BRAIN ON FIRE My Month of Madness

Susannah Cahalan was 24 when an unknown illness surfaced, causing alarming behavioral symptoms that led to a forced hospital stay. Having no memory of the experience herself, the trained journalist drew upon family records and her own medical file, including startling videotape, to reconstruct the trajectory of her illness and reveal a medical mystery to rival an episode of "House." Echoing the blend of memoir and journalism, narrator Heather Henderson modulates the story's shifting emotional undercurrent with her careful use of tone and pacing. At first, Cahalan’s initial paranoia and fear are made palpable by Henderson's frantic, high-pitched tone, but as the story switches gears toward investigation and discovery, Henderson's voice is crisp, clear, and remarkably unfazed by the plethora of medical terminology. A.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2012]