THE VANISHERS

Julia Severn hopes her psychic abilities will help her uncover the reasons behind her mother’s suicide when she was a baby. While at a psychic institute, her jealous mentor inflicts a psychic attack that renders Julia horribly ill. Then Julia takes a psychic job investigating pornographic filmmaker Dominique Vargas, who may have a connection to her mother. Narrator Xe Sands connects viscerally with listeners, increasing their dread as she describes Julia’s insidious illness. Her languid reading evokes the dreamlike quality of the prose and softens Julia’s raw suffering. Cool tones highlight the clinical approach Julia uses to protect herself from her mother’s betrayal. Sands’s slow, clear reading dramatizes the psychological effects of abandonment and exploitation. C.A. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2012]