THE OVERSEER

The suspension of disbelief required to buy into the premise of this adequate political thriller is burden enough without Garrison's inept reading. His high-pitched and breathless characterization of Sarah Trent, government agent and heroine of The Overseer, makes her out to be a witless ditz, a fatal undermining of a story that begins with a problem of plausibility. Garrison's narration at best is irregular; his vocal inflections and rhythm often go against scene, and his regional accents--an Irishman with a Western twang, a bad Ted Kennedy imitation of a New Englander --so distract from the narrative that one cannot begin to enter the novel's world, much less believe what's going on. G.B.C. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]