THE LUMINOUS DEAD

Adenrele Ojo narrates a taut psychological thriller featuring two willful women with a dark connection. Gyre Price lies her way into a cave exploration job on another planet and tirelessly pursues any information about the fate of her mother, who has disappeared. Her handler, Em, guides Gyre from the surface of the planet with a heavy and manipulative hand. Gyre's haunting journey into an unexplored cave is rife with monsters both real and imagined. Ojo imbues Gyre with a youthfulness that is at odds with her harrowing situation. Struggling under the weight of a weak narrative, Ojo's delivery, nevertheless, maintains a creeping paranoia. The story seems to work better in audio form, thanks to Ojo's earnest voice. She grabs the listener's attention and ramps up the claustrophobia. J.M.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2019]