BLOOD WORK

Anyone who's read John Douglas's nonfictional works on serial killers can tell that the convenience store murder at the beginning of this thriller is no random act. Why does it take former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb so long to get the picture? Even veteran narrator Dick HIll cannot elevate this histrionic plot. Earnest, yet hard-boiled, he aptly portrays the retired G-man, who is recovering from a heart transplant. However, his pot-smoking driver sounds like a cross between Cheech (or is it Chong?) and Kato Kaelin. And the two female characters--though recognizably Hispanic--sound vulnerable to the point of helplessness, a portrayal at odds with their take-charge professions: a nurse and a cop. E.K.D. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]