and the world around her.

Some of the group feel steadfastly that they want to find an explanation for the sound, others are convinced they have all the answers, and another set of people want to channel this sound as a 'power.' We then get very interesting commentaries on the real world- on conspiracies in the US such as QAnon or anti-vaxxer movements. Tannahill balances this very delicately so it never feels like she is endorsing these viewpoints, but also makes it categorically clear that these are not the same thing as Claire hearing the sound.

As a result, the book deftly sidesteps what could have felt preachy or moralising, and instead feels like a very raw and entertaining examination of a woman who is increasingly isolated from her community, and the new communities she clings to like life-rafts as a result. The book also pulls a clever trick here where we start to distrust Claire as a narrator, but also know that we have no other window into her life- she might feel at one moment as if she is being gaslit, which makes us as readers wonder if we are guilty of doing that to her.

This novel as a result feels very current and of-the-moment, but also is heartwarming and heart-breaking in equal measure, as we watch Claire and her family, try, and fail, to contend with something we can never fully do- know what is going on inside someone else's head.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely fascinating concept of a woman Claire who can one night hear a hum and as days go on it consumes her and takes over her entire life. She meets some like minded people and from there the story develops,
I loved the concept and the way in which it progressed.
Book did take an unexpected turn for me about 2/3 in and I expected the story to go the other way and help find the source/enter more of a conspiracy theory way.
Very interesting the way the dialogue was written too, unusual but liked it.
A fascinating read.

I really loved the premise of this book: Claire Devon, a high school teacher, suddenly starts hearing a low frequency noise one evening. She seems to be the only one who can hear it and her husband Paul and her daughter Ashley think she's just... crazy. She loses her sleep, she loses her concentration, she grows isolated; until she finds out that one of her students, Kyle, can hear 'The Hum' too. Later they find out there are many more people who can hear it and they decide to start meeting regularly.

I liked that the author kept the novel about the group of 'Hummers' and how they fit (or don't) within their community; I liked that finding the source of the noise was not the purpose of the book. Some members of the book wanted to find it, some wanted to eliminate it, some wanted to live with it. Everyone had a different explanation for it and tried to make sense of it. The fall into conspiracy theories was well described and well executed.

Some parts I found poorly written; the dialogues were incredibly irritating, unclear, too long. The first meeting of the group took too much of the book and I found myself speed-reading these long discussions. Towards the end of the book - without revealing what happens - I found myself cringing when the group met.

So it isn't a perfect book, but I found it enjoyable and at times even thought-provoking.

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill tells the story of Teacher Claire Devon who one night notices a constant low hum. Her husband and daughter can't hear it and Claire becomes frustrated that they don't seem to be taking her seriously. as it becomes a constant background to her life and starts to make her ill and anxious. Claire is relieved to find that one of her students also hears the noise and their closeness and beliefs serve to isolate them and make them the topic of speculation. Both are relieved to find that there are other "listeners" and they join the small local group.
From a simple self-help group the motley band come to widely different conclusions and events ,and lives,spiral out of control.
This is a very clever book,Jordan Tannahill shows how a simple belief can morph into something completely different when groups are formed and cool heads are turned by the more reactionary voices ,schisms form , hidden agendas are revealed and paranoia sets in. It also shows how the reactions of those outside of those groups react ,often because they're just "different" and not actually a threat.
The book is about "The Hum",which is a thing that you can Google,but you could swap that for just about any contentious issue and the story would be just as relevant.
An interesting book that is food for thought.