Fury

Blur Trilogy #2

by Steven James

The disturbing visions that helped Daniel Byers solve a deadly mystery have finally quieted, and the sixteen-year-old basketball star is looking forward to things settling back to normal. But when his father mysteriously disappears, Daniel realizes that the key to finding his dad rests in deciphering his chilling hallucinations.

Soon, long-buried secrets begin to surface, revealing clues that could help him locate his father. But as the past collides with the present and reality begins to blur around him, Daniel faces a race against time to save his dad before it’s too late.

Filled with pulse-pounding suspense, Fury continues the thrilling young adult Blur Trilogy from bestselling author Steven James.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Paranormal, Suspense, Fiction, Christian Fiction

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2015

About the author

Steven James is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of twenty novels and numerous books on the craft of novel writing, including the new release, DELVE, PIVOT, PROPEL, which explores revolutionary new approaches to fiction writing. With a master's degree in storytelling, James teaches writing worldwide and has appeared on five continents telling stories and teaching storytelling at over 2000 appearances.

His latest Young Adult horror novel, RIFT, is the first in a new trilogy that takes place in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. James lives in Eastern Tennessee and loves watching sci-fi movies, playing basketball, and eating chicken fajitas—although not all at the same time.

James has been penning smart, taut thrillers that actually thrill, since 2007, when his acclaimed psychological suspense novel, THE PAWN, released.

If you love stories and storytelling, check out his podcast, The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed nearly 200 of the world's top writers and storytellers.

Reviews

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this Trilogy, even though it was written for young adults. Once again, Daniel sees ghosts/images, which lead him to solve murders. We are even left with not knowing if some persons are ghosts or are real. I have ordered the last book of the Trilogy, Curse, and look forward to completing the Trilogy.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! While I enjoyed Blur, the first book in this series, Fury was so much better and held my attention throughout! I didn't want to stop reading the book -- especially towards the end -- it was just so good! There are some crazy twists in this story and many times I didn't know if what was happening was real or just in Daniel's head.

All in all, another fantastic read from Steven James. I recommend Fury if you enjoy YA thrillers that are clean, but intense! I can't wait to read Curse once it releases next year.

*I received a complimentary e-copy via Netgalley for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)

This one was better than the first, but it still wasn't something that I really enjoyed.

The story could be quite confusing at times, and I had to read a few things twice to understand what was going on. It did feel like it was dragging at times because of it, but it was nowhere near as bad as book one thankfully.

[Terri ♥ (aka Mrs. Christian Grey) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick review:

Cover: Fitting
Rating: PG-13
Thumbs Up: 4
Overall: Really good read
Characters: Well Written
Plot: Learning when to trust what you see
Page Turner: Yes
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend: Yes
Book Boyfriend: Daniel

SUMMARY (50 words or less)
I’m thrilled to have found this author and this series. It is great to read a YA book told by a male narrator and written by a man. We get more answers in this one and I’m kind of sad this series will end with the next book.

For a full review and yummy pic, see my blog post at:

http://www.mybookboyfriend.net/2015/0...

Audio Review
Nick Podehl did a fabulous job on narration. He easily slipped between male and female believably and kept all the main characters including some minor separate and distinct.

[Rikke · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first it was more than a tad too repetitive, and the perfectly perfect protagonist made me doubt, why I had liked the first book, and even ordered book two and three immediately after finishing it. I mean, it's not that I need protagonists to be mischievous menaces, but still this boy is perfection, and yet I had been interested enough to want to continue the series?? Really, I could be demented?

Then about a quarter in it becomes really addictive. Like every time I wanted to stop, I had to read just ONE more chapter, and then another, and another.. Really it's kinda disturbing, not being able to stop. So there's that. It's a fast read, and definitely worth the time.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Read

This was an incredible read. This is the second book of the Blur Trilogy. I felt this story was much better than the first book. There was more suspense, more mystery, and more intriguing. Daniel is a brilliant character. He is smart, athletic, and intriguing. These blurs and sleepwalking makes him more complex. I love how is able to figure out things, and I really love the relationship with his father, friends, and girlfriend. I thought the ending was fantastic. I am really excited to finish the trilogy with Curse. I hope we get to see more of the story with him and his mother as well. Overall, an amazing read.

[Kat Heckenbach]

Not sure if it's the books or me...so I'm not giving this a rating...but this is part of a string of books by authors I've loved that have suddenly disappointed. I looked back at my review of the first book in this series (Blur) and noticed I wasn't as crazy about it as I was about Steven James' Patrick Bowers Series (mainly due to the voice), but I enjoyed the story in that one a lot. This one, not so much. What I read (about 30%) was lots of little stuff happening but nothing actually moving the plot forward. Lots of redundant phrases and the main character recapping things that have happened. I finally just decided I need to set this one aside.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Fury is the sequel to Blur, and as in the first book, Daniel is seeing things he wishes he wouldn't see and is trying to figure out what it all means. It had been a while since I read the first book and so the details were a bit blurry for me, but it was repeated at the beginning of Fury, so it didn't feel like I had to go back to Blur.

While this was an entertaining read, I couldn't shake the feeling it was a bit forced at times. Also, without putting spoilers, there is a lot here that didn't surprise me in the end at all. Which was maybe a bit of a let down, but it still was a very quick read. I already have the third book in the series and I plan to read it soon, so I hope the story will take a turn to the original in that one.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Kara Linaburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH
MY FREAKIN
WORD!!!!!!!

What thrills! What plot twists! What the actual heck??????????!!!!

The ending leaves me hanging off a cliff and flying onto Amazon at top speed for book three. There's ghosts... but are they real? There's demons... in his mind or in real life?
I love the paranormal aspects and I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this bad boy.
Five shiny stars all the way -- Steven James remains my favorite suspense author and he's killing it.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book to add to my Meh pile. I can’t say I hated it. I can’t even say it was written badly, although there were two things in it that bothered me. First, the main character Daniel was a football star in book one, now he’s a basketball star. Will he be running for president in book three?. The second thing is that it takes place before Christmas but there is a couple of feet of snow on the ground (maybe in a freak year) and the ice on the lake is think enough to carry a person’s weight in places (not a chance). I’m Canadian and we know our cold. It’s a rarity to have snowfall not melt in December so it’s impossible for it to have been below freezing long enough to have thick lake ice.

I know I’m just being picky but it just didn’t appeal to me at all. Where book one was a murder mystery with ghosts, this one was a bit of everything...with ghosts. It felt like reading about the Scooby-Doo gang but without Scooby or the Mystery Machine. All that’s left is some teens trying to solve a mystery and doing it better than the police. I could even imagine the bad guys at the end saying “And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those meddling kids”. Good fun when I was a kid, and it was a cartoon, but I didn’t have fun with this at all. I just wanted it to be over so I could move on to something else.

I’m sure there will be a lot of people who enjoy this, as I mentioned it wasn’t written badly, but it just didn’t work for me.

[Reshteen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Well, this was something..
My feelings towards Fury are the same it was towards Blur. Fury was a mixed bag for me. It has some good parts,I did get my AHA at the "who did it?" part of the book, it also has it's fair share of Suspense and thrills (if you can call'em that!), and this being the second book, you do get your full flushed out character in the protagonist.
But, The Overall Plot of this book, how characters go from A to B, or how Character A ends up with Character B was handled weakly.
The best part of it was definitely, Daniel not realizing What's Real? and what's not. But They kinda Blew that away with that last page; we could have really used a little ambiguity.

[Mobin Shakeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 out of 5)

well... way better than the previous one. I've rated the first book in this trilogy 4 out of 5, but when I've finished the second book, I wanted to back and change it to 3. if the second one is 4.5 out of 5 the first one must be 3 out of 5.

but never mind the ratings, the quality of the book suddenly increased. the form of writing and the characters haven't changed, but the story-telling got much more interesting.
the twist in this book actually moved me. unlike the twist of the previous book "Blur". the network of stories in "Fury" is very fascinating and makes you put down the book from time to time in the middle of reading, so you can thing of the events and how all of them connect each other.
still it had so many elements of the common teen thriller/mystery genre and the author wasn't trying to be creative on the process of storytelling. but it was enjoyable.
I recommend you reading along if you didn't like the first book very much, because it gets better.
and I hope I would find the final book even better than the last two.

[Deb Haggerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deb’s Dozen: Blurs? Daniel’s going crazy? Four teens, dead wolves, strange visions. Who’s Madeline?

Steven James has begun a great YA series, although adults will find the books equally intriguing. The first book, Blur, introduced us to Daniel Byers whose ability to see things that aren’t there—”blurs”—aids he and his friends Nicole, Kyle, and Mia in solving a murder. Fury is the second book in the Blur Trilogy.

Daniel has not had any of the blurs since the killer died in September. He is hoping things are back to normal and is anticipating the last basketball game before Christmas. While in English, a classmate asks an interesting question: “Can the protagonist also be the antagonist? I mean, is there some way for the main character to be both the hero and the villain?”

The teacher answers that it’s possible, but usually the hero might be crazy or delusional or both—and mentions both an Edgar Allen Poe character and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Not really paying attention, Daniel doodles in his notebook until the bell rings. He looks down to see written there, in handwriting not his own, the cryptic words, “Lost Cove is the key.” Then he gets a strange text from an unknown girl, Madeline.

On the bus to the game, Daniel zones out and sees a horrific vision. Did it happen? Is it a portent? Daniel struggles to get his focus back to play the game. Although he succeeds, and scores the game winning points, he realizes that his grip on reality is again beginning to blur…

Telling Nicole and Kyle and Mia about the recent strange occurrences, Daniel realizes that something has happened or is going to happen that is tied to the vision and the handwriting. Putting their heads together, the teens map out a strategy to try to discover the answers to the blurs…

Steven always writes gripping, suspenseful, thrill-a-minute fiction. I really should know better than to read one of his books at night—I have a very vivid imagination and he paints incredible word pictures. If you have teens in the house, know any teens, or just want a good read yourself, buy Blur and Fury and be ready for exciting adventures into the mysteries of the mind.



Steven was kind enough to give me a copy of Fury in exchange for my candid review.

[Lizzy Bueckert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just loved this book! So much going on and such mystery. Enjoyed this one more than Blur! Can't wait for the next one!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fury was okay, but not memorable at all for me. I dragged through most of it. And now, not even 2 full days later I can hardly remember how it ended.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Byers returns in a sequel to "Blur," in which he was subject to some disquieting hallucinations/visions/apparitions/whatever you'd like to call them. At the start of "Fury," Daniel finds himself in quite the pile of trouble. He awakens handcuffed to a hospital bed. He learns that he was found spattered with blood, and his father, the sheriff of Belden, Wisconsin, has gone missing. Lest there be any doubt, readers are immediately clued in that this story will be loaded with drama.

Of course, the story drops back in time a short period. Daniel's father is preoccupied with a troubling case of wolf poaching. The wolves that the poacher(s) have dispatched have been tagged by local biologists, to study whether or not efforts at reestablishing the local wolf population have been successful. Of course, Daniel wishes he could do something to help his father, but his mind is also on other things. His ample skills on the basketball court have led his team to a 6-0 record, and on this particular evening, Daniel is preparing to lead his teammates against their archrival, Coulee High. In the back of his mind, Daniel recalls how he hallucinated the vision of a recently murdered high school girl while trying to lead his team to victory in the football championship. He tries to deflect the memories and concentrate on his schoolwork and on the game, but on the bus trip to Coulee High, he finds himself in a vision where a young girl in a heavy nightgown beckons to him from a nearby field. In the hallucination, he follows the girl into a nearby barn. She tells him, "Madeleine is waiting for you," and the Daniel notices that she is weeping tears of blood. If this weren't horrid enough, the girl bursts into flames, and ends up a steaming pile of ash and charred flesh that gradually loses form and blows away in the wind. Daniel is disquieted by the vision, but he cannot tell anyone, and forces himself to focus on the game.

Down by a single point, Daniel is fouled in the last few seconds of the contest. As he dribbles the ball before taking the shot, Daniel sees the girl again. He is so rattled that his misses the shot...but he rebounds his own miss and sinks an ensuing layup to win the game. Of course, mayhem follows, and everyone but Daniel is exultant with victory. He never knows where these portents will lead...but it will be somewhere, for sure.

And lead, they do. Daniel finds himself at the heart of a multi-headed mystery: the hallucinations of the girl with bleeding eyes, repeated texts from someone named Madeleine who tells Daniel that she's waiting for him, the wolf poaching, and of course, what possibly could have happened to his father. Daniel has people on his side: his girlfriend Nicole, a committed environmentalist angered by the slaughter of the wolves; his best friend, Kyle Goessel, the Shaggy to Daniel's Freddie, and a mysterious man who shows up at the basketball game, congratulates Daniel, and then vanishes.

Steven James, who already established his bona-fides in the Patrick Bowers series, entrenches himself further in what has come to be called the Blur trilogy. James makes Daniel's hallucinations seem plausible and easily envisioned by the reader. His characters are easy to root for, and earn reader sympathy quite readily. One mildly sour note: I read the Flavia De Luce series (I've forgotten the author's name) and it was interesting until Flavia's aunt revealed herself to be a government agent. Flavia was an interesting enough little scamp without adult/government intrigue, and I lost interest after that happened. The strange basketball fan, who is eventually named as Malcolm Zacharias, adds an element that I feel takes away from the Flavia storyline. The Blur trilogy is interesting enough without a mysterious adult or organization lurking in the background. But this is a minor complaint. The focus of the story remains on Daniel and his travails, which enables the tale to remain a worthwhile read.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Blur.  It was gripping and I couldn't wait to keep reading it. And starting off, I liked this one -- but it got boring, repetitive and predictable really fast.  Each section of the book I slogged through, my rating kept dropping another star.

Notes:
Uggh, such unrealistic dialogue.  Characters always explaining things.
No suspense -- introduces a mystery or hook and then resolves it two paragraphs later.
So predictable.  After just a fourth of the way in, the whole book seemed laid out and reading it was just stepping through everything already laid out.
Too similar to Stranger Things, just more predictable and less interesting.
The main character solves everything, not by being a brilliant detective or intuition or street smarts, but from everything being revealed to him in blurs.  It was engaging the first time around. But after it happens repeatedly, it gets bland and annoying.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Byers is hoping things are back to normal for him. Until his “blurs” return and his dad mysteriously disappears. Daniel knows the key to finding his dad lies in deciphering his chilling hallucinations. As if a missing father weren’t enough, his hallucinations present him with a new mystery: a girl keeps appearing to him, trying to tell him something, only to burst into flames. Daniel feels she is somehow connected to his family. His conversation with his estranged mother only leaves him with more questions. This was a really good second book to the series. I would rate it a 9 out of 10

[Angel Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another epic installment in Daniel's epic "Blur" story. I love the way Steven James puts all the pieces together for the story to captivate your mind. The mystery and madness of this story is contagious, I wish I can visit Wisconsin and see lake superior just because of the amazing way that Steven James brings it to life in this amazing story. If you are into YA, thrillers or solving a mystery, this trilogy is just for you. I can't wait to read "Curse" the final book in this epic trilogy.

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book that was also wonderful to read! Usually, I'm not a fan of series because they usually don't get as good at the end and I just want to move onto a different book, but I love the characters and the way the author thinks! Steven James is always making every part seem interesting and keep us thinking constantly about things. Who is it? What is happening? I want to read his next book!!!!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so much better than the first. While there were a few chapters that ended in a not so exciting way, most of them had cliffhangers or made you want to keep reading in some way— a huge improvement from last time.

The plot and writing was just all around better. Also, I love the cover, though I do regret that book one’s cover is so different than 2’s and 3’s.

Will for sure be picking up the third book, probably within the week.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even better than book 1! Daniel is accused of hurting his father who has mysteriously disappeared, and he fights to piece together the connection between that and the death of wolves near a research facility. And of course he's seeing things that aren't there the whole time. I tore through this book; it completely captivated me.

[JohnP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel Byers is back – this time In a hospital bed, charged with attempting to murder his father. What follows is a chase to find the truth – and his father – before it's too late. A little looser than book 1 – but still a good read. Will try for #3

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is perfect for teens looking for some fun, quick, and slightly spooky mysteries. Some very slight references to scripture, but would not by any means categorize them as Christian literature.

[Stephanie C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the winter setting of this one. Some scary/creepy moments, but pretty manageable. I continue to be impressed by the realism of James' writing, but didn't find Fury quite as exciting as Blur.

[Mandy Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhh!! This book was incredibly suspenseful. There were many spots in the story where I shouted at the characters, “Don’t go there! Don’t open that door! Don’t look behind that box!” Shew! Looking forward to reading the next chapter of this story.

[Jamie Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This series does keep your mind engaged as you try to puzzle it out. You really won't be able to put this book down.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

Not super amazing, but still a good read none the less. I liked his Patric bowers series more, but this book could be more for teens

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat story.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review will come.