FALLEN ANGEL

Ian Peakes's low-key, low-pitched voice makes for a slow start, but as the story unfolds, his tone reflects the ennui of its main character, Hollywood-hardened Terry McQuinn. Terry has rejected his past as "the caretaker's son" and moved as far from Maine and his father as possible. When his father becomes gravely ill, he returns home. On his father's desk, he finds a message to "Open Serenity for Christmas." Memories of Serenity cottage and its owners, the Halworth family, flood in. He remembers the tragic accident that destroyed the family and the little girl that he cared for and comforted. Don J. Snyder's sweet novel is a romance about falling from grace, blindness, and redemption. Peakes's gentle, unobtrusive style makes it work. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]