THE DAKOTA CIPHER

When an author doesn't take himself entirely seriously, the narrator shouldn't try to add false gravity. William Dufris doesn't. He gives his reading a bit of a lilt, almost as if he and main character Ethan Gage are in on a joke. At the same time, though, he doesn't slip into caricature. And no matter how improbable this adventure yarn might be, Dufris carries the reading along in an appropriate tone. The plot overlays historical events and people with the exploits of a fictional American expatriate. In this installment, he heads to the Dakotas on a survey mission for Napoleon while also searching for an ancient Norse relic. The only weakness to Dufris's reading is some of his foreign accents. But that's a small price to pay for a rollicking good time. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2009]