Review : Clarity

Posted by kay on May 3, 2011 10:55 am in 3.5 stars reads | 6 comments

Clarity by Kim Harrington
Pages : 242
Genre : YA, Mystery, Paranormal
Series : Clarity, Book 1
My Rating :

What it’s about :

Clare’s family isn’t exactly a regular one : her brother talks to spirits, her mom reads other people’s thoughts and she herself can see the past through objects.

When a young woman is found dead, Clare’s cheating ex-boyfriend immediately thinks of her to help solve the case. She then gets paired up with the new detective’s son, Gabriel, and finds herself caught between the guy she loved and the guy she could love. But more than that, she finds herself caught in the middle of an investigation that gets more and more dangerous by the day…

My Thoughts :

Clarity hadn’t really caught my attention (except for its beautiful cover) until I read Meg’s review of it. I will admit that I had  little expectations for the novel despite Meg’s very positive review. Paranormal novels are numerous in the YA world and many of them feel similar to me.

Clarity ended up being a really positive reading experience though. First, I enjoyed that the mystery took over the paranormal side aspect, in such a way that it felt normal that Clare could experience past events through objects. Which it would be, to someone having grown up with this ability, but I think the author did a good job of translating this into the story. Even though her family’s particularities distinguished her from everyone, she felt like one of the most regular heroines I’ve seen in YA fiction.

The mystery itself is an interesting one. There are many characters and therefore, many suspects to choose from. The story keeps you guessing from the beginning, and even though one of my suspects turned out to be the right one, there was more going on than I could have guessed until reaching the conclusion. I was intrigued from the start, and the clues were evenly given through the story, keeping my interest in check.

I also loved that there was more than the mystery going on in Clare’s life, even though the murder is at the center of the book. Her romantic life, while present, isn’t the subject of the book, and by the conclusion I really have no idea where this is leading. Her family life takes an even more important place : her brother is far from perfect, but the bond between them is strong and she spends the biggest part of the story trying to protect him. Then there’s also her parents story and her search for her father, which is lightly mentioned but let me think we’ll probably hear more about it in the next book.

All in all, this was an intriguing mystery with a touch of paranormal and romance that, I think, could be enjoyed by lots of different readers.

Series reading order :

1. Clarity
2. Perception (coming March 2012)