SAVAGE SPAWN

The personal tragedy and social threat of childhood violence are skillfully unfolded through many vignettes of violent, psychopathic boys--boys without a conscience who are largely unreachable through conventional therapies. These scary narratives are served well by the writer's novelistic skills; the stories are as elegant as they are poignant. When reading dramatic content like this, it's a challenge not to overact, and efforts to restrain such tendencies can make this sort of material sound flat. But this reader's interpretation is just about right--intense and serious but not overbearing. The pace of the reading might be a little fast for some listeners, but good sentences and skillful articulation make every word understandable. T.W. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]