THE CHURCH OF DEAD GIRLS

A series of mysterious abductions causes the citizens of a small town to view each other with increasing suspicion and hostility. Listeners will have to decide for themselves whether this is primarily a study of toxic social dynamics or a low-key exercise in kinky sensationalism. Perhaps it is both. The bulk of the text is a restrained, first-person monologue to which Jonathan Marosz gives an appropriate and listenable voice. When other characters do speak, they are differentiated subtly, but with a sure hand. Without histrionics, Marosz maintains tension and focus in a plot that moves, or accumulates, rather slowly. J.N. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]