THE BURNING GIRL

Mark Billingham weaves a morbid story of North London gang wars between the Irish Ryan and the Turkish Zarif families, and the horrific aftermath of a decades-old torching. Graeme Malcolm breathes three-dimensional life into the characters by using both syrupy and strident Irish accents, the pure Cockney of internal monologue, and the terrified gibberish of an informant with a hot iron held micrometers above his chest. When DCI Thorne asks his father--"Where would you be if you ordered a stuffed prostitute?"--Malcolm's narration makes the question sound belly-laugh funny, rather than obscene. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 05/ JAN 06]