UNDERBOSS

Through extensive interviews with "Sammy the Bull," Maas chronicles Sammy's entry, as a teenager, into the world of the Mafia and traces his rise to "underboss" in the Gambino crime family. Davidson's performance is a mixed bag; as Sammy he's superb at depicting the tough Italian gangster, but in the intervening narrative he continues to read in the same voice so that it isn't immediately clear whether Maas or Sammy is talking. The narration lacks variety in the delivery, as well as the voices, and in a 12-hour book filled with dozens of names, keeping track of all the characters becomes difficult without some differentiation. Occasional mispronounciations of French words, such as "sobriquet" and "sangfroid," are minor irritations. S.S.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]