Are You Listening?

J. P. McEvoy's sixth and final novel, originally published in 1932, satirizes the then-newish medium of radio, one of the earliest novels to do so. Radio provided entertainment and companionship for many, but it also brought crass commercialism, the lowering of high culture, and even police surveillance. It begins as the story of three sisters who come to New York and get involved with men in the radio industry: scenario-writers, announcers, advertisers, directors, and amateur and professional hangers-on. But the light romantic comedy soon turns into a dark police thriller, all conveyed in McEvoy's innovative formatting: radio broadcasts, song snippets, unattributed dialogue, commercials, and police reports. Are You Listening? is the harshest of McEvoy's novels, but it may also be his best.