Visions: A Cainsville Novel

By: Kelley Armstrong
Illustrated By: Tony Mauro
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: August 2014
ISBN: 978-0-525-95305-0
Reviewed By: Kristi Benedict
Review Date: August 27, 2014

After discovering that she could not only read but also understand omens, Olivia Taylor-Jones is not surprised that she finds herself comfortable in the small town of Cainsville, as this town is far from ordinary. Even though Olivia cannot place her finger on why this town is so different, she can sense from the elders that she is wanted here.

After finding out her parents are convicted serial killers there are two things on Olivia’s mind; the first is to work with her parents' lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, to drop two charges of murder because they had already found that they were not committed by her parents. The second thing Olivia wants to do is to get back to a somewhat normal life on her own. This was the first time Olivia was truly on her own and she wanted to prove to herself more than anyone that she could make it without help.

However, when Olivia finds the body of a dead girl in her car dressed to look like her things change quickly. There are a few possible reasons why the victim is dressed like Olivia - either someone is threatening her or warning her of her own impending death. Of course the first thing she does is call Gabriel, but when he makes it to the house the body has vanished; was this another omen Olivia just saw in her head or is someone playing with her? Well so much for living that normal life she wanted as Olivia throws herself into researching the identity of this murdered girl and what it has to do with her own life. On top of that Gabriel begins to become overly obsessive about her safety, her ex-fiancé James insists on reconciliation, and a certain handsome young man named Ricky Gallagher is constantly catching her eye. Whether finding this body was an omen or a warning planted by someone, Olivia knows there she has little time to find out how all of this relates to her before someone may try to kill her.

Even though I have not read the first book in this series, Omens, I had no trouble getting into this story. The writing of Armstrong is raw enough to keep the book intense but also subtle enough to let the reader know the intricate details of the characters. It was brilliant in my mind to include small chapters from some of the other characters' points of view as the author gave me enough insight to relate to each of these characters yet still held something back to keep them intriguing as well. That is a tough balance to accomplish but Armstrong does this amazingly well in addition to creating a strong character in Olivia. As soon as I started the first page there was no putting this book down - I stayed up late reading just to see where the story was going and what dangers would be coming next. After reading this book I definitely will take some time to pick up the first one as well.

Quill says: A gripping story that will have the reader wishing for their own foresight just to know what’s going to happen next.