READ BY RENE AUBERJONOIS Buy from Amazon.com

Action-packed and fast moving, this is a book that keeps listeners engrossed throughout. At the scene of a murder, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta of the NYPD is surprised to see an old friend, FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast. The agent tells Vincent that he is not there for the FBI but to help his old friend with the murder case. Vincent scoffs at him and tells Pendergast he is not needed since the case is a slam-dunk. He knows who did it. They just have to find him. There were five eyewitnesses who saw Colin Fearing, covered with blood and carrying a large knife, come of the Smithjack apartment. Since one of the witnesses was the murdered man's wife, Nora Kelly, who was returning to the apartment and recognized her neighbor, there is no doubt Colin Fearing is the killer. Pendergast, shaking his head, hands a folded slip of paper to Vincent, telling the detective that it is a death certificate for Colin Fearing, dated 10 days earlier. Lt. D'Agosta is even more confused after he and Pendergast speak to the doorman, who swears it was Fearing who ran through the lobby. When the security tapes show clear facial images of the man, Vincent is stunned. He and Pendergast receive a warrant to open Fearing's crypt, and what they find is even stranger and more mystifying than the killer's apparent ability to kill while already dead.

William Smithback, the murdered man, had been a highly regarded reporter for The New York Times. He recently had been writing articles about an unusual group of people who lived in an enclave outside the city limits. They did not allow outsiders to enter their area, and throughout the years there were reports of animals being killed during services in a large house which they claimed was a church. D'Agosta and Pendergast suspect that Smithback had been killed because he'd discovered information the group didn't want published, but they were baffled as to why Fearing was involved and how he could be dead and still be the killer.

The confusion escalates with sightings of people who were assumed to be dead but who are now apparently among the living. Listeners who allow themselves to be swept up in Rene Auberjonois' excellent narration of this captivating tale are in for a treat. His mesmerizing characterizations and perfectly paced narration personalize the mystery, making the listener apart of the story. Not only does he give voice to the living characters, put he draws believable sounds from the mouths of the dead. Join with the Lt. and the FBI agent as they try to squelch the rumors of voodoo, zombies and the walking dead.

John Mormon
8/28/09