FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM

This is a dazzling tour de force, the second novel and second straight bestseller by the much honored Italian semioticist Umberto Eco. The listener learns an immense amount of history as the author traces the legends of the Knights Templar and tangential movements, such as the Rosicrucians and Masons. The first-person narrator is one of three jaded book editors who elaborate on the Templar legend for their own amusement and end up encountering the dark side of modern-day occultists. Reader Alexander Adams picks up on this tone to perfection; his smooth voice sounds slightly sardonic as he moves effortlessly from accent to accent, from one tongue-twisting name or title to another. D.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 99]