THE MYSTIC ARTS OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH

Author Charlie Huston’s books are never for the prudish or the squeamish, and the nature of audiobooks makes it tricky to skim past the frequent cursing, detailed acts of violence, and gobbets of gore—and frankly, if you did, there wouldn't be much dialogue or story left. But if you sit back and enjoy the ride, you'll discover a surprisingly gentle tale of redemption. Reader Paul Michael Garcia manages an astonishing array of vocal pitches—from bass male to alto female. More important, he inhabits this novel’s smart-mouthed, emotionally scarred narrator, Web, a former elementary school teacher who takes a job scrubbing up after messy deaths and, consequently, becomes entangled with various shady entrepreneurs with very short tempers. A.B.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]