EDGE

The first half of Jeffrey Deaver's new stand-alone is more likely to put the listener over the top than on the edge. It's slow moving and nowhere near as clever as is his two acclaimed series about Lincoln Rhyme and Katherine Dance. Corte, an operative for a supersecret government agency (so secret we don't even find out its name), is assigned to protect a detective and his family from Henry Loving, whose specialty is extracting information from people. Corte's got a special interest in Loving, who killed Corte's mentor six years earlier. Narrator Skipp Suddath isn't much help moving things along. His raspy voice, though competent, gives fast-paced, monotone characterizations. It's only in the second half that Deaver and Sudduth seem to get on the same wavelength and make the total experience worthwhile. There are two surprise endings, which Sudduth brings to a satisfying finish. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2011]