RIPPER

Edoardo Ballerini gives an impeccable performance of Isabel Allende’s excursion into contemporary crime fiction. Teenager Amanda searches for connections among a series of hideous real-world murders with the help of her grandfather, Blake, and a group of Internet gamers playing a mystery game called Ripper. Ballerini makes individuals of each of Amanda’s fellow online players, including Esmeralda, a boy from New Zealand who’s in a wheelchair, and a boy genius who uses—of course—Sherlock Holmes as his persona. Other intriguing characters include Amanda’s divorced parents—her mother, a shamanistic healer, and her father, a homicide detective—as well as two of her mother’s suitors, wealthy, intense Alan and former Navy SEAL Ryan. As Amanda obsesses over each grisly killing, Ballerini provides first-rate listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2014]