ONE DEATH, NINE STORIES

Nine well-known YA authors contribute linked stories about 19-year-old Kevin Nichols, who has just committed suicide. Dion Graham reads the parts of the male characters, beginning with Morris, who has just started work at his uncle's mortuary when Kevin's body arrives. Graham's portrayal of Morris is dispassionate, and he affects a different distanced tone as one of Kevin's friends recounts an initiation ritual. Christina Traister reads the female characters' stories with more emotion. There's fury in the story of a young woman Kevin has talked into sex, and feelings run just as strong as a bitter mortuary cosmetologist shows more interest in sorting out her past than in preparing Kevin's body. The stories, largely bleak and dark, form a disturbing, complex portrait of Kevin and the characters in the linked stories. S.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2014]