INTERVENTION

Facing the decline of his baby son, who was born with a life-threatening disease, New York City forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton tries to distract himself by exposing the follies of alternative medicine and the Roman Catholic faith. George Guidall's capable narration provides much-needed consistency for a tangle of mostly disconnected story lines. Guidall is gifted at voicing older men who are experiencing life challenges, and this thriller is centered around three: a declining archaeologist who is desperate to restore his fading career, a power-hungry archbishop who is frantic to conceal his involvement in the removal of ancient skeletal remains from St. Peter's tomb in Rome, and Stapleton, who brings them together. Guidall reveals the fear and self-doubt hiding behind Stapleton's renegade campaigns to uncover his version of the truth. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2010]