LONG DRIVE HOME

Written as a confessional by a father to his 8-year-old daughter about his having contributed to a teen's death in a car accident, this book—touted as a psychological thriller—is anything but. It’s a morose story featuring a melancholy performance by a droning Tony Ward. The father, Glen, is pursued by a relentless cop who sometimes reminds one of Columbo—without the sense of humor. One expects the trap to spring. Instead, Glen's marriage falls apart, his daughter becomes distant, and the prospect of another's culpability in the teen's death ends in midair. Ward's reading is clear and easy to follow, but inevitably he adds to the sense of the listener’s disappointment in the story. A thriller this is not. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2011]