I'M NOT SCARED

The outline of Italian writer Ammaniti's novel might suggest a thriller. A young boy in an out-of-the-way village stumbles upon the involvement of his parents and their com-patriots in a despicable crime. But Ammaniti is preoccupied with more universal themes--a child's imperfect comprehension of an adult world and naïve notions of trust, security, and betrayal. The audiobook presentation is wholly dependent on the capacity of the narrator to portray a 9-year-old boy, and in this Paul Boehmer mainly succeeds. His Michele Amitrano is earnest and good, full of wonder and a desire to do right in the face of competing claims and a suddenly confused moral universe. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 04]