November 2008
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
John le Carre is known for his spy thrillers, often intricate
character studies more focused on motives and inner conflicts
than on bombs and chase scenes. In his new novel A MOST
WANTED MAN, the paranoia of the post 9/11 world comes into
play in a story about a boxer named Melik Oktay who takes
in a Russian man claiming to be a Muslim medical student.
Melik and his mother, who are Turkish Muslims living in
Germany, are unaware that Issa is a wanted terrorist whose
mysterious father hides a secret portfolio at a Hamburg
bank. When a representative of Issa attempts to claim this
portfolio, Tommy Brue enters the picture as an investigator
on behalf of a failing British bank. He and an idealistic
civil rights lawyer named Annabelle, together with Issa
himself, get involved in a love triangle, while the spies
of various agencies look to score another bravery medal
in the war on terror. This largely cosy mystery is narrated
by the author, who can't be faulted for his accent, or anything
else, in a believable and understated performance. While
readers of many American thrillers may be bored to tears
by the lack of intense action sequences (a la Ludlum), this
is a more realistic and human approach to the genre. Incidentally,
British humor isn't as focused on bathroom and bedroom activities
as American humor, either. (Simon & Schuster Audio; 6
hours abridged) |
Recall the rash of burglaries perpetrated on Las Vegas casinos
circa 2000? Former Miami Herald columnist John Huddy
spills open the money bags taken from the armored car heists
in detailing how much was taken (and how spent) in STORMING
LAS VEGAS. What is most surprising about this true story
is the audacity of the robbers, who once planned an assault
by stealing a fleet of rental cars in broad daylight, pretending
to be a company carrier exchanging models between lots.
The heists themselves were often carried out in daylight
too, on busy streets with carefully timed and choreographed
maneuvers. Las Vegas was just advertising itself as a family-friendly
vacation destination when Jose Vigoa arrived in town as
a Cuban-born veteran of the Soviet Army. Vigoa and his crew
then hit the MGM, The Desert Inn, Mandalay Bay, and even
the Bellagio, although it was not as glamorous as Oceans
11 (or 12). Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, who
could probably be a gun wielding criminal mastermind himself,
the audiobook delves deeply into Vigoa's background as a
village raiding commando in the Soviet's Afghan war. (Blackstone
Audio; 13 hours unabridged) |
Author Philip K. Dick was an imaginative seer who enjoyed
playing with alternate realities and perceptions. In his
SF novel THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH he explores
the subjective nature of reality. In this future age the
Earth is hot, but escape to the colonies is not a pleasant
alternative, although you could be drafted to go there against
your will, in which case you may want to hire someone to
help you fool the required psych exam (including, for one
enterprising resister, the acquisition of epilepsy). As
in another of Dick's stories, made into the Tom Cruise movie
"Minority Report," pre-cogs exist who can see the future,
or at least the possible derivations. However, here most
are not cops, but "pre-fash" cogs, meaning they can anticipate
what will become fashionable. Enter Palmer Eldritch, who
has returned from deep space with a new designer drug that
he claims can open one's eyes to the ultimate mysteries,
if not immortality itself. Except then we learn that Eldritch
is dead. Or is he? Everything is not spelled out here, even
in Dick's typically muscular prose, all of which gives the
reader a disconcerting yet oddly satisfying sense of the
miraculous. Remember the director's cut ending of "Blade
Runner," (based on another Dick story), where Harrison Ford's
eyes seem to glow in the dark for a second, causing speculation
among viewers as to whether he too was an artificial human?
Sometimes it's good to leave a few question marks lying
around. This new recording of "The Three Stigmata" is by
actor and voiceover talent Tom Weiner, whose delivery embraces
the ethereal nature of the text while evincing yet another
sign (or rather stigmata) that Dick still lives in the imaginations
of readers.(Blackstone Audio; 7 1/2 hours unabridged) |
Dog lovers, your attention please. Here's a new first novel
that Oprah calls a masterpiece. Whether it is or not, one
thing is certain: it's definitely worth reading, or listening
to. Especially since, on audio, it is narrated by actor
Richard Poe, whose appropriateness for the telling is as
evident as it was in Poe's rendition of the masterpiece
"Independence Day" by Richard Ford, or in Will Patton's
reading of "Swan Peak" by James Lee Burke. THE STORY OF
EDGAR SAWTELLE is set in the backwoods of Wisconsin, where
Edgar's family breeds and trains dogs. Edgar, mute from
birth, can communicate with the unique breed of intuitive
dogs, and in particular one named Almondine. When the menacing
Uncle Claude shows up, and Edgar's father dies, Edgar suspects
murder, and goes on the run. What happens next is fateful,
original, yet not unlike the story this is being compared
to: Hamlet. Dogs are actual characters in this novel,
on par with the people who inhabit the story, and in moral
aspects they are clearly superior. Obviously the same cannot
be said of cats, who would probably lick their paws and
look around for the dinner bowl right after you've been
burned alive in the kind of fire that culminates this epic,
by newcomer David Wroblewski. (Recorded Books; 21 hours
unabridged) |
Highbridge Audio has a deal with Penguin to remaster and
repackage some of Stephen King's novels on CD for the first
time, including Four Past Midnight (narrated by
James Woods,
Willem Dafoe,
Tim Sample, and
Ken Howard),
Gerald's Game (narrated by Lindsay Crouse),
Delores Claiborne (narrated by Frances Sternhagen),
Insomnia (narrated by Eli Wallach), and
Needful Things (narrated by King himself). Of
these performances, I like Ken Howard's best. As you may
recall, THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN was one of the four tales
included on Four Past Midnight, one of those stories
whose plot at first seems ridiculous, but of course King
loves to take a nonsensical idea and turn it into terror,
as he did in the story about the "Chattering Teeth." Here
the plot involves a middle aged businessman named Sam Peebles,
who finds himself holder of some overdue books, and must
face a malevolent monster of a librarian. Ken Howard evokes
a kind of breathy and subdued creepiness for the policeman,
which contrasts nicely with the familiar businessman character
represented by Sam. Sam has a memory that will save him,
and the story, from an otherwise inevitable designation
as camp. As in campfire. (Highbridge Audio; 9 hours unabridged) |
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