Perfect Timing

September 16, 2013
Sacrificing romance for busy melodrama, the bulk of Spinella’s sophomore effort (after Beautiful Disaster) takes place in flashback, while the present fills in the blanks. Teens Isabel Lang and Aidan Roycroft were best friends, helping each other survive their small Alabama town. When Aidan was arrested for shooting wealthy Rick Stanton, the lover of Isabel’s mother, Isabel bailed Aidan out and they eloped to Las Vegas, but were divorced soon after. Seven years later, Aidan is a wildly successful rock star, while the radio station Isabel works for needs ratings, and the kid-centered nonprofit that she runs on the side could use cash. She asks Aidan to play a show and soon a host of buried feelings and hidden truths are revealed on both sides. Everyone in the enormous cast is agreeably one-note and obedient to the plot. While a few twists keep pages turning, Aidan and Isabel’s flimsy characterization can’t stand up to the torrent of coincidences. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House.

Narrator Rachel Fulginiti expertly navigates listeners through this well-crafted story. Seven years after fleeing Catswallow, Alabama, in the dead of night, Isabel Lang reaches out to her first love, Aidan Royce, now a mega-hot rock star. But there are people who seek to keep them apart and to prevent them from finding answers to a long unsolved crime. Fulginiti provides a warm and friendly voice, subtle inflections, and a natural acting style Her vocal choices for the various characters are spot-on, and her perfectly timed hesitations keep the story engaging. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine