ROAD TO NOWHERE

Paul Robertson has written an oddly absorbing novel about the local politics of road construction in a rural Carolina county. The story focuses on the six members of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, all essentially good people who are caught up in a whirlwind of self-interest and genuine evil. Narrator Henry Strozier does an excellent job of bringing each character to life. He has an actor's skill in capturing accents and all manner of vocal nuances without slipping into caricature. He preserves the dignity of his characters even as their follies are revealed. Although murders take place as the road controversy goes on, the story is primarily a novel of a people and a place and the democratic process. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2009]