DEFINING DIANA

It's a crime noir. It's a cyberpunk thriller. Truly, this is both. Hayden Trenholm's novel slips between genres with ease, falling somewhere between THE MALTESE FALCON and BLADE RUNNER with its locked-room murder, hard-boiled detective, red herrings, and cyberpunk fun. Art Carlson's voice is ideal for this work. His inflection is sharp, and he bites off his words like tobacco chaws. Carlson doesn't worry about accents or distinguishing males and females; instead, he infuses each character with the same world-weary inflection. His reading focuses on story rather than character, and while it's sometimes difficult to recognize the characters during dialogue, the overall tone is authentically noir. While the sound quality is marred by soft white noise between chapters, occasional sound effects, such as echoes, enhance the futuristic ambiance. A.Z.W. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2013]