KINGDOM COME

This melodrama, reminiscent of MACBETH, sets a dark, murderous mood but never quite lives up to its promise. Oh, there's blood and gore aplenty, and some worthy action sequences, but the characters remain pale and unconvincing. Steven Hoye's reading does little to enhance the overdone plotting. Hoye's voice lacks the menace necessary for believability as Thane Coder is goaded into committing a series of despicable crimes by his deeply disturbed and ambitious wife, Jessica. Hoye sounds too normal to be a man tortured by demons. Listeners familiar with the Shakespearean version will miss the tragic elements that make the Scottish play great. This modernized MACBETH in a corporate setting misses the "sticking place" by a mile. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]