THE STRANGE

Sophie Amoss nails the soft Texas accent of the main character in Ballingrud's first novel, which takes place on Mars in 1931. Things have been going awry for the mining colony there since they lost contact with Earth. Annabelle Crisp, age 14, is living with her father and helping out at her family's diner. One night a gang robs the diner and steals a cylinder containing Annabelle's mother's last recording. In response, Annabelle amasses a group to follow the gangsters into the desert to recover the cylinder. Amoss shines in her ability to maneuver between characters, including a British robot. However, her depiction of Annabelle is overdrawn from the outset, making it difficult to recognize the more critical situations and distracting from the story's intrigue. S.K.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2023]