OBSESSION

Joyce Bean's narration is convincing even when the material is a bit of a stretch. She expertly juggles a serpentine series of plot shifts in a way that keeps them from becoming too farfetched. Katherine Lawrence escapes from would-be killers. When she wakes up in a hospital, she doesn't recognize herself in the mirror. Why have her memories disappeared? Enter the local police, and a parade of alphabetical paranoia (FBI, CIA, and NSA). Bean's voice is appropriately panicky as Kathy is tortured and terrified by her attackers, and husky as she is turned on by Dr. Dan, her good-looking neighbor. Bean's villains seem more caricature than character, but her overall performance will please Robards's many devoted fans. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]