Mind Over Matter – S. J. Clarke
18 December, 2011
Author: S. J. Clarke
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
Published: November 4th 2011
Pages: 180 (e-book)
Summary: (from goodreads)
For three years Rebecca McKenney has been grieving the loss of her daughter. Now, a vision showing Sabrina three years older, suggests her baby is still alive, and the FBI agent who gave up the search is the only one who can help find her. Rebecca once witnessed a psychic connection between Agent Cooper and her daughter. She only hopes their fragile bond remains-and that the coward has the decency to pursue it.Special Agent Dan Cooper, haunted by a tragic mistake made early in the investigation, agrees to help Rebecca to ease his conscience, if nothing else. Together they fight inner demons, all too real bad guys, and an attraction neither wants to admit to. Each step closer to finding her daughter unearths wide-spread deception and an evil so vile it threatens to break Rebecca’s spirit. The thought of having her daughter back in her arms is all that keeps her going. Until she learns the horrifying truth – her daughter is scheduled to die in mere days.
THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS ***
In all honesty, I struggled with the rating of this novel as, for me, it simply didn’t inspire much of anything. I thought the book was okay but it certainly wasn’t a winner in my personal opinion. The main problem I had with the novel was that I didn’t connect with the story. I believe this was marketed wrong as, while it does have paranormal elements it certainly isn’t first and foremost a paranormal story and this certainly threw me. It looks like the next few books in the series will go into that side of the story more but this book just didn’t dive into the paranormal enough for me to enjoy that side of it.
That being said, this is not a bad book. It is not one that I simply could not finish because it was too horrid. It had an interesting, and somewhat, engaging storyline and it is possible to see that it has been well thought-out. It is also possible to see that it is a necessary ground-building book. One that is leading on to something bigger and better (or at least, this is something I hope it is doing!). I am definitely intrigued enough to say that I would read the second book in the series as soon as it becomes available, even if I didn’t particularly enjoy it, my curiosity has peaked.
The characters in this novel are fairly well-written and for the most part are believable. There were a few times, however, when I cringed over the actions of some characters as it just seemed too unbelievable that, that would happen. But, for the most part, and especially most importantly, all of the main characters seem realistic enough and work well together. It is clear to see how the romance between the tow main characters isn’t too forced as the pair have a history together (even if it does sometimes feel a little incredible that, that history would have happened) but, at least there was a back story for without it, this romance would have surely failed.
Generally speaking, this novel was well-written. It had the odd scenario here and there that went over my head and those few adult-only sections which secluded it from being a young-adult read, but it wasn’t a hard read. It just wasn’t particularly enjoyable, for me. I would not stop others from reading it as while I may dislike it, another may love it. This is the way the cookie crumbles, yes? I just hope that in the next novel of this series that it fills up some of the plot holes and confusing parts of the paranormal side of things as this was never fully explained and had to sort of just be taken as it was told.
All in all, this is a novel for adult readers who like mystery/thriller/crime novels but want something that bends those rules slightly to involve paranormal instances as well. It is an interesting read and one that could lead on to something better. A good, build-up novel.
Faye