EMPIRE OF LIES by Andrew Klavan

Narrated by the author

Hard-Boiled & Funny Political Thriller

Klavan is first and foremost a gag man. Not that this book doesn’t have a strong thrilling plot—it does. Not that the characters aren’t well rounded and undergo significant development as the story unfolds—they do. Not that this novel doesn’t have a strong moral message that threads in and out the whole thing—it most certainly does. No, Andrew Klavan is a fine storyteller who populates this well-plotted novel with realistic characters who struggle with their own depravity…but if there is a possible joke in there somewhere, he will find it. This is a funny book; funny in the way that hard-boiled noir crime novels are funny: If you know the formula you will find it amusing when you encounter it.

I first heard of Andrew Klavan by listening to his often hilarious political punditry. I decided to listen to Empire of Lies when facing the Klavanless weekend. I knew that he could make some sense of this broken politically correct world, and I was right.  

Andrew Klavan the narrator is superb at emphasizing the sarcastic moments. He get all the author’s jokes. One of the characters, Patrick Peresal, is a great caricature of William Shatner and Klavan has his rhythmic manner of speech down pat. This made me laugh out loud several times; to the point that I had to explain what was so funny to my wife lest she think me crazy. My only criticism is that all the female voices come across as nasally and petulant, maybe that is how they were written but there is a limit to how much nasal intonation one finds pleasant; this is too much.