Maplecroft

You may think you know the story of Lizzie Borden, but in this series launch, Priest (Jacaranda) turns it on its head. Evil is afoot in Fall River, MA, and it is up to Lizzie Borden—suspected, though never charged, of brutally murdering her father and stepmother—to stop it. Alongside her near-bedridden older sister, Emma, and the town doctor, Lizzie picks up her axe once again to stop the impending doom slowly seeping into town from the sea. The twist of Lizzie acting out of self-preservation in the familiar story makes this work, written in journal format, an interesting and unexpected listen. The points of view shift among characters, keeping the story lively, but in the end, the listener is left with the same questions postulated at the start of the novel. Narrators Johanna Parker and Roger Wayne vivify these characters. Parker perfectly exudes Lizzie's range of emotions and Emma's ailing, while Wayne's even tone portrays the doctor's search for reason amid the madness.