TANTALIZE

With her chef murdered and her missing shape-shifter boyfriend the prime suspect, Quincie, age 17, has a month to open Sanguini's, a vampire-themed restaurant. There's just too much on her plate, which is the same problem that plagues this overly ambitious supernatural thriller. The stew of overdone plot twists and subtexts thwarts narrator Kim Guest's valiant efforts to save this doomed romance. After a suspenseful opening chapter, Guest finds few opportunities to vocalize Quincy's grief, worry, and fear. The campy atmosphere at Sanguini's undermines the serious murder mystery, forcing Guest to portray Quincie as a confident young woman more stressed about revamping the restaurant than by the genuine vampires invading the neighborhood. A good narrator can't spice up what should have been a tantalizing story. M.M.O. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]