THE CHAIN

January LaVoy's performance of this thriller is as good as they get--focused, intense, smart, and skillful with the appropriate accents. Whether that will save the experience for you will depend on your tolerance for plotting that shades past thriller into gothic territory, so violent and improbable are the premise and execution. The setup: A psychopath mastermind has devised a serial extortion in which a child is kidnapped. To get him/her back, the family must first pay punitive ransom, then kidnap another child from somebody else. Like a murderous chain letter on meth. It's hard for an actor to create distinct personalities where the author has provided none in the text, but LaVoy gins up the terror of these hapless victims-turned-criminals with impressive dedication. B.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2019]