SUMMERLAND

Narrator Erin Bennett is hindered by a plodding, lifeless story that tries the listener’s patience. Her flat delivery is well suited to the stilted, short, declarative sentences. She conveys no emotion as she recounts the aftermath of a graduation-night accident that left one student dead, one in a coma, and two emotionally scarred. The story meanders between the students and their parents, never breathing life into the characters. Repetition of events through the voices of the various characters becomes tedious since there’s no nuance to distinguish their unique perspectives. The simple writing style with its repetitive phrases may have been intended to build suspense, but you know the “secret” long before it’s disclosed, and you really don’t care. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2012]