Tales From Nightscape

Morrell's collection includes three well-conceived but curiously mechanical short stories. "Front Man" tells the story of an aging screenwriter who can't sell a script until he meets a young writer willing to act as a "front man." In "Nothing Will Hurt You," the obsessed father of a murdered child seeks vengeance at any cost, and in "Resurrection," a son finds a cure for his cryogenically preserved father. Stefan Rudnicki reads "Front Man" and "Resurrection" with understanding and subtlety. While Robert Forster's reading of "Nothing Will Hurt You" is intelligent and intense, it's marred by annoying regional pronunciations. Morrell's usually vivid writing is not seen to its best advantage in this collection. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine