Absolute Zero

By: Chuck Logan

Narrated by: J.K. Simmons

On one of the coldest nights in Minnesota history, the difference between life and death is literally the blink of an eye for Phil Broker, until recently St. Paul's most successful undercover cop. That blink will convey the urgent warning of a comatose man who knows the dark truth binding Broker to a remarkable cast of characters -- a weary anesthesiologist, a brilliant surgeon, a wealthy novelist, his ex-wife (a reformed exotic dancer) and her unrepentant pimp.

For Broker it all began when he agreed to take three big-city professionals on a canoeing trip across Minnesota's most remote lakes. One of the three is horribly injured in a freak October blizzard, and Broker embarks on a white-knuckle rescue against time and the elements, ending with a writer in a coma and his accountant dead. Suspicious of foul play, Broker follows a twisted trail of manipulation and revenge that leads back to the writer's beautiful wife -- and a ring of men caught in a deadly competition for her affections.

Good plot, sounded like played on an old record

While this narrator is a great character actor (on The Closer and others), he breathes no life into this potentially thrilling and harrowing plot. Everything is a laid-back speech pattern, with nothing inspiring the emotions appropriate to the story line. He just mosies along, sounding almost bored, no matter what was happening. To make matters worse, the sound was awful; like someone recorded it from an old hollow-sounding tape or record. Three stars for the predictable but frightening plot, but the narrator needs to stick to acting--or learn to convey some range of emotion when needed.

Stumbling through

The story was interesting, and J.K. Simmons performance was flawless. However, I was disappointed in how the lead character simply seemed to stumble through the story. Broker didn't solve anything and, as a matter of fact, made several mistakes throughout. In spite of his bumbling, it all worked out. It seems the only redeeming characteristic to the lead character is that he endures. I read this book because I saw the movie "Homefront" with Jason Statham about this same main character. It is disappointing that the movie Broker is nothing like the Broker represented in the book series.