The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

Prichard strives to navigate this marathon parade of torture and murder in an authoritative, almost aloof manner. But the cliched, repetitive and overwrought prose frequently undermines him. Carlo's apparent sympathy toward the Ice Man further subverts Prichard's crime-show host persona. In stomach-turning detail, Prichard brings to life Richard Kuklinsky's extraordinary 40-year career of murder. The gruesome, clinical accounts of countless killings-by every method imaginable-leaves listeners wincing and feeling depleted. Prichard's voice is worn and aged, with a slight nasal quality as if getting over a cold. For the most part, he handles the voluminous narrative without flagging. When rendering Kuklinsky and various Mafia figures and associates, the audio actor employs a similar tough-guy impersonation, which amounts to dropping his voice, bleeding out the emotion and barking swear words. This sometimes leads to confusion over who's speaking. Also included are two not especially revealing jailhouse interviews with the chillingly congenial Kuklinsky.