MOVE TO STRIKE

Bauer’s novel opens with the grisly murder of a mother—an apparent matricide by her two teenage children. Defense attorney David Cavanaugh believes them innocent. This Australian author’s penchant for melodrama is handled well by Bill Ten Eyck, who excels at depicting Cavanaugh’s prime suspect, Dr. Jeffrey Logan, a popular TV psychiatrist. In Ten Eyck’s portrayal, the doctor is transformed from charming to chilling as revelations about his past and personality emerge. “His words are grounded in malice and coated in deceit,” decrees the matronly Irish office manager of Cavanaugh’s law firm. The conversations of Boston cops, coastal innkeepers, and TV personalities are all precisely performed by Ten Eyck as the murder plot unravels and suspense mounts. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2010]