The Vigilantes

The latest in the Badge of Courage series by W.E.B. Griffin and son is as real as the city of Philadelphia, where it takes place. Narrator Scott Brick does his usual fine job, albeit without a Philly accent, as he regales listeners with the story of a dying man who spends his final moments killing the dregs of the city. His nemesis is supercop Matthew Payne, who admires the killer's results on some level. The Griffins use thinly disguised names of real Philly politicos and actual streets and places and cheesesteak shops to create verisimilitude. Brick, a master of understatement, subtly encourages listeners with his affable delivery and his trademark style of sometimes ending declarative sentences with a rise in pitch. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine