STONE KISS

A relative of LAPD Homicide Detective Peter Decker is found murdered in New York, and the man's teenaged niece is missing. In answer to his half-brother's desperate plea, Decker travels East to investigate the crime, only to find hostility at every turn. The novelty of Kellerman's thriller is that her hero is an Orthodox Jew, as are the victims in this case. Still, this is an exasperating and uneven performance. Guidall's Decker is compelling enough, but few of the other characters--cops, hoods, or others--ring true. Worst of all, Guidall fails to imbue any menace at all to the character Chris Donatti, a man described as a dangerous psychopath, to whom Decker turns for help. Also, there is no rationale whatsoever for Julia Gibson's brief narrative appearance three-quarters of the way into the performance. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]