THE SWELLS

Other than an engaging narration by Eva Kaminsky, THE SWELLS doesn't live up to its promise as a "darkly hilarious satire." Its concept is amusing--a luxury liner filled with aging, excessively wealthy passengers experiences a class mutiny mid-ocean. Sadly, the story stretches credibility, and the characters remain merely caricatures. Kaminsky creates the hapless Briony, a travel writer. As the story gets turned on its head, the crew become pampered guests, while the passengers are forced to take on crew duties. Working-class Briony finds herself torn between the one-percenters and the mutinying crew. Kaminsky does her best with the stereotyped characters, but they are one dimensional and hardly believable. Kaminsky's adept performance saves the audiobook from being a total disappointment. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2022]