SUNSTROKE

Gloria Mendez is a Los Angeles secretary secretly in love with her boss, Carl. When Carl goes to Mexico on vacation, Gloria receives a garbled message from him saying that he's been in an accident. Later she hears from the police that he's dead. Gloria travels into rural Mexico hoping to find answers. While Annie Henk handles the flashbacks into Gloria's life and the apathy of Mexican authorities competently and her use of accents is authentic, overall her reading is uninspired. As the mystery deepens and more characters enter the mix, Henk grows more effective, but her flat, colorless reading never completely lives up to the promise of Kellerman's debut novel. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]