The Mind Readers - Lori Brighton : A Review

BOOK TITLE: The Mind Readers

ISBN: -

AUTHOR: Lori Brighton

GENRE: Young Adult/ Fantasy

NUMBER OF PAGES: 238

FORMAT: Kindle e-book

SERIES / STANDALONE: The Mind Readers #1

REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: This book was listed as a zero-cost kindle e-book. The YA genre interested me. Plus the element of Fantasy and unique theme warranted a read

REVIEW: The one line story of the book is a girl with mind reading powers and the difficulties she faces. But as much as it dampens expectations, the book does not. It is quite different from the usual fantasy/ supernatural story, and strangely refreshing. The story is a first person narrative of Cameron who could read the thoughts of other people around her. The thoughts are involuntarily forced into her mind and her gift is as much as a curse.

          Cameron is a lonely girl who uses her mind reading abilities to make friends, get good grades and in general just about everything in life. She tries to juggle her abilities and manage to keep it a secret. It proves to be a difficult task because hearing hidden thoughts of people is not always a good thing. But hanging around with her ‘best friend’, Cameron finds it frustrating that all girls her age get boys and think it perfectly okay to seduce men whom she fancies.

          Things take a strange turn in the normally quiet town is invaded by a gun yielding mad man who threatens to kill and rob enters the town. Soon another incident shocks the core of the town. An innocent school girl is murdered by a psycho and Cameron chances to hear his thoughts as he takes a strange satisfaction in committing that murder. In a third incident, a new boy named Lewis enters town and Cameron suspects him. Things soon take quite a turn and happen too fast.

          Events transpire fast and soon Cameron finds that the murderer is dating her best friend and when she tries to warn her friend, her cover is blown away and she is forced to leave town. She is startled when Lewis reveals startling information that he is a mind reader and there are others like him who are trained and guarded in a special place and he offers her refuge there. So Cameron decides to take up the chance and leaves her grandmother who raised her since her mother left her and goes off traipsing with Lewis.

          But once she reaches that place, things are, again, not what they seem and the protectors might as well be the violators, using her talents for their own purpose. And she finds children held in the special facility against their will, and the society holding men from a rival organisation captive. When things get out of hand, Cameron decides to leave but learns that she cannot leave until her memories are erased.

          How Cameron comes out of the predicament forms the rest of the story. In between the turmoil, she is also confused by her feelings of love towards Lewis. The narrative is smooth and soft, with no jarring edges and clean sentences. The emotions of guilt and the overwhelming feeling of uselessness that she feels are brought out brilliantly in the first few chapters. And the teenage angst felt by the protagonist is brought out well. But where the story falters is its casual handling of characters and the feel of planned and scripted scenes shows the author played them out in her head many times before penning them down. So much so the readers will suspect hidden meaning in every scene in the next books in the series.

          But what is most entertaining is the Harry Potter references in abundance throughout the book which will make any real fan laugh a lot. So a fitting end to this review would be to finish with one of the famous quotes of Joanne Rowling, “Only Muggles talk of "mind-reading". The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter - or at least, most minds are.' He smirked. 'It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly” – Severus Snape to Harry Potter, (Order of the Phoenix)

 

WHAT I LIKED: Good lucid storytelling, no over the top characters or fantastical scenes.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: Too much of contemporary literary influence, already over abused story concept (not to blame the author).

VERDICT: Need to wait for the sequels to understand the story better.

RATING: 4/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

As a child, thoughts of far-off places and adventure consistently kept Lori up late at night. After graduating high school, she came to the conclusion that there was no better way to seek adventure and nourish her love of history than to become an archaeologist. She went on to receive a degree in anthropology, but digging in the dirt during humid Midwestern summers wasn’t exactly as fun as she thought it would be.

Instead, she went to work in an air conditioned museum where she spent her days surrounded by creepy Victorian animal mounts. Still, she wasn’t satisfied.

Deciding the people in her imagination were slightly more exciting than the dead things in a museum basement, she set out to write her first romance novel. That book was soundly rejected, as was the next. Years went by and she began to wonder if she’d ever see her dream fulfilled. Until one day she came up with an idea for a book that brought together her love of history and adventure: a book now titled Wild Heart. Since Wild Heart's release, Lori has written Historical Romance, Contemporary Paranormal Romance and Young Adult.

Lori currently resides in the Southern U.S., where she juggles her time between a husband, a son, a golden retriever, a cat and the many, many people in her imagination

 

 

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Kindle

PRICE: Kindle edition is free.

BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Readers-ebook/dp/B004FN1P1Q