COMRADE CHARLIE

The incorrigible British agent Charlie Muffin is back, but no James Bond is he. It's the late 1980s, and the Soviet Union is beginning to crumble. Moscow, intending to beat the U.S. Star Wars program, schemes to gain vital intelligence. Muffin, whose been demoted by his British superiors, inadvertently walks into the thick of things. Hayward Morse has a pleasant voice; he's great when playing a cultured Briton and credible when performing several Russian characters. However, he's miscast as Charlie, who is as far from proper, as you can imagine. Still, Morse's reading and Freemantle's writing bring back memories. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]