The Negotiator

While working a hostage crisis, a Christian FBI agent meets a beautiful police negotiator who is an atheist. While tracking down an airplane bomber, they fall in love, and he converts her to Christ. Tom Stechschulte's expressive and sonorous voice keeps the predictable plot moving, but his characterizations miss the mark. The FBI agent, identified in the text as having a British accent, speaks like a Chicagoan. The negotiator, described as having a mellifluous Southern drawl and a brilliant mind, sounds harsh and uneducated, even after she's "saved." Lesser characters, however, are clear and easily distinguishable, including the non-Christians. Was the narrator as bored with the story as the listener? R.L.L. 2005 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine