The Silent Assassin

A ceremony at the White House to return "trophy skulls" to Vietnam is interrupted by a bomb. The president's body disappears--has he been killed? This is just one of the questions facing Alex Blake, a military pathologist who is restoring the skulls, and whose father was killed in Vietnam. Coleen Marlo's rich voice compels listeners to stay tuned to a quasi-believable plot. The story adapts well to audio--Asian accents and African-American intonations are credible, as well as the dialogue of a hearing-challenged adolescent, an emphysema victim, and a nearly strangled Alex. Marlo confidently portrays Alex's crusty colonel of a boss and glides through tongue-twisting Vietnamese names and places. Several suspenseful scenes culminate in a surprise ending. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 26, 2007
In Andrews's outstanding follow-up to 2006's Sequence,
geneticist Dr. Alexandra Blake, a forensic specialist working for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, finds herself caught in a web of intrigue when she takes on a cache of "Vietnamese trophy skulls"—smuggled into the U.S. by American soldiers 30 years earlier. In addition to cleaning the skulls before their return to Vietnam, Alex helps autopsy a John Doe who was recently killed with a bayonet. Andrews ups the ante with an old letter that Alex discovers in one of the skulls. The note hints at a civilian massacre during the Vietnam War and leads Alex to veteran Michael Carlisle, who served with Alex's late father in Vietnam. Alex becomes the target of a determined murderer, whose connections reach to the highest levels of government. The tight plot moves toward its explosive conclusion when a peaceful White House ceremony to return the skulls to Vietnam erupts into intense violence. Author tour.