Typhoon Fury

Veteran actor Brick’s dramatic rendition of book 12 in Cussler’s Oregon Files series enhances the nonstop action on board Capt. Juan Cabrillo’s camouflaged vessel, the Oregon. The book, which opens in the battle of Corregidor in 1945, features a double dose of villains—the sadistic Filipino Communist leader Salvador Locsin and his foe, sociopathic South American mercenary Gerhard Brekker—each with his own horde of homicidal minions. Both Locsin and Brekker are searching for the long-secret formula for typhoon, a steroid concoction that turns humans into superbeings, albeit with horrific withdrawals. They want to use the drug, whereas Cabrillo wants to destroy it. Actor Brick uses his natural speech for Cabrillo and company, adds a touch of Tagalog to Locsin’s threats, and employs a snarling if undetermined accent for Brekker’s ripostes. Both female leads are effectively represented in his performance—ex-Interpol art historian Beth Anders, searching for a half-billion dollars’ worth of stolen paintings, sounds eager and vulnerable, while her bodyguard, Raven Malloy, is impressively confident and tough. Brick’s best moments are during the novel’s slam-bang final confrontation, with the villains battling Cabrillo and each other and the Oregon suffering severe damage while a genuine typhoon rages. This rollicking audiobook will leave listeners bracing for more. [em]A Putnam hardcover. (Nov.) [/em]