AMAZONIA

A man loses an arm, then himself, in the Amazon rain forest, reappearing years later with his arm grown back, but dying before he reveals the fate of the other members of his expedition or the secret of his limb's regeneration. Two diverse expeditions set off into the jungle to solve the mystery. The good guy team includes a spy for the bad guy team, led by an unscrupulous French adventurer and his Indian mistress, who has some skill in native magic, which she uses to satisfy her sadistic sexual cravings. Incident piles upon incident, crisis upon crisis, complication upon complication, narrow escape after improbable narrow escape. George Guidall makes the most out of the derring-do, squeezes whatever he can out of the thin characterizations, and neatly disguises the unintentional silliness. This nonstop adventure tale with sci-fi elements is much improved by his reading. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]