DREAMCATCHER

“The X-Files” comes to Maine. Four friends on their yearly hunting trip to the north woods find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion and the U.S. military’s attempt to contain the aliens’ deadly virus. The friends bring a fifth and mentally retarded companion into the struggle to disarm the bad guys. Jeffrey DeMunn navigates this long and complex story. While his narrative passages and pacing are flawless, his characterizations need work. The four Maine men sound identical to one other, although they have taken very different paths in their adult lives. Their dialect is South Boston, rather than Maine, and the psychiatrist and the college professor sound like uneducated hicks. A wonderful touch, however, is DeMunn’s characterization when King writes of the November 2000 election that just won’t quit. He doesn’t name the president. DeMunn, however, performs a convincing George Bush. But his pronunciation of various Maine and Massachusetts towns is a fascinating work of fiction in itself, including four distinct presentations of “Bangor.” R.P.L. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]