RANDOM ACTS

At times, Barbara Rosenblat reads Taylor Smith's new mystery like a children's librarian sharing Dr. Seuss on a Saturday morning. Random Acts involves, in part, the kidnap and murder of small children, and such grisly subject matter calls for a hard-nosed narrative tone instead of the breathless intensity that is Rosenblat's style. But Rosenblat does well with accents, from Russian to Cajun, and her husky vocality gives the book's big love scene more steam than a lunch-buffet special. The mood she manages to create is almost enough to cover up Smith's too obvious plot line. D.A.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 99]