THE VENDETTA DEFENSE

In the moment that 80-year-old Anthony Lucia rushes with malice of forethought but without premeditation toward his lifelong enemy, Angelo Coluzzi, his past, present, and future collide. This novel is so top-heavy with stereotypes about Italian-Americans it almost falls on its face, but Barbara Rosenblat rescues the material on every page and delivers a powerful dramatic performance. In addition, her accents are flawless. Her Italian-American voices sound as authentic as if she had grown up in Little Italy. She produces a heartbreaking 3-year-old, whose voice is an echo from war-torn Italy, and the voice she uses to portray a mobster demonstrates a lifetime of drinking, smoking, and tough-guy thinking. Her Irish-American accent is equally good. And Dr. Voresh Patel, the coroner, speaks with the clipped English of an Oxford-trained forensic pathologist. M.D.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2002 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]