Brimstone

Rating:
Summary: HORRIFIC AND TERRIFIC READING
Review: Emmy and Tony nominee Rene Auberjonois gives a suave, sophisticated, suspenseful reading of this over-the-top thoroughly diverting thriller by the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Protagonist FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast solves puzzles with finesse. He's been raised in privilege, yet, if necessary, he can fight like a street wise tough. He's a bit of a contradiction, and one of the most charismatic detectives to pop from the pages of a book.

With "Brimstone" he's teamed with former NYPD cop Vincent D'Agosta - a perfect foil for the urbane Pendergast to try to discover why art critic Jeremy Grove is found dead, toasted to a blackened mass. After all, this is the Hamptons, where such grisly crimes don't occur. Further, quite clearly next to the late Grove is the imprint of a cloven hoof burned into the floor. What the devil could that mean? Exactly.

As more bodies are found and secrets revealed many wonder if the Devil actually has landed on planet Earth. Seems that these crimes can only be explained by the supernatural. Fortunately for listeners who enjoy scenic locations, Pendergast and D'Agosta's probing takes them to Italy, to an old castle in the countryside. Some two decades ago the unthinkable was summoned forth in this place.

Vivid in detail "Brimstone" is terror both horrific and terrific.

- Gail Cooke