LUNATICS

Barry’s third humorous thriller, cowritten with Zweibel, follows two suburban New Jersey-ites, whose feud escalates into a globe-hopping series of mishaps that alter the world’s political landscape. Horkman (Zweibel) and Peckerman (Barry) each tell parts of the story, in succession. Zweibel is excellent as Horkman, decent, thoughtful, and long suffering. Barry’s reading is also fine, but he sounds too intelligent to fully convince as the boorish, knuckleheaded Peckerman. For those familiar with Barry’s reading of earlier books, Peckerman’s nastiness and foul mouth may be jarring, and the book starts out more unpleasant than entertaining. But when the gonzo slapstick and satire kick in, this blackly humorous farce is frequently laugh-out-loud funny. Interpolated “newscasts” with “Brian Williams” and “Tom Brokaw” are especially amusing. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2012]