THE EMPTY CHAIR

Jeffrey Deaver's bestselling mysteries featuring quadriplegic investigator Lincoln Rhyme are full of surprising plot twists and outsized characters. This time, with Rhyme and his female partner Sachs in North Carolina, the characters are Southern. Richard Perry Turner has a pleasantly timbered voice and reads dramatically. Yet his Southern voices slip in and out of their accents, and vocal characterizations often seem to change in midconversation, leaving the listener unsure who is speaking. A neutral-voiced reading would have been easier to follow. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]