cover image Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

Ben Mezrich, read by Casey Affleck. Random House Audio, , unabridged, seven CDs, 8.5 hrs., $35 ISBN 978-0-307-75076-1

Thad Roberts is a brilliant, thrill-seeking NASA employee who goes rogue and—along with a few accomplices—makes it his personal mission to break into an impregnable government laboratory and steal a hunk of lunar rock to impress his girlfriend and possibly make a little money on the side. Surprisingly, narrator Casey Affleck offers only a middling performance. His pronunciation of words frequently proves challenging for the listener and his tone is too melancholy for Mezrich’s history of this madcap and thrilling heist. Additionally, Affleck’s narration often registers as mannered and melodramatic. Still, his performance has its finer moments. Affleck is at his best reading the letters written by Thad during his incarceration, which allow him to create and occupy a character. A Doubleday hardcover. (July)