THE DROWNING PEOPLE

In fairness, Mason should share a chunk of the much publicized $1-million advance he received for this, his first novel, with Tim Piggot-Smith. For the longest time, Piggot-Smith's reading adds a gravity and world-weariness that enables listeners to carry on. He cannot, however, completely compensate for a work of such sentimentality, self-absorption, and preposterousness. None of this is to suggest that Mason isn't a promising author, only a very young one. This essentially Gothic novel begins immediately after an elderly man has killed his wife. He then recalls his romance with her cousin begun 50 years earlier, which has led him to and justifies this crime. Piggot-Smith infuses the performance with a tone of self-laceration, which is wholly in keeping with the novel but ultimately tiring to a patient listener. M.O. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]