SUZANNE'S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS

Patterson steps away from his usual thrillers with this romance between Matt and Suzanne, as told through a diary Suzanne writes for her baby, Nicholas. Matt gives the diary to Katie, his current love interest, as an explanation for his sudden disappearance. Becky Ann Baker rises above the predictable romance while reading Suzanne’s diary. She captures the gushing new love between mother and baby without going overboard and makes the too-perfect-to-be-true love between Matt, a housepainter, and Suzanne, a doctor, believable. Baker falls a bit short, though, when reading Katie’s part, making her sound more backwoods than Southern. Overall, Baker elevates Patterson’s likable characters to create a compelling, though sentimental, story. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]