LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

This dystopian novel begins with a 4-year-old being abandoned by her parents. Kevin T. Collins provides a confident voice for this dark new world in which the government is the supreme authority and the orphaned protagonist is shuffled from one orphanage to another. The minute details involved in the descriptions of the characters and settings may be distracting in print, but Collins makes them engaging by varying his tone, pitch, and pace. He evokes pity for the child without going over the top. M.R. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2014]