Trick of the Eye [Hardcover]

Dennis Haseley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2004

Richard has started seeing things. And hearing them too. Suddenly he has discovered that he can communicate with the characters in paintings. And they’ve begun to tell him that there’s something he has forgotten—something important in his past that he’ll be able to remember if only he can find the right painting. Does he dare look for it? Does he dare remember?

In this intriguing, intricate novel with a Gothic flare, Dennis Haseley has spun a breathtakingly original mystery. The ending will astonish you.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9-Richard talks to the characters in paintings; they respond. They seem to be telling him that he has forgotten something important in his past. Confused and friendless, the boy lives with his mother, who has told him that his father drowned in a shipwreck. A tutor teaches him at home, but he can't remember why he has been sent away from school. Second-rate, slightly altered copies of famous paintings are being stolen from galleries in his city, and they become clues for Richard. For most of this novel, readers wonder if they are reading about the descent into madness of a bewildered and disturbed boy. It is only in the last dozen or so pages that the story becomes somewhat clearer. Readers learn that nine years ago, when Richard was three, he spied on his uncle, a painter for whom Richard's mother, Annabel, was modeling and with whom she was having an affair. When she tells him that she is involved with another man, the painter murders her and Richard witnesses the crime. His aunt, Annabel's sister, ships her husband off to a mental institution and raises the boy as her own. Richard realizes that his aunt has loved him, and is ready to go back to school and get on with his life. Minimally drawn characters and a weak plot that is puzzling and ambiguous give this brooding tale limited appeal. There is an impressionistic, surreal quality to the novel that makes it difficult to read.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 8-10. Haseley mines familiar territory in the story of Richard, an alienated young boy who functions in a reality of his own creation. The novel revolves around Richard's ability to communicate with the figures in works of art. These "conversations" lead him to investigate the mysterious disappearance of several paintings from various galleries in his small town. Gradually, the clues not only unlock the mystery of the missing art but also restore long-suppressed, troubling memories concerning Richard's own past. Haseley has chosen an odd narrative structure, with Richard drifting in and out of his painting-dialogues--a device that may lead some readers to assume that they are witnessing his mental breakdown. By book's end, Richard's psychological state is still not entirely clear, but the family secret, though somewhat soap-operatic in nature, does go a long way toward explaining his quirks and motivations. The unconventional storytelling style and some veiled sexual content limits this to older readers, who will find it a fine introduction to art analysis alongside the well-woven mystery. Terry Glover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dial (April 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803728565
• ISBN-13: 978-0803728561
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,839,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing Change from Dreary Plotlines, November 27, 2006

By 

George Eliot - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trick of the Eye (Hardcover)

Contrary to what seems to be popular beleif, I enjoyed this book very much. I found the writing style an intriguing change from the books I've been reading lately. Many authors present good plotlines with mediocre writing, or mediocre plotlines with mediocre writing. When I picked up Trick of the Eye and read the first page, I was blown away. Here, FINALLY, was an author who actually forced me to think.

In this book,twelve-year-old Richard is a socially handicapped boy in eighteenth or nineteenth century England who can converse with paintings. Upon talking with the characters in a painting of a farm, which is in his dining room, he is caught up in a mystery that he knows he has to solve, without quite knowing why. The reader literally learns while Richard remembers the events nine years ago which made him who he is today.

I appreciated the symbolism in the book a great deal, and while Richard's memory itself was rather cliched, it provided an interesting and surprising background to the whole story. Those of you who found the writing tiring, maybe you should go pick up a book with mediocre writing style that doesn't challenge your mind at all. Don't complain because you actually had to think.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sophisticated, Intriguing Mystery, November 26, 2005

By 

Kate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trick of the Eye (Hardcover)

A book for older teenagers or adults, with an intricate plot that requires attention to detail. That being said, it's a rewarding read, emotionally rich; and the reader is rewarded with a shattering conclusion. I particularly loved the protagonist, whose psychological growth unfolds as the plot progresses. Highly recommended.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't even bother, March 2, 2006

By 

Miss Jennifer (OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trick of the Eye (Hardcover)

I was attracted to the cover of this book because it reminded me of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" which was a book I loved. Unfortunately this book was nothing like that one, except that they both involve paintings.
This book was like reading one long therapy session. It follows the journey of 12-year-old Richard as he struggles to remember something that has happened in his past. He is able to communicate with characters in paintings and they give him clues to follow as he tries to track down one particular painting that will be able to answer all his questions. It appears to be set in England maybe in the late 1800's or early 1900's, and he is a very polite and proper young man.
I found this book very difficult to get through. For one thing, the author uses a lot of incomplete sentences (especially when the painting characters are talking) in an attempt, I think, to create suspense. The thoughts are never fully disclosed, but instead of being intrigued, I was frustrated. I could tell early on that the boy was going to have to remember something painful from his past and I even tried to rationalize that a therapist was showing him various paintings to get him to relate his feelings and remember the event, or that he was mentally ill and was imagining talking to the characters in these paintings. But I was wrong. He apparently was really conversing with them as they also able to relate their feelings when this horrible event took place.
The majority of the book is Richard's quest to find the essential painting. The final two chapters are actually the story. It wraps up the entire "mystery" cleanly and we presume that Richard will now be "healed" and no longer bothered by unexplained nightmares.
The entire book is very innocent and clean up until these final chapters where we discover some mature themes have occurred, and that all the essential paintings were in the same room when these events happened. The concept sounds great, but unfortunately I found the author's writing and style to be lacking and he just didn't achieve that story that could have been very intriguing.