THE QUIET GAME

One's first impression is that veteran narrator Tom Stechschulte gets out of the way and lets Greg Iles's excellent legal thriller speak for itself, but that's not quite true. While Stechschulte avoids overdramatizing the characterizations and plot lines, he nevertheless provides a wonderful selection of voices and personalities nicely in line with the author's intent, as well as consistently makes intelligent choices in the pacing and mood of the scenes as they fly by. This tale of a decades-old Civil Rights murder in Mississippi, and how lawyer-turned-novelist Penn Cage is drawn into investigating it, easily out-Grishams Grisham in the page-turner department and, thanks to Stechschulte's fine work, may wear out one's Walkman, too! J.P.M. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]