FLESH AND BLOOD

Frank Elder, retired from the Nottinghamshire Major Crime Unit, has retreated to remote Cornwall. No matter how far he's run or how escapist his reading, terrible dreams continue to haunt him. When a rapist-murderer he helped put in prison is released on parole and another teenaged girl disappears, Elder returns as a consultant on the case. Narrator Gordon Griffin develops Elder's character with subtlety and grace, particularly the bewildering relationship shared with his own 16-year-old daughter. Griffin is stunning when portraying Elder's confusion with the ex-wife who betrayed him, and he handles each of the fully developed secondary characters with finesse. John Harvey, winner of the Sherlock Award, offers a dark, unsentimental, and expertly crafted story that reveals the inner lives of authority figures, criminals, and victims alike. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]