Step on a Crack

Narrators John Slattery and Reg Rogers perform this unusual combination of thriller and family drama--complete with musical breaks and sound effects. Rogers captures the menacing nature of Jack, an intimidating killer who engineers a kidnapping at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Slattery assumes the character of NYPD Senior Homicide Detective and Hostage Negotiator Michael Bennett, matching mood to voice as the plot intensifies. When the story makes its frequent switches from the cathedral drama to Bennett's dying wife, the mood abruptly changes. Although each narrator embraces his role with authenticity, the odd combination of cold-blooded murder and family scenes, with youngsters' happy voices at the breakfast table, didn't work for me. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

January 22, 2007
Pop a bowl of popcorn, settle into a comfy chair and you might finish this combination thriller and tearjerker before the popcorn. Bestseller Patterson (Cross
) and Ledwidge (The Narrowback
) spin a fantastic tale of an audacious mass kidnapping and the unlikely detective thrust into the primary role of negotiator, sleuth and hero. Michael Bennett, a senior NYPD homicide detective, has a wife dying of cancer and 10 adopted children of various ethnic origins. When St. Patrick's Cathedral, site of the celebrity-packed funeral of a former first lady, is seized by a dozen ruthless men, Bennett ends up as point man for the hastily assembled negotiating team. From then on, the tale requires the reader to go with the flow as Bennett alternates visits to his wife's hospital bedside, brief trips to check on how his kids are managing and tense dealings with the well-prepared kidnappers. Short on credibility on the crime front, long on sentimentality on the home front, this book would be a good candidate for adaptation as a one-hour TV movie.

A mass kidnapping at St. Patrick's Cathedral nets many of the world's celebrities gathered for the funeral of a former first lady. Mike Bennett, NYPD detective, father of 10 adopted children whose wife is dying of cancer, must put aside his personal woes and outsmart the well-organized criminals. In these post-9/11 days, Ledwidge and Patterson's scenario seems all too credible. Narrators John Slattery and Reg Rogers create thoroughly believable hostages and hostage-takers, and are especially effective voicing the beleaguered cop, hijacker "Jack," and the reptilian villain, "The Neat Man." Occasional music and sound effects don't add much, but short, intense chapters make it impossible to stop listening to this well-crafted story. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine