This Census-Taker

Matthew Frow lends his youthful voice to this unsettling and atmospheric story of a runaway child who believes one parent has killed the other. It's a difficult plot to follow, with the story abruptly shifting between first and third person throughout. While Frow's sensitive narration helps the listener navigate this unusual narrative device more deftly, the voices he employs for secondary characters are less helpful, often proving indistinguishable from one another in spite of Miéville's range of colourful supporting characters. Frow's reading nevertheless captures the the darker side of childhood in this novella. Z.S. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine