In this psychological thriller, ex-cop Zed van Heerden, an irascible alcoholic with a penchant for getting into fights, has been hired to investigate the murder of a South African antiques dealer. The unusual weapon used, an M-16 assault rifle, and a small scrap of paper are the only clues, and van Heerden has only seven days to find the threads and tie them together before time runs out. Saul Reichlin's deep voice has a quiet quality that is easy to listen to. Because of his skill in character voicing, the story, told in flashbacks, is easy to follow. His portrayal of van Heerden is especially well drawn, and other characters also come to life superbly. With its authentic South African accents and impressive range of emotions, Reichlin’s narration makes for an excellent performance.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 13 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books/ Clipper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
American colleges are favorable locales for ghastly event and hair-tearing circumstance. There is, for instance, a good deal of pleasure to be had out of professor and past-prodigy Grady Tripp's awful life, as portrayed by Michael Chabon in WONDER BOYS. There is a certain amount of slapstick here, but it's balanced by Chabon's superb portrait of a gale-force mid-life crisis, a soul-destroying albatross of an unfinished novel and the mind-numbing inconsequence of writers' conferences. David Colacci sounds a little starved for oxygen in his reading, but that's not exactly out of keeping with Grady Tripp's personal gestalt.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Class lurks in varying degrees behind every great English comedy, its ineffable code being so endlessly conducive to ironic subtlety. QUEEN LUCIA, the first of the great Lucia novels of E.F. Benson, is imbued with it. Nonetheless, social striving rather than class per se gives the novel its real comic force. At its center is Lucia, the regnant, self-appointed social and cultural leader of a genteel, middle-class circle. She’s a schemer and poser of awesome theatricality and self-delusion. Although the narrative is conducted in the third person, the characters’ doings, most especially Lucia’s, are as often as not reported in the light in which the perpetrators hope to be viewed. Still, the true facts and motivations, usually base, shine luminously through. Geraldine McEwen’s reading truly enhances the work, being a model of cultivated discretion and ironic pacing.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: ISIS Audio Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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