PARADISE SALVAGE

Brian Emerson has an odd sort of talent: He narrates with the flat tone of a public service announcer, but when reading lines of dialogue, his voice--and the characters he embodies--comes alive. He tells the story of Nuncio Paradiso, in the summer of his 12th year, when he discovers a body in the trunk of an old Pontiac in his father's junkyard. The story, set in a working-class Connecticut town in 1979, brims with suspense, adventure, and Italian-American culture as Nuncio and his older brother must face incredulous adults, corrupt officials, violence, death, and Italian superstitions. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]