THE INFORMANT

It's hard to believe that corporate America can behave with such wanton indifference to the law. Such is the case with this nonfiction account of the Archer Daniels Midland price-fixing scandal of the mid-1990s. Narrator George Wilson leads us through the byzantine world of corporate malfeasance as if reading from a John Grisham novel (a not altogether outrageous comparison). Wilson uses a straightforward approach to the material, which makes it even more shocking, given how the events unfold. While he uses subdued accents to differentiate the major players, his real strength is in his pacing and emphasis. He pauses at just the right moments for maximum effect and makes price fixing and embezzlement fascinating, heart-pounding action. R.I.G.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]