Blur

Blur Trilogy, Book 1

By: Steven James

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

The isolated town of Beldon, Wisconsin, is shocked when a high school freshman’s body is found in Lake Algonquin. Just like everyone in the community, 16-year-old Daniel Byers believes that Emily Jackson’s death was accidental. But at her funeral, when he has a terrifying vision of her, his world begins to rip apart at the seams.

Convinced that Emily’s appearance was more than just a mere hallucination, Daniel begins to look carefully into her death, even as he increasingly loses the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

What’s real? What’s not? Where does reality end and madness begin?

As Daniel struggles to find the truth, his world begins to crumble around him as he slips further and further into his own private blurred reality.

Full of mind-bending twists and turns, Blur launches a new trilogy of young adult thrillers from Steven James, a master of suspense.

©2014 Steven James (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Where's Scooby-Doo?

So teenage High School football star, Dan, starts seeing things that may or may not be real. A girl died, maybe two or three others. He gets the gang together to hunt the bad guy. Saturday morning 'toons never did it better.

Nice mystery!

This book kept me guessing until the end. It even had a few surprises. I enjoyed the description of his feelings and how he perceived situations. It all felt believable.

Great teen reader.

A really great murder mystery with a paranormal twist. Anyone who likes mystery, fantasy or ghost stories will like this one.

Good Listen,

Enjoyed all the way thru. keep me guessing . Finished in two listens.
narrator was good

Reaaally good.

really great story and the audio was thankfully well paced and great voice imitations, so you know who is talking.
Crazy to think the events of this story all happened in only two short weeks. Definitely buying next book.

Scooby-doo-ish Mystery

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

While the dialog left little to be desired, it was a fun book.

The pro's were the story line, foreshadowing, unpredictability and twists.

The con's were the dialog and lack of character building. The dialog was cheesy, boarding cringe-worthy - especially with the female characters, and most of the characters are pretty one dimensional...

It really reminded me of a scooby-doo mystery, with the paranormal plot, twists, and 'after school special' moral lessons. Overall thumbs up and I'm getting ready to download the second book!

Thoroughly enjoyed Blur by Steven James

Very well written. Keeps your attention and curiosity. Well performed. I’m a fan now. Thank you Steven James!

Great story, ending needs work

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The concept of a mental illness. Too many stories have concepts of seeing ghosts, visions, etc, but most take it down the road of being "special" or "supernatural". Going down the road of mental illness (and not just for a few chapters, but a majority of the story) was an interesting take on the concept, and made for a more intense story.

What about Nick Podehl’s performance did you like?

He made each character sound different, without sounding like he was giving everyone silly voices. It was a believable performance.

Any additional comments?

The story as a whole was great. The ending, however, was painfully cliche, and I feel that there were many missed opportunities in regards to Emily's exclusion and depression. They were themes that could have been played with a bit more, especially at the end of the story.

After listening to a book filled with wonderful writing, interesting characters, and unique concepts, I regretted having to remove a whole star from my review just because of the "diabolical evil villain monologue" during the end of the story's climax. It was painful to be fed such an unbelievable cliche.

Still a great story, and a worthwhile purchase. Just brace yourself for the conclusion..

really enjoyed this book

great book! can't wait to listen to the next two in the trilogy on our next trip.

Excellent first novel written for a teen audience

Steven James writes novels about crime and police; at least he did until Blur. James does a great job with his first effort in the teen genre. BLUR reminds me somewhat of John Green's works and of Harlan Coben's Mickey Bolitar series. I believe my grandchildren will like the book. I certainly enjoyed it and I was last a teen over half a century ago . Highly recommended for teens and adults!

Nick Podehl did his usual fine job of narration.