Dark Shadows Audio Book 34 - Beneath the Veil

Another road trip (this time to New Orleans), another Dark Shadows audio drama to enjoy along the way.  Beneath the Veil continues the story of Eve, the creation made as a companion for Dr. Lang's own Frankenstein monster, Adam.  This drama picks up after the events of Dreaming of the Water, and the doctor treating Sebastian Shaw finds a colleague murdered - only to be murdered himself.  Enter Alfie Chapman and Emma Finney, a young English couple whose car unexpectedly breaks down outside of Collinsport.  The two are exploring the sites of various mass murders and are morbidly thrilled to find that Collinsport is filled with unexplained events and deaths.  Only, everything is not what it seems.  Eve harbors the secrets of her past, there is a murderer loose in Collinsport, and even Alfie is hiding something dark within him.

This is the kind of story that Dark Shadows was made for.  I love the fact that it picks up from a previous story, and even the ending sets the stage for the next audio tale.  Although Eve, Alfie, and Emma are the main characters, we do get appearances by Sebastian Shaw, Maggie Evans, and Carolyn Stoddard, all portrayed by the original actors - as well as Amy Jennings, who is portrayed by a new actress.  Plus, Jim Hardy is in the tale, and he becomes the new sheriff when Patterson becomes a victim of the killer in the story (and thus, I now know why he's the sheriff in the Bloodlust story that came out last year and I listened to before this one...).

We have a reanimated corpse, a voodoo witch, a Ouija board, and so much horror/mystery that it is clear the writer of this tale knows Dark Shadows.  Plus, the continuity that is used keeps the feeling of an ongoing show alive - with characters being used or at least mentioned from prior audio tales - Bernard Kear and Anton Thompson from Dreaming of the Water; Brett Hawker and Gerald Conway from The House by the Sea; Mrs. Haggerty from The Ghost Watcher; Mike Garner and Dr. Gretchen Warwick from Curse of the Pharoah; and Ed Griffin, who has appeared in a number of stories.  There is also set up for future stories, such as the mysterious nursery rhyme and the use of Tom Lacey, who is one of the main characters in the upcoming drama, Beyond the Grave.

My continued love of this show is being kept alive by these audio stories, and with this year being the 50th anniversary of the debut of Dark Shadows, along with the special story that Big Finish Productions has planned, I hope they pick back up with more dramas (since there haven't been any other CDs solicited after the 50th story).

RATING:  10 possessed Ouija boards out of 10 for not only continuing the story, but for keeping it dark and haunting at the same time.