Still Missing

Angela Dawe gives a bravura performance in her reading of this excellently plotted physiological thriller. Annie O’Sullivan has a job she’s good at, a dog she adores, a boyfriend who makes her happy, and a mother who makes her crazy; in other words she’s living a perfectly happy ordinary life. All that changes in an instant when she is abducted and held captive for more than a year in a remote mountain cabin. Through a series of intriguing, suspenseful, and heartbreaking sessions with a therapist, the book follows Annie’s year of captivity, and her difficult adjustment to life once she escapes. Dawe expertly handles what is essentially a one-woman monologue. She easily moves through Annie’s emotionally charged story, fully expressing the woman’s pain, anguish, and terror, yet she never falls into melodrama and keeps the character grounded. Her rich, fully realized characterization pulls the listener deep into the story. It is a finely tuned, multilayered performance that will keep listeners enthralled to the very last disc. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, May 3). (Aug.)