THE THIRD BROTHER

In flashbacks and flash forwards we follow a young journalist into Bangkok bars as he searches for a story on illicit drugs, all the while remembering his dysfunctional family. This amateurish book with one-dimensional characters and a wafer-thin plot should have stayed in the typewriter. Salvation comes in the form of a gifted narrator who creates personalities to make the characters interesting. Since the author provides scant information about his principals, William Dufris takes charge and creates colorful individuals we can imagine and remember. His dramatic parts range from credible Asian prostitutes stoned on Ecstasy to a New York cab driver speaking Pakistani English. Most listeners will conclude that Dufris's healing intervention has resuscitated this pulp fiction on life support. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]