PANIC

Abbott's opening is a corker, and the story at first seems like it may be a "driveway listen." Don't be fooled--this 2005 book doesn't work despite narrator Will Collyer's noble efforts as he propels Evan Casher, mild-mannered boy filmmaker, into a crazy black-ops nightmare in which his mother is murdered and his father and girlfriend may be the enemy. Collyer has a simple delivery style: He uses limited voicings, mostly for bit parts, and his character differentiation is always clear and clean. He nails the confrontational attitude of the psycho Dez. The action scenes please, but the infrequent tender moments and emotions, not so much. All in all, this is a decent reading of a marginal piece of storytelling. M.C. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2013]