THE PLEDGE

ANIMAL HOUSE meets THE GODFATHER! A pledge dies at Sigma Delta Phi, an event that threatens to expose the brutal stranglehold the fraternity and its alums have on a small New England college and beyond. Two members of the dean's disciplinary council (D-squad) work to bring the evil network down. Lawrence does a decent job of narrating, working in some distinctive voices--the frightened undergraduate, the wimpy dean, the stuttering security man. The frat boys conduct business in rhyme, which sounds a bit silly. Pauses would better define time passage, but the story line hangs together well in abbreviated form. J.B.G. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]