ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION

Cassandra Campbell has a difficult mission. She must convince listeners to suspend their disbelief and accept a world that darts between the real and the otherworldly. Nine-year-old Norah arrives in the middle of the night at the home of the lonely Mrs. Quinn. Mrs. Quinn's daughter, Erica, ran away ten years earlier, and she willingly takes in the child and makes up a story to explain her presence. Campbell's narration during this section of the story is whispery. Is she conveying secrecy, Norah's mysterious nature, or the questionable traits of the precocious child? Campbell's reading is more substantial when the character of Erica re-enters the story. She is more solidly developed than the angelic Norah, whose enigmatic, ethereal qualities may or may not hook the listener. S.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2009]