HART'S WAR

For the great Muller, HART’S WAR is an embarrassment of riches. With Nazi sadists, Southern racists, Brits and New Yawkers, Katzenbach's thriller gives Muller a playground of roles in which to exercise his immense gift for creating diverse characters. If none is quite believable, that's Katzenbach's failure of imagination rather than Muller's shortcomings as an actor. Thankfully, though, Katzenbach is a skilled plotter. The book involves the murder of an American officer in a German POW camp and the defense, by a Harvard law student, of the black American flyer accused of the killing. While slow in building, the story eventually takes hold and culminates in a gripping crescendo, exquisitely delivered by a master reader. M.O. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]