THE VIRGIN IN THE ROSE BOWER

This ghoulish fantasy, with its feel of a lush, ornately written nineteenth-century Gothic mystery, certainly stretches the limits of our credibility. A mural come to life? Angels seduce? Impossible! John McDonough, with his rich, fatherly voice; even, controlled pace; and almost comforting tone soothes the listener into a kind of complacency that renders the gory murders done at the sleepy village of Winterthurn almost believable. What's even more frightening? The lascivious angels of Oates's imagination might actually come to resemble us, the supernatural become natural, and our worst fears be realized. In short, though McDonough's reading may be "ordinary," it's designedly and horribly so. P.E.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT 97]