Listen free for 30 days

  • Spoonbenders

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Daryl Gregory
  • Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
  • Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Spoonbenders cover art

Spoonbenders

Written by: Daryl Gregory
Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $29.14

Buy Now for $29.14

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it's not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed but her mind - Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night tragedy leaves the family shattered.

Decades later the Telemachuses are not so amazing. Irene is a single mom whose ear for truth makes it hard to hold down a job, much less hold together a relationship. Frankie's in serious debt to his dad's old mob associates. Buddy has completely withdrawn into himself and inexplicably begun digging a hole in the backyard. To make matters worse, the CIA has come knocking, looking to see if there's any magic left in the Telemachus clan. And there is: Irene's son Matty has just had his first out-of-body experience. But he hasn't told anyone, even though his newfound talent might just be what his family needs to save themselves - if it doesn't tear them apart in the process.

Harnessing the imaginative powers that have made him a master storyteller, Daryl Gregory delivers a stunning, laugh-out-loud new novel about a family of gifted dreamers and the invisible forces that bind us all.

©2017 Daryl Gregory (P)2017 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"Hilarious, heartfelt and brimming with humanity." (Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest)
"Masterful...gracefully balances the outrageous melodrama of Chicago mobsters and shadowy government agencies with the ordinary mysteries of family dynamics.... Readers will emerge from the fray sure they know each Telemachus down to the smudges on their hearts. A skillfully written family drama that employs quirk and magic with grace." ( Kirkus Reviews)
" Spoonbenders is brilliant. With the Telemachus clan, Daryl Gregory has created a family that is part J.D. Salinger and part David Foster Wallace. But the most impressive trick in the novel isn't how they read minds. Gregory's real gift is how he uses them to show the depths of the human heart." (Christopher Farnsworth, author of Killfile and Blood Oath)

What listeners say about Spoonbenders

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

unique and very entertaining!

a way with words and so good with voices! loved it! recommend it. So good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great story but not my style

I finished this book although is not my preferred genre. I enjoyed the flow of the story and the amazing narrator who brought the characters to life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Phenomenal

Great story! Convincing voices, funny and sad and poignant, and the most empathic pre-cog character I’ve ever read. You end up loving the characters for how real they are. This is speculative fiction at its best.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!