THE PARIS VENDETTA

It's difficult to be negative about an audiobook when the renowned Scott Brick is the narrator, but he doesn’t have much to work with in Steve Berry’s latest Cotton Malone story. Malone, a former Justice Department operative, is back—this time in search of a rare treasure from Egypt, originally hidden by Napoleon. The flashbacks to Napoleon are the most interesting parts of the story, and Brick handles the historical characters convincingly. The problem is that the contemporary part of the story drags, in part because of weak character development. Despite his expertise, Brick's clear and emphatic voice cannot enliven predictable characters and a plot that doesn’t measure up to Berry's previous Cotton Malone efforts. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2010]