Tragedy, comedy that resonate

Bikeman: An Epic Poem
By Thomas F. Flynn
Brilliance Audio, unabridged nonfiction, one hour and eight minutes, $14.95, read by Jim Dale; also available as a download from www.audible.com, $10.46

Man in the Dark
By Paul Auster
Macmillan Audio, unabridged fiction, four hours and 30 minutes, $24.95, read by the author; also available as a download from www.audible.com, $17.47

The Black Dove: A Holmes on the Range Mystery
By Steve Hockensmith
Tantor Media, unabridged fiction, nine CDs, 10 hours and 30 minutes, $34.99, read by William Dufris; also available on one MP3 CD, $24.99, and as a download from www.audible.com, $17.49

Dead Ex
By Harley Jane Kozak
BBC Audiobooks America, unabridged fiction, 10 CDs, 12 hours and 10 minutes, $94.95, narrated by Deanna Hurst; also available as a download from www.audible.com, $27.97

Including this strange little audiobook was an afterthought, really. One disk, one hour, odd name: "Bikeman." I wasn't hopeful about it at first, because I figured an epic poem about 9/11 could be shudderingly bad. However, it's yet another example of why one should not judge an audiobook by its cover, for it is, in fact, heart-wrenching and hypnotic.

Thomas F. Flynn is a journalist who was caught in a world of hurt when he rushed to the twin towers and watched through ash-filled, bewildered eyes as buildings collapsed and people fell to their death. Because this is told in free-form verse, it hits you in compact, carefully constructed phrases that vibrate with emotion. Flynn headed into the chaos of that "forever September morning" to observe, but ended up running for his life, and later had to come to grips with being a survivor. His memories are so personal and intense that you may have to remember to breathe while listening to them.

Jim Dale, a Briton, was an interesting choice of narrator for this singularly American tragedy. But his performance is every bit as dazzling as when he performs the "Harry Potter" audiobooks. He reads with a simple directness that delivers the poignancy of Flynn's poem without overdoing it. Had he pushed emotion at us, the poem would have come across as merely overwrought and not a vivid and evocative portrait of sheer terror.

While still in a brooding mood, we may as well discuss Paul Auster's new novel, "Man in the Dark." At first it seems to be the story of a 72-year-old man lying in bed and telling himself stories while recovering from a car accident. But Auster's novels are never what they seem, and this is really about surviving, or the question of whether we should even want to.

The story veers from absurdity to horror, from loneliness to the kindness and comfort of family. Auster unravels one thread and brings us deftly to another before we even see him change direction. He reads the novel himself and does so with great surety. All inflections and emphases are his own, which only adds to the novel's intensity. His diction is just a little less distinct than you might wish. Still, this is a small complaint about a story that stays with you days after you've heard it.

Much, much lighter is "The Black Dove," Steve Hockensmith's cute, clever homage to Sherlock Holmes. The first in the series, "Holmes on the Range," was a finalist for the Edgar Award.

It is 1893, and two cowboys of German descent have landed in San Francisco and are soon caught up in solving the murder of a local Chinese doctor. Hockensmith captures the vulgar and vile racism of the time, but his characters use irony and humor to thwart the worst of it. Especially outspoken and funny in her frankness is their sidekick, the mysterious Diana Corvus, a feminist pioneer who seems terribly modern for her time. This story is just for fun - breezy and undemanding.

The reader, however, is another story. William Dufris attacks the dialogue with a golly-gee, hot-dawg Western accent that takes some getting used to.

Another mystery that makes no demand on the listener is "Dead Ex," by Harley Jane Kozak. (BBC Audiobooks America released it only as a library edition, which is why the CD version is so expensive.)

Kozak parodies Hollywood with a deft hand. A former actress, she understands that actors and celebrities really aren't like the rest of us. The story kicks off when a terminally ill soap-opera producer is knocked off the day after Christmas. He was a former beau of greeting-card writer, muralist, and soap-opera correspondent Wollie Shelley, named after "Frankenstein" author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Implicated in the murder is her best friend, so Wollie sets about trying to solve the crime before arrests are made. An underlying theme of Greek mythology is deftly handled, and though it is the third in the series, it easily stands alone.

Narrator Deanna Hurst should refrain from foreign accents, but otherwise her narration is sprightly, and she differentiates well between characters.

Rochelle O'Gorman is a syndicated audiobook critic.