THE HOLY CITY

Humphrey Bower is a card-carrying genius in my book, but here he may be trying to do the undoable, presenting a first-person “unreliable narrator” so obviously insane that he has no moral tension or suspense to work with. Released after many years in a mental institution, Chris McCool mentally wanders back to the days of his youth and promise, if any, in Ireland’s swinging ‘60s and forward to his sensationally self-deluding and intensely creepy present, in which he happily drones at his bored and appalled listener, you. Bower can do any accent and even sings in several distinct characters’ registers, but his very skill is self-defeating here; the more real McCool becomes, the more you want to get away from him. It’s a fine performance but not a likable experience. B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2010]