THE LIFE LIST OF ADRIAN MANDRICK

Anesthesiologist Adrian Mandrick is addicted to bird-watching and prescription drugs. He feeds his drug addiction by cadging opioids from his hospital workplace. David Aaron Baker's intelligent narration makes Adrian's birding adventures, with their well-researched descriptions, completely absorbing. Adrian has the third-longest bird-watching "life list" in North America, and, after a rival's sudden death, the number two spot has opened. Adrian heads off to the Florida's swamps to search for the rare, possibly extinct, ivory-billed woodpecker. After Adrian's mother dies, troubling memories from his childhood bubble up, and Baker delivers his anguish with understated urgency. The story keeps us listening, and Baker builds each personality as fully as possible but is limited by author Chris White's thin character sketches. Baker's performance enhances an audiobook that never quite satisfies. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2018]