A few years back, I want on a short Robert Ludlum jag in my Audible subscriptions, since it turns out that technothrillers work really well in the audio form. I noticed a common theme in the books: both books featured clandestine agents who were betrayed; both books were read by the same guy. Both books prominently featured -- usually when this secret agent was confronted with evidence that somebody in the (GASP) intelligence community had betrayed him -- the phrases "It was madness!" or "It was insanity!" No, really. Both books. Both phrases. Both read by the same narrator.

So, when I started to listen to the Da Vinci Code (what can I say, the movie trailer got me interested, and hey, it was better than the Margaret Weis fantasy drivel I'd gotten a few hours into), I noticed that the narrator's voice was familiar. Sure enough, it was Paul Michael, who'd narrated the Ludlum books. So I joked to Carrie that it was only a matter of time before the phrases came up.

Yeah. You can see where this is going.

Now I'm wondering if this guy has some kind of contractual obligation to narrate all audiobooks that are chock full of madsanity.