Flashes by Tim O’Rourke
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My favourite genres of YA and crime are perfectly blended in “Flashes”. The novel jumps straight into the action of the story without need for unnecessary build up, and Charley is an immediately likeable character. As her flashes coincide with bad things happening, and once she has met PC Henson, the pace ramps up even further as they desperately try and work out who is the baddie behind the killings. The novel is well plotted, with little clues hidden throughout the text, and if you get to the end without knowing who the killer is it will be a great twist! I guessed really early on who the killer was (mainly because I read so much crime fiction I deliberately look out for any little hints!) but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment, I loved seeing how the story would play out and noticing all the red herrings that were put in front of me as a reader. It’s a really clever balance between a crime thriller and a supernatural story – it’s written in such a way that I wholeheartedly believed that Charley’s flashes were real.
A great story, although I would say don’t read it whilst your spending the day getting trains and tubes around London like I did – I was terrified someone was going to push me in front of them!
The Queens of Geekdom 