ALIBI

Joseph Kanon's complex, deeply moving story is set in a post-WWII Europe scarred by years of physical and psychological wounds. Adam Miller, a U.S. Army investigator of war crimes, visits his wealthy, vivacious mother in Venice. His mother's lover, a Venetian doctor, has questionable connections to the Nazis. Miller, still in shock from the horrors of his recent discoveries, begins a tempestuous affair with a Jewish woman. The secrets of the past will not stay hidden, and Paul Michael's low-key narration clearly illustrates the self-delusion of the moneyed classes and the desperation that drives ordinary people to collaborate with a hated enemy. Michael's performance deals realistically with historical truths, murder, and genocide, and mirrors the remnants of a humanity left stunned, as if slowly awakening from a nightmare. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]