INSATIABLE

Meena Harper is disappointed when her soap opera adds a vampire story line, but her life becomes a soap opera when she falls for Lucien Antonescu, the real-life Prince of Darkness. Emily Bauer’s bubbly voice captures Meena’s girlish whimsy but doesn’t always express the dark depravity of her vampire enemies or the dogmatism of the vampire slayers. Bauer does her best with pedestrian dialogue and fully characterizes Meena’s naïveté, regardless of how much listeners may grow impatient with it. There are some audio treasures here. In particular, one can even tell from Bauer’s delivery when Meena is talking to her dog. As Meena faces a full-scale vampire war in a New York City cathedral, listeners will find themselves rooting for her survival. C.A. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010]