HEAT WAVE

Generational family dysfunction, brought on by unfaithful husbands, provides the substance of this quietly terrorizing novel. A backdrop of the hottest English summer in history adds to the misery of Pauline, the protagonist, as she watches in escalating horror as daughter Teresa's marriage crumbles, just as her own did earlier. An elegant reader, Davina Porter is an excellent choice as narrator for this story, rendering perfectly the intelligence and articulateness of the major characters, being alternatively sympathetic, frustrated, angry, reflective, guilt-ridden and smug. Lively's deus ex machina ending may trouble some listeners, but that's the author's fault, not the reader's; Porter deserves only high marks. T.H. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 98]