THE SUNDAY MACARONI CLUB

This roman à clef of Philadelphia lowlife boasts sharp characterizations, a reporter's eye for detail and fascinating digression, buckets of local color and tubs of good-natured humor. The plot concerns an assistant D.A. who must set aside vital public business when ordered to pursue a gaggle of aging, no-longer-threatening mobsters. The tone is Runyunesque. Steven Bauer has a homely, slightly adenoidal voice with the gravelly sound of one on the last leg of a long debauch. The effect is appropriate and oddly winning. He has a lot of fun with the dialogue but gives some sloppy line readings of the narrative. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 98]