Customer Reviews

Doom with a View (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 7)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While I'm not normally a fan of these psychic types of novels, I've enjoyed this series in the past. However, I didn't think this one was all that good.

The thing I found most annoying -- why can't these people talk instead of singing and squeaking everything? I felt like I was reading a story with Minnie Mouse and friends as the main characters!

While the concept was good, I didn't like the way the author played it out where Abby and Candice were concerned. They repeatedly disobeyed direct orders from the FBI and did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted while the head FBI guy just kind of sat around and smirked at them while letting them get away with everything. It started to seem that the author was sending a message -- as long as you're dating an FBI agent, you can break whatever laws and rules you want and do whatever you want...and when an agent or someone in authority tries to intervene, they'll be stopped and made to look like a fool. And yes, we'll take the word of a civilian psychic over the word of trained FBI agents and profilers when it comes to solving cases...even if she can't manage to act like a professional while working on a case her boyfriend is involved with (I mean, calling Dutch "cowboy" and "sweetheart" in FBI group meetings? Get serious!) and her partner acts like some kind of smug nutjob. Abby put Dutch's job in jeopardy so many times, yet there wasn't one cross word from him about it? The whole thing just got comical after awhile.

I admit to not knowing anything at all about psychics, but I just find some of the stuff in these books to be questionable. In the last book, it was why, if Abby had intuition telling her not to leave a casino and wins a large sum of money, every psychic on the planet isn't out getting rich in Vegas. This time, it's why any psychics are hurt or killed in accidents if a premonition keeps them from getting in a vehicle that's going to crash. And I don't understand all this "radar" stuff -- it dings, it bings, she "tunes it to investigate." I was starting to think she was carrying one of those little dashboard speed detectors around in her back pocket!

When I started the series, I found the psychic angle somewhat interesting. Now it seems almost cartoonish and over the top. I hope the author cuts back on that aspect of it, or I may need to find another series.

Not sure about this book, even though I've read all seven books, Laurie is now throwing things in that really make the story seem silly.

Abby Cooper and best friend private investigator Candice team up to help the FBI find three missing college students. Not only are all three missing, and presumed dead, but they all happen to be the children of important political leaders.

Bill Gaston, who has worked with Abby in the past, and has full faith in her abilities, brings her in much to the chagrin of the ever lovable Brice Harrington, who decided to put Abby through quite a bit of harassment. But when Abby starts putting the pieces together, much to the dismay of Harrington, what can he do, but follow Abby to the rather convoluted ending to this story.

Gee, a cold-hearted political figure with a secret life. People damaged in the process. Secrets kept at any cost. Seems to much in the realm of been there, done that. Hopefully, the next book will make a better impression.

Major Spoilers Below! SPOILERS!!

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So let me get this straight. A teenage girl has been missing for four months. The "psychic" knows she's still alive but running out of time. Rather than spending her time trying to locate the girl who's STILL alive, trapped with a psycho killer and going to die soon, she traipses all over using her psychic abilities to tune in on finding first the missing corpses, then the NEXT potential victim, leaving the girl trapped with a murderer for a few extra days, just because? Uh hello, is Abby Cooper the single most idiotic, completely clueless dimwit on the planet or what?

I mean seriously, if your main character is a complete lackwit who can't prioritize better than that, what's the point of even reading the series. I don't root for stupid.

I used to love this series. The last few books as well as this one
have not been up to par. Now Abby giggles, squeals, trembles and
crys. Dutch calls her Babe and doll.As mentioned in another review,
Abby does not target the missing teen, instead wanders all over the place. I want my old Abby back. It is like having a boy friend gave
her a lobotomy. I do not believe that I will be going to Texas with
Abby.
So many of the various series that I avidly follow have gone belly up.

I've read all of Laurie's books and sometimes I ask myself the simple question: WHY? This is the seventh installment of the Abby Cooper series and while Ms. Laurie's writing is better in this one, it is still a long way from good. What keeps me coming back in hopes of a stellar book are the flashes of really good writing, a generally tight plot and somewhere in all the prose are the likable characters.

Ms. Laurie's writing seems very inconsistent to me. When she talks of psychic issues her writing always comes across as strong and confident, but often when she is not dealing with the psychic realm her writing is very uneven.

One of the most annoying features of her books are her attempts at humor with her characters and their dialogue as well as their propensity towards nicknames and Doom with a View was no exception. Both Abby, the protagonist and Dutch, her lover are in their 30's and often their dialogue is that of a 12 or 13 year old. The Bogart "sweethot" is so way overdone as is their simpy terms of "Edgar" and "Cowboy." I've lived in Michigan and traveled throughout the state and I don't know that I ever met anyone who talks like her characters talk--in Michigan or in any of the other 49 states.

Ms. Laurie's grasp of dialogue is improving, but is still poor. Her characters don't sound like they are mature adults, but often sound more like teens vying for attention. However, this book was truly an improvement over the last six. The focus on Candace and Harrison provided a welcome relief to the often immature relationship Abby has with Dutch. Personally I am tired of the silly nicknames, winking and giggling and squealing her main characters go through. How many times do you wink at someone in a week? Evidently her characters do it daily, if not hourly, as well as sing their lines at each other, squeal them, and giggle. Dialogue where Dutch calls her "doll" and "sweethot" is too contrived. Her characters wink, squeal and sing their lines until you want to gag.

I also find it irritating how Abby butts into Dutch's cases whenever the fancy takes her. She doesn't discuss butting in with him nor does she let him know just goes ahead and does it and jeopardizes his job time and again. It was nice to see her paired with someone else in this book and she wasn't as defiant as she has been in the past to his wishes. In other words, normally if he tells her to be quiet she isn't. Or if he tells her not to visit a suspect, she does. It is a wonder Dutch is still employed in this book after her antics in the last book.

The plot and resolution in this book was a little contrived, but overall it kept you reading and guessing!

On the positive side, the books improve as each one is written. Ms. Laurie generally provides a good plot and works her way through it to a conclusion in an interesting way. This book was refreshing in that it focused more Candace who isn't as silly or immature as Abby can be as she attacks life and the mystery. Harrison was a welcome relief too from Dutch who puts up with Abby's immaturity. Personally I hope Harrison and Candace feature more prominently in future books as they are a nice contrast to Abby and Dutch's immaturity.

While I have been loving this series, I really had a hard time getting into this one. Perhaps it's because the story is a bit more tedious without any real edge of your seat clues until around the end. Mostly this book is about Abby and Harrison and the friction in belief vs. non-belief. I am debating waiting to start book eight just to give myself a rest from Abby and the gang. My hope is this was just a bump in the road. Of course also being an author I completely understand how hard it is to keep the momentum going with a series of books. I hope this one doesn't fizzle out like Charlaine Harris did. Sometimes 6-7 books is enough - that's usually where series' start losing me because they kinda start losing the author, too.

I have been a fan of the Psychic Eye series since the first installment. I was slightly disappointed in the last book, and I atrributed that to the change of location and the lack of teamwork between Abby and Dutch. Again I read this book and felt slightly disappointed. And I think that I have pinpointed my disappointment. I liked the books more when Abby was getting involved in crimes from clients, not by being involved with the FBI. I know that this is a cozy series, so some stretching of the imagination is required, but the fact that the FBI would have put up with Abby and Candace's stunts really seemed to ask me to really let my imagination go. I also really missed Kat and Milo in this book, and with some of the changes that took place, I have a feeling that we will not be seeing much of them in future novels, but more of the FBI cases. As another reviewer mentioned, Ms. Laurie's writing strength seems to shine thru when she is doing the "psychic thing" and with Abby taking on more of the FBI stuff, it seems like we are moving away from that strength, where the visions came while Abby was reading a client.

I will try the next book to see how things are going to be with the upcoming changes, but I still miss the old Abby who was a psychic and worked with her own clients. True rating would be about 3.5.

I've read them all. I loved the last book and felt it demonstrated an overall improvement.Death Perception (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 6). This book did not fulfill the promise of the last. This one is tiring. This author loves to have her characters running around getting in and out of scrapes they should have been wise enough to avoid in the first place. All the zaniness and lies to the boyfriend or authority figures gets to be boring. The plot here was very good and had lots of potential.

I still like Abs, the protagonist, her "crew," Dutch, the dogs...., but Candace, Abs's alter ego, really needs to grow up. Everybody is rich, beautiful, and they get away will silly stuff. This is a COZY, people. We shouldn't expect too much in the way of maturity and sophistication. No offense to cozies, some are fabulous. Some are just for fun. Silly fun. This is one of those, perhaps. I think I'll let this series cook for a while. I'll check back in about book 10.

Update: If you like zany, you might like Nutcase by Charlotte Hughes. Not a mystery but everyone looks hot, stays horny, and they do zany things. Nutcase

Psychic Abby Cooper and private investigator Candice share an office where they meet their clients. They are a formidable team who has made a positive impression on FBI Special Agent In Charge Bill Gaston. He asks them to come to DC to work on a task force with other agents headed by politically connected Brice Harrington, who opposes Abby on the team because he believes psychics are con artists.

To prove his point to the others, Brice constructs a biased test, but to his shock, Abby passes rather easily; finding a murder-suicide in the house next door to where one of the tests were held. They earn their place on the task force searching for three missing college students whose only connection seems to be each one has a parent in a political office. They later learn that they all attended with their parents the same conference two years ago. Abby leans from looking at pictures of the missing students that two are dead and the other is dying. Abby's personal crew of spirit guides escort her and Candice in directions that yield clues as to whom is behind the deadly abductions. When a fourth student is kidnapped, Abby, Candice and Brice team up as the latter is now a firm believer.

Victoria Laurie has written a new spellbinding psychic eye whodunit made refreshed by the heroine, used to non-believers in general, on a team made up of non-believing veteran law enforcement skeptics with only her partner knowing what she can do. She changes their mocking opinions when her predictions prove true. The audience will admire the courageous Abby as she diligently works hard at trying to understand what her crew are telling her. At times the story line is amusing especially when Abby constantly trumps Brice who is a believer in the by the SOP investigation until she converts him, but neither lose perspective that the surviving kid(s) comes first.

Harriet Klausner

This series has become a favorite of mine -the character of Abby Cooper, her boyfriend Dutch, and even her PI friend Candice are all unique and interesting. In this 'episode,' Abby is flown to Washington D.C. to assis the FBI with a troublesome case. Her main opposition is the FBI itself - while some of the agents are open to her ideas and insights, most are not. Agent Harrison is completely closed off to Abby and does everything he can to discredit her and her ideas. He is a tough-as-nails FBI agent who wants everything done by the book, and he clashes constantly with Abby, Dutch and Candice as they pursue a wanted criminal. There are also major changes in this book for Abby, Dutch, Candice, and Abby's close friend Dave; the book is really starting to mirror the authors' own life. This book is a definite must if you enjoy the series; it's light and fun and romantic, too. The only downside -the books are more enjoyable if you have the background for the characters and the author doesn't really spend much time recapping for new readers. This series somewhat requires reading, if nothing else, the first book in the series first.