TWENTY-SEVEN BONES

Dion Graham is a wonderful reader, with a rich soothing tone and an engaging style. Unfortunately, Graham cannot overcome the absurd plot of TWENTY-SEVEN BONES, Jonathan Nasaw's latest thriller. Set in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the story features retired FBI Agent E.L. Pender, who has been asked to hunt down a sadistic serial killer who severs the right hands of his many victims. In reality, there are three killers--who believe that sucking the last breath of a dying person will make them all-powerful--and Nasaw discloses their identities at the beginning of the novel, which then focuses on Pender's efforts to catch them. Graham's reading is terrific; his portrayal of the killers--two anthropologists and their houseboy--is wonderful, but you cannot ignore a plot so ridiculous that you could get whiplash from shaking your head in disbelief. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]