SUNBURN

Polly, who's running from a shady past, meets Adam, who's just passing through. Secrets layered in deeper secrets unfold slowly and surprisingly in Laura Lippman's latest psychological chiller. Narrator Susan Bennett takes Lippman's irresistible setup and puts us in a flickering black-and-white world in which morality is iffy and sometimes being bad isn't so bad. Bennett makes the wary attraction between the two a kind of dance around the truth. As Adam reveals his reasons for being in town and Polly's plans unfold, Bennett gives even supporting characters dimension, from Polly's mother-in-law to her ex- to her rival for Adam. With Lippman's strong, spare prose and suspenseful plot--including film noir references sprinkled throughout--and Bennett's solid delivery, this is noir listening at its finest. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2018]