WATER GHOSTS

Rich description is the order of the day in WATER GHOSTS, a soft-focus portrait of Locke, California, a community founded by immigrants. When a boat mysteriously glides down river into town, the lives of Locke's residents are jolted by faces from the past and fears for the future. Laural Merlington embraces both the voices and the imagery with a skilled performance, keeping the pace appropriately slow and carefully enunciated. Still, with an eye for setting at the expense of character and plot, this novel feels awkward and, at times, stagnant as an audiobook. Instead of being drawn into empathy or suspense, the listener is kept at arm's length by the prose, making this a novel better suited to the page than to headphones. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]