In Plain Sight

by Clair M. Poulson

Donte Noble has the life he's always dreamed of: a beautiful fiancée and a bright future as a doctor. But in a shattering turn of events, his future is ripped away. He is the number-one suspect in a murder case and for everyone involved, including his fiancée, Donte is guilty until proven innocent. He's been framed. With the very real threat of conviction, he is left with no choice: he runs.

Living as a nomad, Donte crisscrosses the country, his new persona allowing him to hide in plain sight as he searches for an answer to his plight. That answer comes in the form of bestselling mystery writer Clive Granger, a man who believes the unbelievable and as farfetched as Donte's story sounds, Clive is irrevocably drawn into the young man's quest to clear his name. As the ambitious duo embarks on their investigation, they begin to uncover a shocking trail of secrets, leading them to a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth . . .

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Fiction

240 pages

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Clair M. Poulson was born and raised in Duchesne, Utah. His father was a rancher and farmer, his mother a librarian. Clair has always been an avid reader, having found his love for books as a very young boy.

He has served for forty years in the criminal justice system. Twenty years were spent in law enforcement, ending his police career with eight years as the Duchesne County Sheriff. For the past twenty years Clair has worked as a justice court judge for Duchesne County. Clair is also a veteran of the US Army where he was a military policeman. He has served on various boards and councils during his professional career, including the Justice Court Board of Judges, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Judicial Council, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, an FBI advisory board and others.

In addition to his criminal justice work, Clair has farmed and ranched all of his life. He has raised many kinds of animals, but his greatest interest is horses.

Clair has served in many capacities in the LDS church, including fulltime missionary (California Mission) bishop, counselor to bishop, young men president, high councilor, stake mission president, scoutmaster, High Priest group leader, etc. He currently serves as a Sunday School teacher.

Clair is married to Ruth, and together, they have five children, all of whom are married: Alan (Vicena) Poulson, Kelly Ann (Wade) Hatch, Amanda (Ben) Semadeni, Wade (Brooke) Poulson, and Mary (Tyler) Hicken. Between them they have twenty-three children. Clair and Ruth met while both were students at Snow College and were married in the Manti temple.

Clair has always loved telling his children, and later his grandchildren, make-up stories. His vast experience in life and his love of literature has always contributed to both his telling stories to children and his writing of adventure and suspense novels.

Reviews

[Ashlee Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. I hated everything about it. There was no character development. Everything was thrown together. More like all the ideas that had been cast out of his other books were all eaten and thrown back up to create this book. The "romance" was completely ridiculous. No one is going to meet some random hobo in a hotel laundry room and instantly fall in love because "his eyes are hiding who he really is" and "you can just tell he's a good man" or whatever. Not to mention the other ridiculous relationships that form out of thin air. There was no mystery. You can guess who did it as soon as you meet the character...which happens almost at the very beginning of the stupid book.

Sorry...I started letting my feelings out and they wouldn't stop. I could probably keep going too.

I feel like I am really good at seeing the best in every book I read and I tend to like everything. I used to really like Clair Poulson, but his books have gone down hill. He's dead to me now. Harsh I know, but I don't think I'll be reading his books anymore. Don't waste your time.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This was the first Clair M. Poulson book I've read (listened to, in this case) and I felt that much of the story seemed contrived, predictable and "cheesy" to me. Overall I enjoyed the characters and I was interested to see how it all ended, but lots of things along the way had me shaking my head.

[Swhe641200 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book of Clair Poulson. I think I have read this before but it was a good second read.this had a surprise ending for me.

[Kristen Landon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot and I cared about the characters. It was an interesting read. There were just a few things that jarred me and pulled me out of the book that I wish hadn't been in there. For instance, at one point two characters are searching for a man. All they know about him is that he wears gray clothing most of the time. They decide to search for a man whose last name is Gray--just in case that's why he wears gray. And it turns out to be him! I was thinking, no way. Too much of a coincidence. I don't buy it. The author needed to stretch her imagination just a little bit further on that one. Other than a few little things like that, I really liked it.

[Kristen Robison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this mystery and plot a 2 but I would give the writing a 1. What happened to the earlier Clair Poulson writing? Is Covenant not editing his work? It seems like every time some speaks they use the other characters name. This is junior high level writing! His characters also act and say things that people in their 20's wouldn't do or say. Last book I swore I would never read his books again but tried once more. Big mistake.

[Verona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audio book which i listened to with my husband as we travel to and from dialysis for him. It helped pass the time as we drove those miles. We both enjoy Clair Poulson's novels, but this one was not quite at the top of his game in story line. Ot was a little too predictable and plodding. Yet, we enjoyed the story well enough to continue listening.

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The characters went to lunch and dinner 59 million times throughout the book. Characters were unrealistically nice and trusting of total strangers. I didn't like it at all. No mystery, no suspense. Author needs to develop much stronger writing. Makes me think I could be a writer and I'm horrible at it.

[Ryceejo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scott and I listened to it on CD. There was no depth to the characters, so it was hard to really connect to the story other than the curiosity of "whodunnit." It got to the point where we just wanted to get it over with. The narrator wasn't a favorite, either.

[Darci · Rating 2 out of 5]

a quick, easy summer read but a little to predictable and cheesy in parts for me

[Kim Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently began working at “Seagull Bookstore”. I have been inundated with praise over Clair Poulson’s novels by both fellow employees and customers alike. This is the first one I’ve had a chance to read. I was not disappointed. I’m typically not a particularly fast reader but I began the book yesterday and finished about an hour ago! I was thrilled to see that Poulson has the ability to keep you baited and wanting more. It’s that “just one more chapter” feeling that keeps you reading well into the night. Well done Clair. I can’t wait to pick up the next one!

[Kevin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that this book was a good read. Its about a young man would is accused of murdering his Brother-in-law. But he was out on a camping trip in the Unitas's. His main accuser is his wife and he has fled and is traveling around the West on his bike and now appears homeless. People come to his aid and he is finally cleared but there is a lot more to the story, so you'll just have to read it yourself.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my third Claire Poulson book, but I liked the other two better. However, many in my bookgroup really enjoyed it. I think of it like reading a murder mystery made for TV. Not bad, there are some convenient coincidences and everything wraps up neatly in the end but I liked the characters, Poulson keeps us guessing with red herrings and withholding information, pacing is good.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a bit to get into, but I actually really enjoyed it. I really like Cluve's character. As usual, the author has filled the book with twists and turns. I thought the climax and end of story were a little close together.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dante Noble is a strong character who takes control of his life the best way he can--hiding as a homeless man. Good samaritan, Clive Granger, will finally be the key to Dante's freedom and bring the real murderer to light and justice. I really got caught up in this story and I like that.

[Bonnie Mcintyre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even after reading the synopsis of the book, I had a hard time remembering it, so it must not have had much of an impact on me. I probably read this several months ago, so maybe I like it more than 2 stars.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read & held my attention. I finished in only a few days, which is unusual for me.

[Trustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
no language
good morals
entertaining
Romance unrealistic

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Melodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young man is named as a murder suspect. He did not commit the murder so he poses as a homeless man to hide until the truth becomes known.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whodunit that isn't apparent until the last two pages! Pretty exciting!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t find this book plausible and it really wasn’t my cup of tea. Though it may work for other people, so, as with all reviews, take this with a grain of salt.

But, for me, so many things happened that I didn’t think would ever happen in real life. I won’t go into all of them bc I feel this review gets long enough as is.

I finished the book in order to see who did it because no explanations I came up with made sense. And the ultimate explanation was a “bad guy” who was an annoying obstacle the whole book, who didn’t have clues leading to him throughout the book (besides him being unhelpful) and who didn’t have what I considered a plausible reason to frame the mc, so I still didn’t feel the explanation made sense.

In particular, the women characters felt really two-dimensional, like set pieces, doing what was required of the plot, rather than doing things that made sense for them as people or as women to do. Like, maybe I’m wrong, but it felt to me like no women read the manuscript prior to it getting published, or if they did, they were too close of friends or family to tell the author that his characters were behaving oddly.

For instance, and spoilers here, the particularly level-headed LDS college-aged girl, seems very unlikely to choose to be alone in a private bedroom with a man, specifically a seemingly homeless man who she just met doing laundry at a random hotel far away from home and family. Not unless he was like, the local bishop and had another local member with him. Nothing against homeless people, or guys, but I personally, and the majority of women I know, would not choose to do that, for safety sake. And then she keeps this guy’s email address and keeps checking her email frequently, desperate for updates from this guy she met once. And gets super involved on his behalf with another random guy she just met. Like, fake homeless guy made a big impression, but it’s the kinda thing you go wow, that was crazy, and move on from, to me.

So anyway, apologies to the author and anyone who enjoyed the book, but I really think this book needed more time in the oven before it was fully baked, ya know?

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I had too high of hopes for this one. I blame the cover. The dialogue seemed forced, robotic, a bit unnatural and I don't believe it would pass the Bechdel test; but the clincher for me was the main female character. :( She meets this stranger who wants to help and he just takes over everything. He handles all the business, has all the ideas, does all the leg work, while she does nothing. When she speaks, he consistently interrupts or discounts her feelings and intuition. "Clive silenced her with a wave of his hand" ... "Okay, Clive, she said meekly, I'll go if you and Donte say I should". I don't care if it was the best mystery on paper(it wasn't), that just doesn't fly.

[Hilary Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first of this type book I've read in almost a year (usually my favorite kind of book). I kept waiting for it to get suspenseful and was disappointed that it never really did. I also felt like some of the relationships and things that happened were a little of a stretch. That said, it was a good story and I did enjoy reading it. I enjoy all of Clair Poulson's books, this is just not at the top of my favorite list of his. It might be because it was the first one I've read in so long and that somehow swayed my thoughts as I read it??

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a quick and enjoyable read. As is often the case when one has read so many books by one author, one comes to expect certain things and a certain way of writing from that author's books, so that when a new book by that author comes out, to read it is like greeting an old friend. This seemed to be more of a cozy whodunit mystery with maybe a slower pace than some of Poulson's books. Nice book.

[Shayne Burton]

I have always enjoyed Clair's books and felt up until recently his books had good, fleshed-out, strong characters and a great plot with a well rounded out ending. This one has the plot, the characters are fairly strong but the ending is abrupt and felt unfinished completely. Normally he builds the relationships better but as I mentioned, his most recent books have fallen a bit short. I still enjoyed the book and would read it again but felt a little slighted - again.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This highly believable novel is built upon a firmly legitimate foundation spiced with just enough pure-hearted romance and assistance to the homeless wayfarer along the road. The situation that sent the protagonist into flight is not truly finally resolved by novel end, but it's enough.

Unfortunately, modern technology for suspect identification and tracking might totally invalidate the protagonist's hiding fluidity and anonymity.

[Heather Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating 2.5 rounded up.

I enjoy the author's books, I've read several of them. They are clean, Christian stories, and they are light, easy to read. However they aren't exciting page turners that you can't put down.

This one in particular was a hot mess. Everyone involved seemed to be a card short of a deck. Their choices, decisions, actions, deductions were a bit too slow and naive.

I'll still read more by this author, when I don't have anything else to read.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mystery novel. Wouldn't expect any less from a book written by poulson. The murderer wasn't the obvious pick and kept me guessing close to the end. Dante's meeting of Chey and their connection was a little unrealistic, but a nice twist. Clive and Sara's investigating to clear Dante's murder charge was a page turner.

[Kevin Smith]

This was a fast read for me. It kept me wanting to know more and more. It is about a young man who is falsely accused of murder, who goes on the run in plain sight, He then is befriended by several people who help him along his way. His Sister never gives up hope and with a stranger helps to prove his not guilty. That's all I'm going to give you , you'll just have to read the book.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clair Poulson never let's a reader down. Another fast paced action mystery that keeps you turning pages from the very get go. If you have not read Mr. Poulson you will be sorry if you don't pick this one up. Great read!