RED DRESS IN BLACK AND WHITE

Istanbul is a major character in this lean, intricate audiobook, which makes Maggi-Meg Reed's elegant evocation of atmosphere essential. She beautifully communicates place names, the pace, the smells, the lights and darks of Istanbul, where an American wife and mother named Catherine is deciding to leave her Turkish husband for her photographer/lover, neither of whom is going to like it. Istanbul, part in Europe, part in Asia, is half familiar, half rather frighteningly not. No one in the story is likable, certainly not the Americans; all are transactional, which is not to say uninteresting, though it makes for a rather cool and intellectual read. Comparisons with Graham Greene are apt, high praise, and Reed warms the text with an accomplished, nuanced, and sympathetic performance. B.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2020]