EYE OF THE CRICKET

Lew Griffin is an African-American writer and teacher in New Orleans who sometimes does investigations when he’s blocked—or because he can. He has a novelist's mind full of dreams, memories, and literature as he looks for the shape of a book, or for various missing persons, in this case, his long-gone son. G. Valmont Thomas can make you laugh out loud over characters like Zeke, the ex-con who comes to stay, or make you grip the edge of your seat—as when Lew does the unthinkable and returns, after years of sobriety, to the life of a street drunk, hoping it will lead him to his son. Thomas's range is enormous, his expert performance as colorful and varied as New Orleans itself. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]