Clean Air

In her second novel, after the award-winning Naamah, Blake combines dystopia, supernatural, suspense, and a serial killer to create an unusual listen that includes the COVID pandemic as a historical event. It’s been a decade since The Turning, when all the trees on Earth over-pollinated and polluted the air. Millions died. Izabel and her husband Kaito survive by living in a dome in Philadelphia with their young daughter, Cami, masking every time they leave the house. When a serial killer begins slashing domes to kill families, Izabel becomes obsessed with keeping hers safe, even while her daughter talks in her sleep and mysteriously reveals the killer’s secrets. Argentine narrator Sol Madariaga shines when Izabel sings to her daughter in Spanish, and although some phrases are rushed and a few words are mispronounced, there are no major audio or production errors. Listeners will want to find out who the killer is, even if the plot is wrapped up a bit too nicely in the end.