Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography

Morton's massively hyped, overly contentious and sometimes far-fetched account of Cruise's Scientology-driven life owes a lot to John Hinch's unwavering reading the material. Hinch offers a sincere, unbiased take on the material, but also manages to create a believable listening experience through his innate performance ability when assuming the roles of various characters, most notably, Cruise himself. Though there is little in the way of dialect changes and impersonation, listeners will be astounded at how close Hinch comes to capturing the Cruise persona. While the material is debatable and lacks anything profound or fresh, Hinch presents it in a way that keeps the audience thoroughly engaged throughout. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin's hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)