Stone Cold by David Baldacci. Read by Ron McLarty

Good idea, poorly executed.

19 Years of Reviews

The last of the Rabbi Small series narrated with an annoying over-aggressive punkishness by Guidall -- to intimate, perhaps, the intellectual aggression of Rabbi Small, the clever not-to-be socialized puzzle solver and prayer leader of the Conservative Jews of Barnard's Crossing Massachusetts. The characters are at least as aliveThe Day the Rabbi Resigned by Harry Kemelman read by George Guidall

There is something annoying, something unsettling, something demoralizing about a story in which all the women are either murder victims, embittered but useless mothers, faithful, ineffectual wives, or sexually charged students with dancers' bodies. Annoying, too, is witnessing an entire small town turn against an innocent man and his brainyThe Bone House by Brian Freeman read by Joe Barrett

Do you really want to hear a book about a woman who lies to her husband as a part of her job? About a wife who makes herself lovable by pretending not to know where Luxembourg is, and then insisting that it doesn't exist, and then bitching about its size?The ExPats by Chris Pavone read by Mozhan Marno

An old, sick and unhappy man tells Jessica to write down his last wishes: sell the house, give the proceeds to my grandson. She formalizes it, he dies, the real estate agent gets to work. Jessica arranges for the hundreds of old books in the house to be sold atThe Ghost & Mrs. Fletcher

It is rare to hear the barely conscious memories of a powerful woman reconnoitring the dimensions of a frustrated girlhood. The wooden, joyless father, the servile, fearful, nervous mother, the rules, the order, the manners, the placements, the positions, the positionings of the dinner table, extended to the smallest sensationsA Certain Justice by P.D. James read by Simon Prebble

"You know how Thais are: totally fair minded Buddhists until their personal income is threatened." For we farang, the improbability of Thailand is as good as fiction. Where else would one find a dejected pot-smoking homicide detective and his long-haired assistant, a "Kathoey transsexual who has not yet scraped together theThe Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett read by Stephen Hogan

Why isn't this a Doris Day movie? Perhaps because Rock Hudson would never have accumulated old washing machines and bowling balls in the garage; and Doris Day's anger never lasted longer than a bubble bath. Otherwise, Doris Day could have played this pretty, perky, 53 year old wife who breaksSearching for Paradise in Parker, PA by Kris Radish read by Barbara McCullough

As tempting and tasty as yellow cake are these novels about single but not terribly singular women, suddenly alone or suddenly in trouble or suddenly displaced. If they had worked they become domestic, if they had had money they no longer do, if they had been married, they are divorced,Nosy Neighbor by Fern Michaels read by Andrea Gallo

Discretion is the name of a D.C. Escort Service, so exclusive that it doesn't advertise on Back Page or Eros. The most expensive and popular "provider" at Discretion is "Sasha" who is rated "9s" and '10s' in the Appearance and Performance categories on Trick Adviser-- an on line Ratings serviceDiscretion by Allison Leotta read by Tavia Gilbert

fake cheese on fake crackers... shoplifted and served with warmed over leftovers. Shame on the publishers. Jennifer Crusie and Mary Kay Andrews and Cheez Whiz

A cross between a painter, an MFA student, and a woman finds herself attached to charming, untrustworthy male artists and thence to the forgery of a stolen Degas. In between whining about herself and her lacks, she tells us about several famous forgers and shows us how they workedThe Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro read by Xe Sands

As Marcus Aurelius would say, there are good mixtures and bad mixtures. Consider: A man, a dog, a Ford Explorer. An American, a surfboard, a wave. Or: an experiment, a scientist, the DOD. Good or bad? Koontz doesn't say. But incredible the speed with which we move to position ourselves behind the good, or theSeize the Night by Dean Koontz read by Keith Szarabajka

Forget the tax on sugar. Tax bad dialogue, dreadful characterizations, idiotic psychological profiles. To wit: When he was a child the twitch had made him the target of merciless teasing and bullying. It had made him burn with hatred. And that hatred had driven him to succeed. Victor Orlov wanted toThe Defector by Daniel Silva read by Phil Gigante

Annie moves to sleepy Heron Island on Chesapeake Bay with her 8 year old daughter Taylor, who carries a broom everywhere. This is because she is one of the only pupils who survived a shooting at an elementary school in Washington D.C. Mother and daughter enjoy renovating the old fashioned houseWind Chime Cafe by Sophie Moss narrated by Hollis McCarthy

According to Cheney and the gang, some torturers are more equal than others. This is the story of how one American becomes unequal. How an average guy, born of poor fishing folks of poor Maine stock, becomes a torturer. How a guy who knew boats, and joined the Marines, and learnedThe Prisoner of Guantanamo by Dan Fesperman::David Colacci