Polterheist [Dramatized Adaptation]

Esther Diamond, Book 5

By: Laura Resnick

Narrated by: full cast, Colleen Delany, Thomas Keegan, Tim Carlin, Bob Payne, Nick DePinto, Jonathan Feuer, Lawrence Redmond, KenYatta Rogers, Scott McCormick, Eleanor Todd, Terence Aselford

Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

In the days leading up to Christmas, struggling actress Esther Diamond is working as a singing-and-dancing elf at Fenster & Co, a major Manhattan department store. As if dealing with hordes of holiday shoppers isn't bad enough, Esther's ex-almost-boyfriend, Detective Connor Lopez, is on the scene investigating a series of mob-related truck hijackings of Fenster's merchandise. Semi-retired hitman Lucky Battistuzzi is also nosing around, since the mob resents being implicated in thefts they didn't commit. But when supernatural mishaps occur, Esther realizes this is more than the usual holiday insanity - it's time to call in her friend Max, Manhattan's resident mage.

Esther and Max discover that Fenster's has become the staging ground for the rebirth of an ancient demon that's plotting to escape its mystical prison on the winter solstice. As dimensional barriers crumble, can Esther rescue her fellow elves, save her city from demonic disaster, and collect her paycheck in time to make rent?

Performed by Colleen Delany, Thomas Keegan, Tim Carlin, Bob Payne, Nick DePinto, Jonathan Feuer, Lawrence Redmond, KenYatta Rogers, Scott McCormick, Eleanor Todd, Terence Aselford, Kimberly Gilbert, Bradley Smith, Eva Wilhelm, Michael John Casey, Audrey Bertaux, Sasha Olinick, Elizabeth Jernigan, Paul Reisman, Andy Clemence, Nora Achrati, Thomas Penny, Maggie Donnelly, Matthew Bassett, Richard Rohan, Evan Casey, Ken Jackson, Sue Jin Song, Tracy Olivera.

©2012 Laura Resnick (P)2017 Graphic Audio, LLC

Another 1 trick supernatural pony

This whole series has turned out to be more about struggling actors and an on-again off-again romance than about urban fantasy. Other than book three, each book features a villain doing magic and
non-magical Esther stumbling into the fray. Other than the villain, there’s no one else doing magic,
nor are there other supernatural creatures.

In addition to being starved for fantasy parts, I’m annoyed at the nonsensical formulas.
-Why doesn’t three centuries old mage Max ever do any magic? In each book, his purpose only seems to be to give magical info dumps explaining what they’re up against,
-Why keep Det. Lorenzo in the dark about magic? The drag queens, mobster Lucky, and actor Jeff all reappear here, and all of them had their eyes opened to magic, yet Esther and Max keep the detective in the dark because?
-What’s the explanation for ordinary girl Esther to keep running into magical mysteries?

Finally, I feel an author willing to drop F bombs should be willing to write sex scenes. Or, an author giving us fade to black, cozy romance should keep the language clean. This series has been dropping F bombs and teasing the romance since book 1- and yet there’s apparently never going to be anything beyond kisses and the eternal promise of a future HEA. I feel like Charlie Brown, the perpetual sucker, tuning in only to be disappointed again.