THE TYRANT'S NOVEL

Alan Sheriff is a novelist in an oil-rich and UN-sanctioned country. As one of the country's elite, he is above the oppression of most citizens--that is, until the nation's despot demands that he ghostwrite a favorable social novel in only one month. Failure to satisfy the tyrant will surely result in the author's death. Although the setting is an unnamed country and the characters' names are anglicized, there is no doubt that Keneally has created an allegory of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The intensity of this intelligent fiction is presented well by Paul English, whose Australian accent obscures the characters' nationality and supports Keneally's focus on moral corruption. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 04]