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Review_AUDIOUDIO
Review_A

Audio reflects the roller-coaster emotions of the
three young protagonists. He also smartly
captures their differing personalities—
Mark’s self-confident, outgoing persona
Fiction that can’t quite mask his fear of failure;
Todd’s pragmatic pessimism; and Zola’s
Bonfire desperation, which overcomes her hesi-
Krysten Ritter, read by Karissa Vacker. tancy about joining the team. Fliakos’s
Random House Audio, unabridged, 7 CDs, strong performance is both enjoyable and
9 hrs., $40 ISBN 978-1-5247-7896-5 affecting. A Doubleday hardcover. (Oct.)
Actress Ritter’s first novel is a smartly
crafted thriller in which dedicated envi- Deep Freeze
ronmental lawyer Abby Williams travels John Sandford, read by Eric Conger.
from Chicago to her hometown of Barrens, Penguin Audio, unabridged, 8 CDs, 10 hrs.,
Voice actor Karen White captures the camaraderie of
Ind., as part of a team investigating the $40 ISBN 978-0-525-49734-9
the group of 21st-century nomads who are the focus
environmental harm of Optimal Plastics, Actor Conger shines as Sandford’s pro-
of Bruder’s sociological study (reviewed on p. 80).
the town’s main employer. Abby is tagonist Virgil Flowers, a lawman with a
searching for evidence of Optimal’s “Rain,” actor Kate Mulgrew portrays an strong sense of humor. The agent of
unhealthy practices and answers to ques- assortment of Coloradans trying to cope Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Appre-
tions from her past, primarily what hap- with storms that send crystal shards to hension doesn’t just have the gift of gab,
pened to her best frenemy from high school, Earth; the story’s protagonist is a woman he sees past the gruesome aspects of his
Kaycee Mitchell, who went missing just trying to stay alive while traveling from investigations to their absurd elements
after graduation a decade ago. Reader Boulder to Denver to care for her late girl- and reacts accordingly. In Virgil’s 10th
Vacker’s rendition of a strong-willed but friend’s family. In “Loaded,” Stephen Lang outing, he is sent to the unfriendly town
otherwise-fragile young woman trying to turns in two excellent performances: a of Trippton, where the corpse of the town’s
do her job while struggling with memories roaring portrayal of an embittered small- wealthiest woman (who has been mur-
from a painful past is convincing. Just as town Florida mall cop as he transforms dered) has been plucked from the nearby
impressive is her handling of other charac- into a homicidal maniac, and a nuanced, Mississippi River. Meanwhile, the governor
ters past and present, including snarky subdued portrayal of the cop’s bête noire, a gives Virgil an additional assignment:
mean girls from Abby’s high school days, soft-spoken, maternal newswoman. The locate and arrest a woman who’s been
the sullen present-day townsfolk, and her stories are intriguing on their own, but manufacturing obscene Barbie dolls. But
once cold and impersonal father now in the the readers raise them to a higher level of workers in the impoverished town have
throes of Alzheimer disease. Vacker is espe- entertainment. A Morrow hardcover. (Nov.) become dependent on the sexy dolls’ sales
cially effective in the novel’s most dramatic and prove to be as dangerous as the mur-
and suspenseful chapter, when Abby faces The Rooster Bar derer. Reader Conger has a crisp, resonant
what seems like certain death at the hands John Grisham, read by Ari Fliakos. Random voice, and he smoothly conveys Virgil’s air
of a killer. The result is a stirring audio- House Audio, unabridged, 8 CDs, 10.5 hrs., of bemusement and the sarcastic edge that
book. A Crown Archetype hardcover. (Nov.) $45 ISBN 978-0-399-56499-4 appears when he’s forced to deal with
Grisham’s latest focuses on three law deceitful suspects and his merrily duplici-
Strange Weather: students—Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero, and tous boss, John Duncan. He plays the self-
Four Short Novels Zola Maal—who, shaken by the suicide of absorbed murderer, identified early on, as
Joe Hill, read by multiple narrators. Harper their law school pal, Gordy Tanner, take weak and depressed, and the others in the
Audio, unabridged, 13 CDs, 15 hrs., $44.99 stock of their student loan debts and dim town of Trippton, such as Virgil’s gruff
ISBN 978-0-06-269445-4 job prospects. They decide to drop out good-natured pal Johnson Johnson, with
Hill’s follow up to 2016’s The Fireman and practice law without a license, and to specificity. All the characters are as care-
is a quartet of suspenseful novellas, nar- scam the rich man profiting from their fully vocalized by Conger as they are
rated in this production by four familiar, tuitions and loans. The author uses the developed by Sandford in this satisfying
well-chosen actors. Actor Wil Wheaton resulting inventive and intriguing yarn to audiobook. A Putnam hardcover. (Oct.)
portrays, in “Snapshot,” a nerdy yet illuminate for-profit law schools, massive
heroic Silicon Valley teen who tries to student debt, and harsh, family-destroying Origin
save an elderly neighbor from a sinister U.S. immigration policies (ICE sends Zola’s Dan Brown, read by Paul Michael. Random
bully whose Polaroid Instant Camera parents and older brother back to their House Audio, unabridged, 15 CDs, 18 hrs.,
erases memories. “Aloft” casts actor native Senegal) without letting commen- $50 ISBN 978-0-7393-1929-1
Dennis Boutsikaris as a reluctant novice tary overwhelm the novel’s entertainment The fifth outing for Harvard symbology
skydiver who, trying to impress a young value. His style is breezy and upbeat, as is professor Robert Langdon’s combines
woman, falls into a cloud so solid it floats reader Fliakos’s. The veteran actor reads Brown’s typical mix of sinister religious
him away, then begins breaking apart. In the novel with a voice that accurately fanaticism and old-fashioned adventure

78 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANU AR Y 22, 2018