FINAL WITNESS

The contest of wills between a British cabinet minister's personal assistant, who becomes his second wife after the death of his first, and Sir Richard's teenaged son by his first wife is not resolved until the final pages of the book. In this first published novel by the grandson of J.J. R. Tolkien, Simon Tolkien does a credible job reading his own work. The narrative flows smoothly, and Tolkien's confident, aristocratic voice suits the upper-class twists and turns of this mystery. His transitions between male and female characters in particular and between different speakers in general are not as clearly delineated as they might be. Also, Tolkien occasionally drops the ends of sentences. Finally, Macbeth's dagger speech is recited in a surprising monotone, expressing almost no emotion. M.D.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]