Clive Chafer delivers his usual excellent performance in the thirteenth installment of Cotterill's addictive detective series featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun. It's a subtle, amusing, unhurried performance of a subtle, amusing, unhurried series set in Communist Laos in the 1970s and '80s. This one starts with Dr. Siri and a friend rowing across the Mekong River with a contraband movie camera. Then there's the fresh skeleton discovered beneath the one working street light in Vientiane's central square. Plus, an evil black market. So much to do for Siri, policeman Phosy, and other assorted compatriots, including a couple who have Down syndrome. All are portrayed with understated yet distinct characterization--including Siri's testy personal demon. For this is Laos, after all.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2018
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501999529
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ayla, one of the "others," is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal cave people. She struggles to conform to their ways, but her advanced human traits overwhelm and threaten their primitive culture in this initial installment of an immensely popular series. Although the story might benefit from abridgment, Rowena Cooper easily carries out the formidable task of enlivening the mostly silent and stereotypical characters with consistent, diverse personalities and human dimension. Through skillful phrasing and inflection, she maintains the reader's interest and suspense, especially with Ayla and her plight, throughout this rambling and imaginative story.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This lyrical, sensual novel of woman's lot in Manchu, China, is as well researched as it is well written. Authentic in tone, it's nonetheless written for Westerners by a Western expert on China. Moreover, Susan Clark performs the demanding text superbly, with only occasional signs of fatigue. For the most part she not only sustains the quaint diction and Asian atmosphere, but also, creates whole worlds with her voice. She acts the book, rather than reads it, and, in so doing, turns a pretty trifle into a stupendous beauty.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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