THE PROGRAM

This thriller’s strengths are its suspenseful beginning and exciting finale. In between, it takes Sandra Burr’s solid reading to hold the listener’s interest. It starts when D.A. Kirsten Lord witnesses the murder of her husband. She and her daughter enter the federal Witness Protection program to elude the killer. In the program, she encounters Karl Lupo, a “wise guy” also in hiding. Lupo becomes her protector. Though White’s development of the pair’s relationship is superficial and overly talky, Burr compensates with a sharp reading and winsome voice until the real action starts and the assassins are undone. Her only flaw is an unintentionally comic portrayal of a Cuban thug. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]