Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye (Psychic Eye Mystery, #1)

by Victoria Laurie

[Angie]

Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye was fun, but a little hard to get into. It's all about Abigail, or Abby, who is a psychic intuitive who sometimes helps with criminal cases. Her main job is as a psychic though, and she has a very steady pool of clients. One day Abby obtains some information on a recent kidnapping from her spirit guides and she just can't ignore it. This information leads to the discovery of the body, and now the cops may be willing to take her seriously when it comes to other cases. The new case? Two of her clients are dead, and the murderer is after Abby next.

I loved the premise of Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye but the reason I had trouble getting into it was because there wasn't a firm timeline, at least in the beginning. The prologue is a police report, and once the main chapters started I failed to find the connection. It's not until a ways in that it's revealed. On top of that, scenes that feel like they're only a day or two apart are actually separated by a few weeks! I was thrown off a couple of times by Abby not remembering something from a few weeks ago, which I just read a chapter ago! It made Abby feel very forgetful to me, even though I know time was meant to be passing, but it bothered me.

I was expecting the story to get right into the mystery (especially after the above mentioned prologue). Instead, the first few chapters of Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye are characterization and world building. I actually quite liked this. We got a real sense of who Abby is, and I really liked how her ability worked. She's not all knowing, and she doesn't pretend like she is. She gets images and feelings from her spirit guides, and she uses her own intuition to make connections. While Abby is a professional psychic, she doesn't put on a big show. She says what she sees and feels, but also lets her clients know that the future is not set in stone. I like that about Abby.

The mystery was pretty good, too. The sister of one of Abby's clients comes for a reading after her sister's death. Then, she too is found dead. Abby believes it was the man she saw during the reading, but the cops are after the sister's fiance, since he was her sole beneficiary. The murderer does come after Abby, since s/he believes she knows more than she does. I was a bit disappointed in the mystery, not because I didn't solve it first, but because I couldn't solve it first. The murderer isn't even introduced until almost the end, and by then it's all solved, and all that's left is to catch him. It took away a bit of my fun, since I like to play along.

In the end, I did enjoy Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye. Maybe the mystery wasn't as strong because it's the first book and a lot of page time is spent on set up? I do have hope for future books, and I'm definitely eager to see more of Dutch!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.