The Altar of Bones

January 24, 2011
This conspiracy thriller from the pseudonymous Carter opens in 1937 with a rousing Siberian prison camp escape, but the present-day action soon turns predictable. After the murder of Katya Orlova, the grandmother of San Francisco lawyer Zoe Dmitroff, a letter written by Katya reaches Zoe informing her that she's now the "Keeper" of an ancient secret involving a Siberian cave known as the Altar of Bones. Many people try to wrest the secret from Zoe, including her own mother, a mysterious business tycoon, and the Russian mob. Ry O'Malley, a hunky tough guy, signs on to protect Zoe, and soon they're on the run. Zoe and Ry prove to be amazingly lucky, to the point that by the time the unsurprising ending rolls around, all suspense has been drained from the action. Readers should be prepared for prose typical of erotic romance fiction (e.g., "He tried to gentle his kiss, but then she tangled her fingers in his hair and sucked on his tongue, pulling it deeper into her mouth, making love with their mouths, sucking, tonguing, and he was lost").

Jim Frangione's crisp baritone adds to the tautness of this conspiracy thriller. He confidently takes the listener through a plot involving a mysterious Siberian cave, the Russian mob, assassination attempts, car chases, and a shadowy business tycoon. Ry O'Malley, a former special-ops officer whose father's past is the gateway to understanding the powers of the cave, undertakes to protect Zoe, who also has involvement with the cave. Frangione's perfectly paced reading suits the action, and he consistently pronounces the names smoothly and uses accents complementary to the characters. Vocal changes are so natural that it's easy to forget that Frangione is the sole narrator. The ending is predictable, but the presentation is wonderful. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2011

The first novel attributed to Carter, the pseudonym of a famous writer, is a potboiler but offers such delirious plot twists and energetic action sequences that it is hard to resist. Carter combines a centuries-old Russian secret; Marilyn Monroe; John F. Kennedy; a ruthless billionaire with his sexy lover and hit person; San Francisco, Paris, and St. Petersburg settings; and lots of men with guns into a rousing entertainment, faltering only with cliched love/sex scenes. The book probably stretches the boundaries of credibility less on audio than on the written page thanks to Jim Frangione's measured reading, a model for other narrators of thrillers. This should appeal to fans of Dan Brown, the late Robert Ludlum, and conspiracy fiction in general. [Carter's "chase and fight scenes are adrenaline-charged, breath-holding sensations. A worthy contribution to this genre," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Gallery: S. & S. hc, LJ 2/1/11; the Pocket pb will publish in November.--Ed.]--Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr., New York

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