Audio Reviews

Drawing upon his experiences working with the British Secret Service, Cumming returns with another spy thriller that is as thrilling as and more fully realized than previous works. Protagonist Alex Milius has learned a lot since his release from MI6 six years ago and is unable to stay away from the high-stakes game of international intrigue. The talented Simon Vance delivers a scintillating reading; his simple, underplayed English dialect captures the very essence of Milius. There are no frills or manufactured emotions; Vance is so good that he need only relate the prose with honesty and passion and listening becomes a compelling and memorable experience. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 22). (Feb.)

Former Edgar Award–winner Berenson returns with another top-notch spy thriller that is as realistic and unnerving as anything in the genre today. After his fiancée and partner is severely injured in an attack, CIA agent John Wells tours the world in search of revenge. With a cast of international characters, narrator George Guidall has a tough task on his tongue—luckily, he comes through with a rousing performance that captures the dialogue with ease and holds listeners’ attention from start to finish. Guidall’s tone is gritty, dry and speckled with an underlying sense of realism that makes this story all the more frightening. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 15). (Feb.)

Hap and Leonard put in long days of work for little reward. When Hap’s old girlfriend Trudy struts in with a plan to make some serious money, Hap and Leonard cautiously get involved. Just as the money is acquired, Hap and Leonard quickly lose control of the situation. To survive, they need to rely upon each other and use their well-honed fighting skills against a ruthless madman. Phil Gigante’s performance is mesmerizing: he infuses this book with attitude and style, imbuing each character with a rich distinct voice that resonates well with each personality. His narration is crisp and smooth, with a good distribution of tension according to the given scene. His sole weakness is that sometimes his character voices carry over into the narration causing momentary confusion for listeners. A Vintage paperback. (Feb.)

Heinlein’s 1949 novel of a space frontier culture is brought to life with Full Cast Audio’s signature quality of talented voices and an evocative musical score. The colonists live a fragile existence on Mars as they try to survive without offending the native Martians—while satisfying the Corporation’s hunger for profit. But greed throws this delicate balance off, and young Jim and Frank with their Martian friend, Willis, must negotiate their way among the opposing groups in order to keep their families safe and the Martians content. The masterful William Dufris, director and main narrator, pulls listeners into the stories with his deep, smooth voice. The energetic cast provides colorful voices for the quirky characters without overacting. The musical score helps with transitions as well as setting the mood and declaratively ending a scene. A Del Rey paperback. (Feb.)

Orlagh Cassidy narrates this tale of Hong Kong’s ultra-wealthy Chinese and the British and American expats who share their high life until Japanese occupation in the early 1940s. After the war Claire, the American naïf who joins society through her role as a piano teacher, leaves her husband, is abandoned by her lover and settles into a quiet suburb far from the social whirl. Cassidy handles various accents expertly and has a keen sense of irony, but she is unsuited for more emotionally charged settings—the love scenes hardly seem romantic, and the horror, intrigue and collusion of the occupation period should have been recounted with more drama and less aloofness. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 8). (Feb.)

William S. Burroughs’s classic tale has been fully restored by his longtime editors, Grauerholz and Miles, and is invigorated by this enthusiastic reading. Mark Bramhall offers a professional performance peppered with every trick of the actor’s trade to make it a resonating effort. He approaches the work with such energy that the story seems like a new entity, freshly relevant and timely. Listeners will lose themselves in the journey of junkie William Lee as he makes his way from bizarre destination to even more bizarre destination in this unforgettable novel. A Grove paperback. (Feb.)

Four peerless actors render an array of sharply defined black and white characters in the nascent years of the civil rights movement. They each handle a variety of Southern accents with aplomb and draw out the daily humiliation and pain the maids are subject to, as well as their abiding affection for their white charges. The actors handle the narration and dialogue so well that no character is ever stereotyped, the humor is always delightful, and the listener is led through the multilayered stories of maids and mistresses. The novel is a superb intertwining of personal and political history in Jackson, Miss., in the early 1960s, but this reading gives it a deeper and fuller power. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 1). (Feb.)

Elliott’s disjointed narrative recounts the story of the Judeo-Christian tradition’s first family from the creation of Adam to the murder of Abel, with an iconoclastic twist—the events are seen through the eyes of Eve and her daughters. While most of the characters lack depth, the story still manages a compelling interpretation, and the audio production improves upon the original text. With three different narrators performing the roles of Eve and her daughters, the production adds nuanced tones and more distinct personalities. From the somber and saddened Eve to the recalcitrant and scheming Naava and the optimistic and endearing Dara, the narrators enrich these points of view with a range of vocal shifts and cues that move characters beyond Elliott’s superficiality. A Delacorte hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 10). (Feb.)

When three women, friends since their tumultuous youth, find their lives unraveling, they are assisted by a mysterious stranger who arrives in their respective lives at just the right time. But who is he, where did he come from, and what exactly are his intentions? Emily Durante delivers a solid reading that features three separate and well-defined female performances that lend a realistic underpinning to an otherwise otherworldly story. Durante’s only flaw is that as good as the three protagonists are, her renditions of supporting characters are at times clichéd and obvious. A Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 27). (Jan.)

The endlessly and endearingly flawed Det. Shane Scully finds himself in hot water after being charged with felony misconduct in a murder case. He flails until he lands a position with a reject-welcoming police department that may just be the death of him. The only person who can offer him any sign of help is his estranged wife—but will she? As familiar as it all sounds, Scott Brick’s performance transforms the lackluster content into a suspenseful story filled with unforeseen twists and turns. Brick’s characters are all layered and complex even if they weren’t necessarily written that way. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 20). (Jan.)

In this stand-alone thriller set in Denver, Jack and Melissa McGuane stand to lose their adoptive baby daughter to her birth father, a teenage psychopath who never relinquished his paternal rights, and his father, a ruthless, well-connected federal judge. John Bedford Lloyd creates unique voices for every character and fully inhabits the role of narrator Jack, whose naïveté leads him to make appallingly stupid decisions. Lloyd makes Jack believable and sympathetic and prevents listeners from losing patience with his inability to realize just how dangerous his enemies are. The final CD concludes with a 3-minute interview of author C.J. Box. A St. Martin’s/Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 17). (Jan.)

In this sweeping historical novel, a Russian girl from a wealthy Jewish family turns revolutionary and marries a high-level Bolshevik. She embarks on a disastrous affair years later that endangers her two children and twists her from a loyal Communist into yet another of Stalin’s victims. The history and characters are fascinating, but the narration is marred by Anne Flosnik’s flat characterization and implausible Russian accent, which evokes a bad Bela Lugosi imitation. Furthermore, her self-conscious diction prevents listeners from relaxing into the flow of the story. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 15). (Jan.)

Klutzy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum teams up with mysterious Diesel and the monkey left on her doorstep to track down a nerdy genius and his sinister business partner in the depths of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Lorelei King does her usual superlative job for the Evanovich oeuvre, adding juice and dimension to each wacky character. She deftly handles everyone, from bail bond receptionist Connie’s classic New Jersey accent and outrageous sidekick Lula’s brash outbursts to Ranger’s smooth purr (it’s amazing how he, as voiced by King, can make the word “babe” mean so many different things). The structures of Plum novels tend to be similar; it’s the laughs that keep readers coming back. King enhances the humor of this series, so much so that Evanovich fans should consider putting down that book and plugging in the CD player instead. A St. Martin’s Press hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)

Patterson, a former lawyer turned bestselling fiction author, returns with his latest thriller featuring Damon Pierce, a down-and-out lawyer who finds fresh purpose when contacted by a former lover whose husband is being held captive in the West African nation of Luandi. Peter Francis James takes command of the material, offering up realistic African dialects that chillingly convey the hostage’s terror and the ruthlessness of his captors. James’s vocal ability creates a stirring experience that is at once personal and emotional while entertaining and theatrical, making for a truly rousing performance. A Holt hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 20). (Jan.)

Edward Hardwicke (who played Dr. Watson from 1986 to 1994 on various British Sherlock Holmes TV series) has the perfect voice and accent for this outstanding sampling of short, very British detective tales. Naturally, his Watson is pitch-perfect in Doyle’s “The Dying Detective,” but his Holmes is just as skillful. For Edgar Wallace’s J.G. Reeder (“The Green Mamba” and “The Poetical Policeman”), his delivery is unassuming but wry; as Sax Rohmer’s psychic antique dealer Morris Klaw (“The Case of the Tragedies of the Greek Room”), Hardwicke adopts a sharply arrogant style, and his version of C. Day Lewis’s Nigel Strangeways (“The Assassin’s Club”) is unadorned old-school stiff upper lip. His Inspector Morse and assistant Lewis (in Colin Dexter’s “The Burglar”) are satisfactory approximations of the characters’ TV portrayals, though that story and Muriel Spark’s “Chimes” fall a bit short of the “classic” standard set by the others. (Jan.)

Authors Weis and Hickman embark on a dragon series very different from their most famous series, DragonLance, and marked by deeper mythological underpinnings, a more realized world and tighter rendition. New gods have come into existence, beating down the gods of the Vindras. As their rising leader, Skylan Ivorson must reclaim the sacred dragon bones and bring his people together, but only if he can overcome his worst enemy: himself. Stefan Rudnicki has a great baritone voice that, while masculine, is effective with voicing female characters. At times, some character voices are not consistent throughout the reading, which causes confusion, but overall, Rudnicki’s command is remarkable. His tone ably creates the atmosphere for raging battles or intimate encounters. A Tor hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 24). (Jan.)

Crackling dialogue and rich characters distinguish Bazell’s debut thriller. Dr. Peter Brown is living a double life and one of his patients may have uncovered the doctor’s secret. Brown was formerly Pietro Brnwa, a vicious mob hit man who would be “the last person you want to see in your hospital room.” Robert Petkoff delivers a solid performance as both Brown and Brnwa, distinct and well-crafted personalities whose flaws, needs and desires somehow coexist in this mystery. Bazell’s writing is raw and endlessly witty, a combination that isn’t always realistic, but with Petkoff behind the microphone it’s a great ride. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 27). (Jan.)

Barclay’s latest novel about ordinary people in extraordinary peril is filled with complications and coincidences that in a less propulsive thriller would push readers past the boundary of credibility. Christopher Lane adds a needed layer of reality to the yarn, giving each character unique shadow and substance. The novel’s hero is a grass cutter named (oddly enough) Cutter, whose neighbor, a hotshot lawyer, is murdered along with his family. Lane provides Cutter with the voice of an educated, clever guy operating beneath his potential and rounds out the book’s other characters, too—Cutter’s literary wife, his surly teenage son, a smarmy mayor, the arrogant dean of the local university and his Mafia-princess wife, a slow-talking mysterious stranger and assorted thugs and lawn-owners. A Bantam hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 11). (Dec.)

In this newest installment of the Jack Swyteck mysteries, the vice president dies during an alligator hunt in the Everglades, and Jack’s father, the former governor of Florida picked by the president to fill the vacant v-p slot, brings Jack to Washington as his legal counsel. But Washington politics prove deadly, and soon Jack is investigating a mystery that has its roots 40 years in the past. Jonathan Davis brings considerable skill to his reading; with clear articulation and a keen sense of timing, he conveys the book’s suspenseful plotting and nicely balances numerous characters of diverse ethnicities and genders. It is a fine performance that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. A HarperCollins hardcover. (Dec.)

With visionary flare, Pink argues that business and everyday life will soon be dominated by right-brain thinkers. He identifies the roots and implications of transitioning from a society dominated by left-brain thinkers into something entirely different—although at times, he seems to be exhorting rather than observing the trend. As a narrator, Pink delivers in a well executed manner, with occasional hints of enthusiasm. He maintains a steady voice that is well suited for a business-oriented text, and his crisp pronunciation and consistent pace keeps listeners engaged and at ease. Updated with new material. A Riverhead paperback (reviewed online). (Feb.)

The former president’s audio edition of his latest title has an enhanced CD featuring downloadable, helpful maps and relevant historical documents. The maps, in particular, add valuable context and demonstrate the volatile overlapping of cultures and faiths in a relatively small sliver of land. As an added bonus, the package also contains a sample CD from Bringing Peace to a Changing World, the third volume in Carter’s acclaimed Sunday Mornings in Plains Bible study series. Perhaps comparing a straightup audio book adaptation with recordings of Carter in a dynamic and spontaneous teaching environment is unfair, but listeners will notice the stark contrast between Carter’s competent but stilted delivery in We Can Have Peace and the animated and engaging speaking style of Sunday Mornings in Plains. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)

The farcical comedy troupe returns in this hilarious memoir by Johnson, Monty Python expert and former assistant to John Cleese. In recounting days traveling with the gang as a photographer, journalist, peasant and Roman soldier (during the filming of Life of Brian), Johnny Heller’s delivery is so smooth and seamless it sounds as if he were there himself. And the prodigiously gifted Simon Vance is on hand, showcasing his remarkable impressions. The stories come to life and will enlighten even the most diehard of fans while offering newcomers an inside glimpse. Surviving Pythons John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle provide forewords. A Thomas Dunne hardcover. (Jan.)

The Rivers brand of comedy, celebrity gossip, fashion commentary and motivational chutzpa so beloved by her fans is on full display in this guide to elective plastic surgery. As a reader, Rivers embodies the “Can we talk?” accessibility of her standup persona, never missing an opportunity for a colorful pun or punch line. Still, she projects authority when imparting medical advice about cosmetic procedures, particularly the importance of selecting a reputable physician and following protocols for after-care and recovery. Her guide spans wrinkle removals to various aesthetic enhancements to female genitalia. Rivers’s candor offends and endears with equal measure, and her irreverent treatment deserves credit for offering guidance from health professionals. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Jan.)

Stepping out from the shadows of his talented elder brothers, Frank and Malachy, the youngest of the McCourt clan offers his version of his family’s famously miserable childhood in Limerick and subsequent journey to America. McCourt narrates his memoir with a slow, contemplative tone that transcends the limitations of recorded audio as he connects on a deeply personal level with his audience. Though his delivery is slow and straightforward, the melancholy lilt in his voice is Irish throughout, and listeners will appreciate and understand the story all the better because of his reading. A Sterling and Ross hardcover (Review Annex). (Jan.)

Following up his critically acclaimed memoir, Born on a Blue Sky, Tammet offers this insightful analysis of autism that sheds light on the differences between savant and nonsavant minds. Reading with intense focus, actor Daniel Gerroll becomes Tammet while still distancing himself just far enough from the material so as not to downplay Tammet’s experiences. Gerroll reads with a concentrated tone that flows smoothly and effortlessly; he fully understands the material he is presenting both in literal and emotional terms, delivering Tammet’s rich prose with appealing ease. A Free Press hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 27). (Jan.)