The Winner Stands Alone

Paul Coelho has been to the Cannes Film Festival--and apparently didn't like it. Here he creates a psychopathic Russian zillionaire bent on killing random people during the festival in order to get his ex-wife back. How serial murder is to accomplish this is murky, and Coelho is too busy disdainfully telling (not showing) what film and fashion worlds are like, according to him, to make his (too) many characters, jaded celebrities, and hopeful wannabes real. So what suspense one feels as to who will live or die is largely created by Paul Boehmer's sympathetic narration. Boehmer occasionally loses focus in the middle of a sentence, but otherwise earnestly labors to create some recognizable people in this uncomfortable welter of nihilism and celebrity dirt. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

June 29, 2009
Coelho's latest blends spiritual allegory with elements of a thriller and does not lend itself to an easy audio production. Paul Boehmer singlehandedly tackles a cast of characters with a wide spectrum of languages and ethnic identities. The action surrounds 24 fateful hours at the Cannes Film Festival, as Igor kills off members of an elite “superclass” in a sociopathic rage against his ex-wife, Ewa. Boehmer provides a carefully constructed accent and speech pattern to his portrayal of Igor, and delivers an equally impressive turn as Ewa's current spouse, a Middle Eastern fashion mogul. Yet other principal figures in the story—particularly the female characters—do not receive the same attention to vocal detail; consequently, the dialogue exchanges sound uneven. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 9).

April 6, 2009
Spanning 24 hours during the Cannes Film Festival, this scintillating parable about shallowness, greed and celebrity worship from international bestseller Coelho ("The Alchemist") unsparingly examines the Superclass, the elite's elite, whose members' dependence on luxury corrupts. Wealthy Russian businessman Igor Malev, who's obsessed with his ex-wife, Ewa, now married to a fashion designer turned producer, morphs into a serial killer to get Ewa's attention. No one is immune as Igor targets a comely street vendor, an influential movie distributor and a big-name actor. The power plays among the various directors, movie stars, starlets and producers make Igor's antics appear almost banal in comparison. Coelho's trademark mysticism and spiritual messages provide an extra boost to the thriller plot. "(Apr.)" .