SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

The listener approached this thriller with some ambivalence. While Mills usually puts together an entertaining plot, Michael Kramer's voice and style are not the listener's favorites. This time the reverse was true. The story was obtuse and confusing, but Kramer was easy to follow. When a comrade is killed right before his eyes, an out-of-favor FBI agent hunts the killers, as well as several rocket launchers brought into the U.S. by Mid-Eastern terrorists, financed by a Far-Eastern general and Mexican drug money connected to the Mob, and ultimately controlled by--you guessed it--the CIA. You can never tell "who's on first." Mills hasn't missed a cliché, and, despite all this, Kramer moves along briskly in one of his better performances. Maybe he couldn't finish too soon! A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]