cover image One Past Midnight: The Langoliers

One Past Midnight: The Langoliers

Stephen King. HighBridge Audio, $36.95 (26pp) ISBN 978-1-59887-747-2

When passengers aboard the American Pride flight to Boston awake to discover that most of the other passengers have disappeared, fear and panic ensues. After managing to land the plane, they find the world abandoned. While Willem Dafoe is a powerful actor, that ability doesn't necessarily guarantee a great audio performance. His choices for character voices are sometimes too caricatured and occasionally inconsistent. He also makes a great deal of mouth sounds (opening his mouth, clicking tongue, etc.). In general, he narrates well, but his noises distract somewhat from King's novella. The added musical soundtrack also detracts from this 1990 production (issued on CD for the first time), since often it's King's words with an accompanying silence that make the most intense experience for listeners.