Customer Reviews

Echoes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How does Rae Voight, the popular girl end up in a mental hospital? Rae had a breakdown in school when she was hearing thoughts that weren't her own. Being that her mother died in a mental institution after murdering someone Rae thinks the same is happening to her.

While forced to attend group therapy she meets Anthony who is very short tempered. Anthony figures out that when Rae touches a finger print she hears what the person was thinking at the time. As Rae spends more time with Anthony she realizes he always goes out of his way to help his family and friends. When accidentally reading Anthony's prints Rae finds out he never knew his father and a lot of anger comes from having a learning disability.

Just as Rae is coming to term with her gift she finds out that someone is trying to kill her. She also starts receiving packages and weird notes that later lead to her mother. The entire time Anthony is at her side trying to help her.

[Anthony KISS HER!]

I really like that Rae has a good handle on all the obstacles thrown her way. I also love that Anthony is sweet and is often misunderstood. I only wish that Rae had picked up on what Anthony felt sooner.

Echos was published earlier as Fingerprints 1-3. The cover is stunning and will make you want to pick it up in bookstores. The stories are easy to devour! My only thought is CLIFFHANGER!!!! Fans of The Body Finder will love this book.

Echoes is actually a re-release of books one through three of the Fingerprints series which was originally published in 2000/2001. Contrary to what another reviewer noted, the entire series is easy to locate, I found it in its entirety on Amazon in two seconds and bought each one for Kindle ($4.99/book). Anyway, I digress. This is, hands down, the best series I have ever read. Melinda Metz has a true gift for creating vibrant characters and drops them into such a fascinating world and the reader is compelled to stay seated until the final page is read. I think what I love most about her writing is that she has an uncanny ability to meld suspense and tension with everyday life. In one scene you're falling through a skylight in the search for a kidnapped friend, in the next you're running late for group therapy. And it works! What's more, there is so much happening that you simply don't notice that you've killed three hours devouring a book.

This book has everything, mystery, suspense, love, heartbreak, teen angst, etc. and it's all blended masterfully into a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The dynamics between Anthony and Rae are electric yet the budding romance is subdue and tender. These two are, at the core of everything, good friends. It's a wonderful lesson for teens, especially in this age where most books tout epic love affairs, that at the heart of it all you should fall in love with your best friend. The paranormal element are truly original and the unfolding mystery is so gripping you simply can't pull yourself away.

This is a must read! And once you've finished, do yourself a favor and complete the series by reading Fingerprints books four through seven.

This is a fun well written story that is easy to get sucked into.. which I did.
The story is based on a High School Jr, Rae Voight, who finds out that she can pick up "echoes", of other peoples thoughts by touching her fingers to theirs, or to the fingerprints left behind on objects they've touched. When the "not-her" thoughts started popping into her head, Rae fears she was going insane like her mother, who had died in a mental hospital when Rae was a baby. The new revelation of Fingerprinting causes Rae to question whether her mother really was crazy or if they had more in common then just their looks.
Rae is a likeable and relatable character, as is hard-to-resist bad boy Anthony. The two form a close friendship after Rae uses her special gift to clear Anthony's name in a criminal case.. which reveals evidence of a much more disturbing conspiracy that could cost them both their lives.
This story has it all.. non-stop action, romance, assassination attempts, kidnapping and murder. Fans of books like the Body Finder and Whisper will enjoy this paranormal mystery which is captivating and hard to put down.

Unfortunately I was unaware that is was a reprint of a older series (books #1-3).. which is great, aside from the fact that the series is a collection of 7 total books (not a trilogy)... and books #4-7 are nearly impossible to get your hands on. Incredibly frustrating!!.. I REALLY hope that HarperCollins Publishing plans to do a reprint of the final 4 books soon, although I was unable find any encouraging evidence of that on the web. I recommend this book.. if you don't mind hunting down the final 4 books, other wise you'll have to be content with the story ending quite unfinished and a huge cliffhanger to chew on.

I picked this series up after the first 3 were re-released with this fabulous new cover. Pretty, yes? Melinda Metz is fabulous, so it pains me to say that I have never read her books before. Problem fixed! Cause I'm a fan. Which is why I continued to read the rest of the series after reading the re-issued 3.

This is such a cool premise for a book. Not just thoughts, but thoughts from fingerprints. Rae's character is really entertaining too. After having a mental breakdown of sorts she has to attend group therapy where she meets Anthony, who has a bit of an anger problem and sarcastic, witty attitude. I love how Rae can just let it roll off her shoulders and get to know him.

Anthony was such a great character. He made this series for me. Hes angry and angsty on the outside and caring and cute on the inside. He is like those sour patch kid commercials... "first he's sour, then he's sweet." LOL.

Rae really goes through an emotional journey throughout it all. The relationship with Anthony was probably the only semi- normal, albeit frustrating, thing in her life. He really becomes her best friend. Although there is a book where he totally bugs me by being blind to how Rae's feelings.

This series was action packed and full of mystery with just the right amount of romance. Definitely check this series out. What kind of mystery you ask? She's being stalked, possibly hunted down for murder, a secret organization is involved, her friend gets kidnapped.... I could go on and on but you really just need to read them all.

What a way to hold someone in suspense! The summary above is not identical to what's usually on the back cover of a book. So pretty much when I began reading it I had no idea what Rae's deal was. I honestly thought she was going crazy like everyone else in the novel. We're almost halfway into the book before it is finally revealed how she can hear these thoughts. I was a bit relieved that it wasn't just her hearing people's thoughts. Finally something different!

Rae is popular. She has a great boyfriend, bff, and even the reserved lunch table. Then one day her perfect life goes up in smoke when she begins hearing voices. She's put into a hospital until she finally convinces everyone that she no longer hears the "voices". Of course this is a lie, but it works. Only now she has to go to these group meetings which is where she meets Anthony.

I love Anthony out of all the characters because he's labeled as a bad guy but he's really not. He's a sweetheart deep down and is just misunderstood. Anthony is the first to shed some light on Rae's "gift". As far as the romance aspect, every time I thought it was coming it would sort of fall flat. To be honest I'm fine with them just being good friends. I really didn't feel the chemistry between them in that way.

By the time I closed this book I was pretty angry. Imagine going up on a roller coaster and getting stuck at the top right before it's supposed to come all the way down. That's this whole book! Except by the time you turn the last page you have even more questions than you did when you first started it. UGh!! I need to know the answers now. I felt like someone had played a cruel joke on me but nope. That was really the end. If this drives you nuts like it did me, you should probably wait for the next book in the series to come out before reading this one.

When I saw this at the bookstore I was shocked and so excited to see one of my all-time favorite series again!

I love the unique twist Metz puts on your typical young adult sci-fi books. She somehow makes Rae's crazy powers of reading people's minds through their fingerprints into something believable.
The characters are complex and full of their own unique problems, quirks and personalities. She includes problems (like drugs/theft/learning disabilities) that you don't always come across in young adult novels and shows that you can overcome them. All in a realistic, non-cheesy kind of way.
You learn about the characters based on how they interact with those around them (especially Anthony, who is amazing!) which to me always makes the characters seem so much more realistic and interesting.
I love how the main characters mutually help each other out with their problems, also how there is often more than one storyline/conflict going on in each part of the book.

I was devastated when Melinda Metz's Fingerprint series stopped after book #7 (Payback) leaving me wanting to read more! I'm hoping that since she is re-releasing the series that the story will continue on and end on a more resolved note than the ending in Payback left us with.
Also I think that it's nice that she updated certain bits in this book to make it more modern, lol.

I really hope to hear about the next book coming out soon!