GATE CRASHERS

In Tomlinson's latest semi-slapstick, semi-serious sci-fi adventure, narrator Alyssa Bresnahan emphasizes the serious. While on occasion it sounds as if she doesn't get the joke, most of the time her well-crafted, straight-ahead narration offers a welcome safety net to the wacky tale. Wacky? Well, the alien craft looks like a metal hourglass. To summarize: An exploration vessel, named MAGELLAN (Maggie for short), is headed into deep space when it intercepts the hourglass. It's the first potential contact with aliens, so the talkative Maggie and her human crew take it onboard and turn toward Earth, where scientists are scrambling. What could go wrong? Hah! Bresnahan offers a fine array of characterizations and excellent pacing as we prepare to greet the foreigners. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2018]