Blindfold Game

This tale of terror on the high seas will send shivers up the spine. Narrator Bernadette Dunne juggles accents and genders with style. Riveting passages describing torture will have listeners cringing in horror. Dunne's urgent tone piles on the tension as this adventure plunges into icy waters off Alaska's coast. Listeners should take special note of the scenes between an estranged couple brought together to prevent a terrorist attack. The CIA is well represented, as one might expect, but the heroes of this drama are the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard, who let nothing impede them from carrying out their commitment to keep our shores secure. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

November 28, 2005
Edgar winner Stabenow makes a strong entrance into the world of international thrillers with this fast-paced story. CIA analyst Hugh Rincon and his estranged wife, Sarah Lange, second in command of the Coast Guard cutter Sojourner Truth, must battle disbelieving superiors, North Korean terrorists and an angry Mother Nature as they race to stop a dirty bomb from exploding in an Alaskan city. Beth McDonald gives an earnest performance and provides each of her characters with their own distinct voice. Whether portraying a tough as nails sea captain or a Korean terrorist, she keeps her voice shifts subtle and believable, never falling into caricature. She is especially adept in her reading of the book's seagoing action as Lange and her crew chase down and confront an enemy freighter on a stomach-churning stormy sea. McDonald is helped by Steve Atinsky's fine abridgment. Given the complexity of thrillers, it is true skill to keep the abridgment process from truncating characters and plot to the point of incomprehension. Both Atinsky and McDonald have been able to keep intact the novel's integrity-and thrills. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin's hardcover. (Reviews, Oct. 17).

Stabenow's 9/11 spin-off posits a dirty bomb attack by mercenaries who are headed to Alaska aboard a Russian fishing boat. Alaska-native Stabenow delivers a predictable plot involving married heroes Hugh Rincon, a CIA agent, and Sarah Lange, a Coast Guard commander assigned to patrol the U.S. border in the Bering Sea. Beth McDonald's narration leaves you wondering if the story would be better read by a man since most of the characters are men. Her delivery of some of the male character voices sounds inappropriately arrogant. McDonald also lacks dramatic flair. She doesn't get excited until the final scenes, which, even in the abridged version, is too long to wait. D.J.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine