RAPTOR

Zindel writes his young adult novel as a fast-paced, action-adventure, capitalizing on the craze for dinosaurs. The teenaged leads are sincere, angst-ridden blunderers who march into the monsters' lair with no backup, no weaponry, no coherent plan. The listener can't decide whether to laugh or cry over the vacuum in rational motivation and the ridiculous underlying premises. The reader, however, gives it all he's got. Ganser has a young-sounding voice and uses it to full effect, with snarls and pacing and accent delineating the various characters. (Too bad about the book itself.) D.R.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]