DETOUR

Paul Boehmer provides a consistent narrative tone to a novel with a broad focus--at once a crime story, a political thriller, and a domestic drama. A young couple travels to Colombia to adopt a child, but things go awry when the child and new mother are kidnapped by drug dealers. Insurance actuary Paul Breidbart must rise to the occasion to get his new family back. Paul Boehmer delivers an array of well-developed characterizations and voices, as well as effective pacing, all of which hold together Siegel's engaging but too busy plot. J.P.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]