THE GREAT BETRAYAL

Leslie Cavanaugh has the perfect life--or so it seems. When her shameful past is ultimately revealed, it pulls everyone she loves into the maelstrom. Millenia Black has written a compelling and complex story with a cavalcade of characters. Since this is a contemporary African-American novel, it's odd that so many of its main characters are Caucasian. This is one of the twists narrator JD Jackson handles so adeptly. His linguistic characterizations are subtly nuanced, but one is always cognizant of who is black and who is white. Few male narrators are as skilled at performing racial and socioeconomic differences of male and female characters, making the final treachery in the story a stunner. P.R. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2008]