Illusion Town

July 11, 2016
Beginning a new adventure set on the world of Harmony, Castle (Siren’s Call) delves deep into the futuristic paranormal underground to create a scintillating mystery that just happens to be a captivating romance as well. Hannah and her dust bunny companion, Virgil, are quite happy living in Illusion Town, a city where “the thrills are real.” They run a shop specializing in crystals, and glory in Hannah’s role as the finder of lost objects. Hannah breaks her cardinal rule and agrees to a date with a client. Unfortunately, they wake up the next morning to find that they’re married, with no memory of where and how they got that way. The deeper they delve into that mystery, the more questions are raised related to their psychic abilities and their respective careers. The eerie setting—part alien, part postapocalyptic, part Las Vegas—serves as an excellent background for the unexpectedly sweet romance. Some hilarity ensues, courtesy of Virgil, but the vast majority of the plot contains nuanced layers of history wrapped in enigmas, leading to an unexpected and delightful conclusion. Agent: Steven Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.

Barbara Rosenblat tells the tale of Hannah West and Elias Coppersmith, descendants of the original colonists from Earth, who now live on the planet Harmony. Both have developed their paranormal abilities. Joined together in a marriage of convenience, they must figure out who is after Hannah and why. The raspy quality of Rosenblat's voice lends itself better to male characters. Listeners may find Rosenblat's portrayal of Hannah distracting as it tends to make Hannah sound older than she's supposed to be. Nonetheless, listeners will enjoy this production if they can look past the gravelly narration and focus on the story itself. S.B. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine