The Brave

July 5, 2010
As a student at the Ashlawn Preparatory School in 1959 England, eight-year-old, cowboy-crazy Tommy Bedford, the hero of Evans's latest outdoor soap opera, is teased for being a bed wetter and gets the shock of his young life when he learns that his sister, glamorous "Next Big Thing" actress Diane Reed, is really his mother. Soon afterwards, she and Tommy move to L.A., where Diane falls for TV cowboy Ray Montane, and their tortured relationship leads to a horrifying act of violence that has lifelong repercussions for Tommy. In a parallel, present-day plot, 50-ish Tom, now a writer and documentary filmmaker who specializes in the American West, lives in Montana, is divorced and estranged from his adult son, Danny, who has been accused of committing an atrocity while serving in Iraq, for which he will be tried in a military court. Alternating past and present, Evans expertly juggles his twin narratives until they come shatteringly together as father and son yield to the combined weight of the secrets they hide. Combining elements of the prep school drama, the Hollywood novel, the western, and the war story, Evans (The Horse Whisperer) skillfully mixes genres to create a real crowd-pleaser.

As the story begins, a boy visits his mother, a convicted murderer, in prison. From there, listeners meet him as a younger child who loves Westerns and hates boarding school. Then the story flashes forward to his present-day life in Montana. Who better to tell a twisted story that skips from era to era than Michael Emerson of "Lost"? As a narrator, Emerson is soft-spoken, providing just enough emphasis on those tantalizing clues to keep listeners' attention. He's also good with a wide range of voices, from those of Britain to those of the American West. As with "Lost," the puzzle isn't ultimately that important, but the details of protagonist Tom Bedford's troubled past and present ultimately prove fascinating. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine