DANCING WITH THE DRAGON

Though he doesn’t earn extra points for subtlety, especially in his negative depiction of mainland Chinese, Joe Weber’s Clancy-esque thriller is nevertheless engaging and moderately entertaining. Dick Hill’s no-nonsense reading also gets the job done without fuss or bother, efficiently relating an escalation of tensions between China and the United States after the Chinese develop a super-laser weapon. There’s one caveat about Hill’s otherwise good performance: He still needs to master the art of the stage whisper. When stalwart adventurers Scott Dalton and Jackie Sullivan whisper something so other characters can’t hear them, listeners can’t hear them either! This is especially annoying during drive-time listening. J.P.M. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 02/ JAN 03]