Audiobook roundup
“Past Tense” by Lee Child, narrated by Scott Brick, Random House, 12:51
There’s a new Jack Reacher in town. Scott Brick — the voice of Jack Ryan in many a Tom
Clancy novel, the actor on more than 800 audio titles, and the winner of multiple Audie and Earphone awards — steps in as the wandering tough guy in Lee Child’s 23rd book in this stunningly successful series. Brick replaces Dick Hill, the venerable narrator on 18 Reacher books whose voice eventually aged out of the role. Brick’s cool baritone works well for the laconic former military police officer.
Although “Past Tense” covers much familiar territory for Reacher fans — one-againstmany brawls, damsels in distress — prepare for a few twists. For example, listeners wait two hours into the story before Reacher needs to hit someone — or, actually, squeeze a punk’s fist into jellied pulp. And in a Reacher vs. Gang of Thugs encounter, he actually flounders momentarily in a fight! But the real surprise is that Reacher spends most of his time schlepping from government office to government office, trying to figure out where his father grew up in the small city of Laconia, N.H. Roots research seems an unpromising premise, but it’s a nagging puzzle that reveals something a wee bit wrong with Dad’s story. The real draw, though, is the counterplot about a hapless Canadian couple checked into one very strange motel; Brick and Lee make it an exciting journey. “Heavy” by Kiese Laymon, narrated by the author, Simon & Schuster, 6:17
Kiese Laymon doesn’t so much read his memoir, “Heavy,” as recite it like an incantation. For drama, it’s too rhythmic, but it’s about perfect for what often feels like poetry — by turns, funny, warm and painful. The title may refer to Laymon’s weight, which topped 300 pounds before a period of selfdestructive anorexia. But it’s also an apt description of his life’s landscape, where racism is a molecule, a toxin, inhaled with every breath.
The book is composed as a letter to Laymon’s ambitious, proud mother, a professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi. The relationship isn’t simple. She beats him and heaps him with affection. She assigns him daily writing assignments, buys him encyclopedias “to protect my insides from white folks” and bounces checks. She tries to keep him out of trouble and subjects him to her sex life. He overeats. He starves himself. He tumbles into a gambling addiction to match hers. Always in the air are race and racism. “We all had cops rough us up, chase us, pull guns on us, call us out of our names. We all watched cops shame our mamas, aunties, and grandmamas.” Security officers ask for his ID in his own college room. When he’s a professor, a security officer asks to see his ID as he stands in his own office. What’s heavy can’t be measured by a scale; it’s the weight of life. “Boomer1” by Daniel Torday, narrated by Maggie Siff, Macmillan, 9:22
Boomers, prepare to squirm. Daniel Torday’s “Boomer1” is sure to pique defensive urges, which is part of the delicious frisson in this new book voiced by Maggie Siff. Siff provides a low-key reading that’s truest during dialog. She’s perhaps best known for her roles on the Showtime series “Billions” and on “Mad Men.”
The story revolves around three characters: millennial Mark Brumfeld, whose journalism dreams fell apart along with much of the field; his former girlfriend Cassie Black, who doesn’t notice that she’s cashing in with the sort of “new media job” that destroyed Mark’s aspirations; and Mark’s mother, Julia, whom Mark thinks of as a stay-at-home mom, unaware she ever had another life. Mark ignites a revolution when he records a series of videos demanding boomers get out of the way. “They have jobs. They have
jobs. They have the jobs.” He wraps up each video with a call to arms: “Resist much, obey little. Propaganda by the deed. Boom boom.” But the revolt quickly lurches beyond his control. Anybody with a mask can and does claim the moniker Boomer1, telling boomers, “Retire or we’ll retire you,” and targeting boomer icons: Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Philip Roth. Mark finds himself both at the center of events and standing on the outside, but he’s already in danger.
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