BLACK

In his first book, COLD ZERO, Christopher Whitcomb described life as a member of the elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). Whitcomb's latest, a novel about the FBI, suffers in comparison. Although the story is interesting, the characters are thinly drawn, and it seems to take forever for the multiple plotlines to coalesce. When they finally do, the result, like much of the book, seems highly implausible. L.J. Ganser is an accomplished reader, but his performance is inconsistent. Ganser is excellent when reading the dialogue of the male characters, especially new HRT member Jeremy Waller. Ganser has much more difficulty, however, with Senator Elizabeth Beechum, whose voice seems to change dramatically from scene to scene. All in all, readers have come to expect better from Whitcomb and Ganser. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]