BOOK REVIEW: Clouded Vision by Linwood Barclay ★★★★☆

Part of the Quick Read Challenge.

Meet Keisha Ceylon – she’s a nasty piece of work. She tricks families with visions she says will lead to missing loved one. however, one of those dodgy visions gets too close to the truth. someone doesn’t like it – and they’re ready to kill to keep a terrible secret safe. This chilling tale will make your blood run cold.

Barclay began his book career in 2008, before that working in a newspaper column in Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper. He is the number one internationally bestselling author of thirteen novels, including Trust Your Eyes, A Tap on the Window, No Time for Goodbye and that novels follow up, No Safe House.

The start of Clouded Vision is excellent. You have Ellie Garfield waking up, but strapped into her car and covered in blood. You think she can get out but she realizes she is in the middle of a frozen lake and the ice is cracking. Regardless to say, it was chilling and spooky to read about the victim’s account of how she would die.

When she doesn’t come home, her husband Wendell and pregnant daughter Melissa take to the air begging for Ellie to return. Enter Keisha Ceylon a ‘psychic’ or really con artist who beats Winonna (a real psychic) to the Garfield home to help locate Ellie. She’s more interested in taking money from troubled families but Keisha's 'visions' comes too close to the truth of really happened which puts Keisha in danger.

The book ends in a cliff-hanger, with someone telling the truth and someone else walking away with a new murder. Barclay’s intention was to keep the reader at suspense, but no fear. Out of all the short stories I’ve read, this particular one is a condensed version of Barclay's other stories. If you want to find out more about Keisha the read Never Saw It Coming in more detail.

To summarise, although I haven’t read any of Barclay’s work I will give one of his thirteen novels a try. Although other readers complain that it was too short, that doesn’t bother me at all, as I prefer short, to the point stories anyway.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Publishers: Orion
Publication date: February 1st 2011
Genre: Thriller/Short Story