A DENIABLE DEATH

Veteran agent Joe "Foxy" Foulkes is partnered with young police officer Danny "Badger" Baxter to carry out a covert mission in the Middle East, a mission that can have no official sanction. For the two men, it's hate at first sight. They're charged with "removing" the Engineer, a dangerous bomb-maker in Iraq. At first, narrator Ralph Cosham's funereal tone is appropriate to the opening of the story. However, his reading remains dark and heavy, even as the tension mounts. The author's precise attention to detail and insights into characters' motives are extraordinary, yet as the complex plot intensifies, Cosham's matter-of-fact interpretation proves a curious choice, one likely to turn off all but the most serious devotees of spy stories. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2013]