Book of the Dead

Kate Reading draws listeners into this Kay Scarpetta mystery, involving them in the characters' lives. Her voices are distinct and unique--even the bit part of the deaf girl is perfectly rendered. Unfortunately, the story is not typical Scarpetta, though the ever-present details of the postmortems are still fascinating. There are a number of subplots about the recurring characters, as well as the murderer and others. Almost all of the threads are tied up by the end, but the story drags at times with lots of repetition and too much detail about each character. An abridged version might pack more punch. S.S.R. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine