DARK PARTS OF THE UNIVERSE

Narrator Michael Crouch's accent plunges the listener into the Ozarks setting of this YA novel. Willie is most comfortable in his older brother's shadow. He's also at a loss over his parents' separation. Crouch gives listeners a soft-spoken and thoughtful young man whose tone is full of his yearning to better understand his place in the world. At first, the phone game Manifest Atlas appears to offer him an unexpected solution, but ultimately it brings a mysterious death. The dark history of his formerly booming riverside town adds to Willie's introspective journey, filling the story with twists and turns that intertwine horror, the supernatural, politics, and racism. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2024]