Review: Clarity by Kim Harrington

  Title: Clarity
  Author: Kim Harrington
  Publisher: Scholastic UK
  Publication date: 7th June 2012
  My rating: 3.5 stars

 

Clarity “Clare” Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It’s a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare’s ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case—but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare’s brother—who has supernatural gifts of his own—becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

When I first picked up Clarity, I thought it would be your typical paranormal read, but it ended up surprising me in so many ways.

Clarity “Clare” Fern had the gift of retrocognitive psychometry, by touching certain objects she can get visions from them; so what a person may be thinking, doing or feeling. It’s both a good and bad thing having them. When her family does readings for tourists it can be good for business (the rest of her family also have a gift, her mother's a psychic and her brother Perry can connect with spirits) but it can also be a pain in the butt too, people around town think she is a freak and she can find things out by touch when she necessarily didn’t want to. So when a tourist ends up dead, the mayor and his son Justin, Clare’s ex think she could probably help the police solve the case. The police haven’t been having much luck, so may be Clare’s gift could give them the extra point in the right direction, with things already being awkward with Justin, things are made even more weird when a new detective and his son Gabriel move to town. Gabriel is yummy, but he’s also wary of psychics. The mayor thinks that Gabriel and Clare would make the perfect team. So Clare has to solve a murder case, try not to get too distracted by the hottie Gabriel who doesn’t seem to like her anyway, she still has no clue what to do with Justin either and to top it off a new psychic has moved into town who is a major threat to their business . Could things really get any worse?

From the beginning Clarity reminded me of a mash up of charmed and CSI (two of my favourite programmes) solving a mystery with little clues to go by with the infuriating yet charming Gabriel helping her, would they be able to do it or were they just putting themselves into more danger? Clare liked the charmed sisters was a kick butt heroine, she didn’t take any crap from anyone and despite being surrounded by guys (her brother Perry, his best friend Nate, Gabriel and Justin) jumping over themselves to help her out, she could fight her own battles *hooray!* There’s nothing more I like than a girl being able to stand her own ground, and not going to the first guy she gets her hands on. With the situation getting even more dire and her life also being threatened, Clare still refused to back down. I admire the courage she displayed.

Thankfully love triangles don’t seem to bother me as much, so I didn’t have a problem with the Clare- Gabriel- Justin relationship. And it wasn’t like each guy was trying to out do the other so they could make a better impression in Clare’s eyes. Both had admirable characteristics, Justin the ex knew he had made mistakes in the past, but still wanted what was best for Clare. Gabriel the mysterious new guy Could we really totally trust him? Despite his early rudeness and snarky comments he had a sexual ruggedness which I found so appealing. Whenever a love triangle pops up, I usually take one side early on and stick it out. But by the end of this book I was completely torn between Gabriel and Justin.

I’ve started picking up quite a few mystery books in the last week; I’ve been on a run of great ones, and Clarity I’m glad to say will join that pile. The fast pace, different clues trickling in had me captivated; also there was an essence about not knowing who you really could trust. I think that’s what I really enjoyed about this book I had no clue who the killer was until right at the end. It was surprisingly enjoyable having this big shock reveal at the end. Also the ending? What does it all mean? I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on Perception and find out.