Clouded Vision. Linwood Barclay (Quick Reads 2011): Amazon.ca: Linwood Barclay: Books

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3.0 out of 5 stars Clouded Vision, April 5 2012

By

seamus - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Clouded Vision. Linwood Barclay (Quick Reads 2011) (Paperback)

It was an O.K. book, not up to Linwood Barclay's standards, a quick read. Read something like a draft for a book. Maybe that is what it was supposed to be.

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Amazon.com: 4.2 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Nifty Short Story, Feb 12 2011

By Julia Flyte - Published on Amazon.com

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Before you order this, you should be aware that it is not a full length novel, but only a novella which will take you maybe an hour - if that - to read.

Nevertheless it's a nifty little story about a con artist who poses as a psychic. She makes a living by visiting the relatives of missing people and extorting money from them in exchange for invented facts about their missing relatives. In this instance, her target is the anxious husband of a missing woman, whose fate we already know. The story unfolds alternating between the perspectives of different characters, with a couple of nice twists to hold your interest.

I applaud Linwood Barclay for recognizing it as the simple story that it is, rather than trying to stretch it out into a longer format. The perfect commuter read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Con Artist Decides to Target the Wrong Victim Short Story, Mar 12 2011

By James N Simpson - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Clouded Vision. Linwood Barclay (Quick Reads 2011) (Paperback)

Clouded Vision is a short story which is a bit different to Barclay's novels, where Harlan Coben style, an everyday type person suddenly facing a hurdle threatening their own or a family members life and we sit back and enjoy a nice long thriller where the central character will be tested to limits they didn't even know they had. What Barclay presents here is a con artist who preys on victims with a missing family member by listening to their responses to her questions and making up a fictitious story that seems plausible to her victims on the whereabouts of their loved one (after they've forked over her large fee of course). We the reader, from the first chapter know what has happened to a woman named Ellie however all Keisha Ceylon knows is what she saw on TV from the husband and heavily pregnant daughter's tearful media plea for information. We also know before Keisha arrives at the family home that she is a con artist but Wendell the missing woman's husband suspects but doesn't know this for sure, and if Keisha plays her con too well her days as a con artist will come to an end forever!

It's certainly no masterpiece, but it is a good simple short story. Although fans of Barclay expecting the normal challenge of working out who's behind the disappearance may be disappointed to not have that challenge by it being revealed early on in the story. Disappointingly with the main remainder of the story being pretty much just a how will these characters play out the drawn out his tension scene read, there aren't really any surprises, what you predict will happen is exactly what does. Also disappointing is that there is no real satisfaction level comeuppance for the villain either.

This isn't as good as Barclay's full length novels by any means, however you've got to remember this is a submission for Quick Reads so it does have to be written for a certain reading level. You've got to give the accolades to Barclay for becoming part of that worthy cause to increase literacy levels by encouraging those who don't like to read beyond magazines and comic books to try fiction through cheap priced short story length fiction. Those with that limited exposure to literature, I think will be less likely to see the predictability of the plot and will enjoy the more simpleness of the basic no possibility of confusion style story. A lot of other top name author contributors have put in pretty average submissions for Quick Reads, Barclay's Clouded Vision is one of the better contributions to this project.

Those who don't read novels will enjoy this. Any Barclay novel fan, also won't mind spending an hour or so of thier time picking up and reading this, especially if you can get it off the shelf at the cheap released price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars . . . So Much for Simple Plans, Jun 21 2011

By Eric Wilson "novelist" - Published on Amazon.com

Being a Linwood Barclay fan, I was thrilled to see this novella available at an affordable price on my Kobo Touch. This is everything you expect from Barclay: characters with mixed motives, backgrounds that lead to tough decisions, and a plot that twists and turns. In a story that can be read in an hour, Barclay manages to keep us guessing till the end.

"Clouded Vision" brings back Keisha, a psychic of questionable powers who appeared in an earlier novel of his. Once again, Keisha hopes to make a quick buck (or one thousand bucks) off someone who has lost a loved one. In this case, a woman named Eleanor has gone missing, and Keisha approaches the grieving husband to offer her services for a price. But her conniving ways lead to unexpected consequences. Secrets are revealed. The truth is exposed. And everyone involved faces danger beyond that which they originally expected. So much for all their simple plans.

If you love the short stories of O. Henry with a modern twist, or if you love the modern mysteries of Coben and Barclay in a condensed form, "Clouded Vision" is a great way to spend an hour of easy reading.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews 4.2 out of 5 stars