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Bad Vision
Ray Tonks has the power to see disasters as they happen. But he cannot do anything to stop them. Then comes the worst vision yet. Ray sees terrible future images, that defy logic, ghastly twisted shapes of depravity and torture. Now Ray must fathom if this latest vision is his first real chance to avert a dark and hideous catastrophe or a sign that his fragile mind has finally given in to madness.
Murder can change your mind.
Murder can change your mind.
- GenresHorror
119 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2018
15 people want to read
About the author
Dave Jeffery
75 books147 followers"Jeffery has a connoisseur's eye for the grotesque and mind-bending."—STEPHEN VOLK, writer of GHOSTWATCH and AFTERLIFE,
Dave Jeffery is a British Fantasy Award and The Bridport Prize Finalist. He is author of 19 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list, while the A Quiet Apocalypse series continues to garner critical acclaim. His YA work includes the Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery series and Finding Jericho. His screenwriting credits include award winning short films Ascension and Derelict.
Before retiring to write full-time, Jeffery worked in the NHS for 35 years specialising in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Studies and a Master of Science Degree in Health Studies. His novel Finding Jericho is an amalgamation of his experiences of working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. As a novel, Finding Jericho (Demain Publishing) has featured on both the BBC Health and Independent Schools Entrance Examination Board's ‘Recommended Reading’ lists
Jeffery is a member of the Society of Authors, British Fantasy Society (also as a regular book reviewer), and actively involved in the Horror Writers Association where he is a mentor on the HWA Mentorship Scheme and recipient of the HWA Mentor of the Year Award, 2022. He was also co-chair of the HWA Wellness Committee for a three-year tenure.
Jeffery is married with two children and lives in Worcestershire, UK.
Forthcoming Releases:
SEPTEMBER 2025
False Prophet: A Novel (Eerie River Publishing)
This Way Lies Madness Anthology (co-edited with Lee Murray, Flame Tree Press)
MAY 2026
Screams & Whispers Collection (Horrorsmith Publishing)
Dave Jeffery is a British Fantasy Award and The Bridport Prize Finalist. He is author of 19 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list, while the A Quiet Apocalypse series continues to garner critical acclaim. His YA work includes the Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery series and Finding Jericho. His screenwriting credits include award winning short films Ascension and Derelict.
Before retiring to write full-time, Jeffery worked in the NHS for 35 years specialising in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Studies and a Master of Science Degree in Health Studies. His novel Finding Jericho is an amalgamation of his experiences of working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. As a novel, Finding Jericho (Demain Publishing) has featured on both the BBC Health and Independent Schools Entrance Examination Board's ‘Recommended Reading’ lists
Jeffery is a member of the Society of Authors, British Fantasy Society (also as a regular book reviewer), and actively involved in the Horror Writers Association where he is a mentor on the HWA Mentorship Scheme and recipient of the HWA Mentor of the Year Award, 2022. He was also co-chair of the HWA Wellness Committee for a three-year tenure.
Jeffery is married with two children and lives in Worcestershire, UK.
Forthcoming Releases:
SEPTEMBER 2025
False Prophet: A Novel (Eerie River Publishing)
This Way Lies Madness Anthology (co-edited with Lee Murray, Flame Tree Press)
MAY 2026
Screams & Whispers Collection (Horrorsmith Publishing)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 18, 2020
Bad Vision is a fantastic story. It reminded me a little of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone but soon diverts and treads a different path. Apparently inspired by Dave Jeffery’s viewing of a horror movie called The Medusa Touch, which itself was written from a novel by Peter Van Greenaway in 1973. Unfortunately I am not familiar with either the film or the book so can’t attest to how close or not it stays to those stories. I don’t actually know if I have interpreted Bad Vision in the way Dave Jeffery intended. I feel that different people will take different things from Bad Vision. It is a story that reads best when you look deeper. When you look between the lines.
For me though, it is a heart wrenching exploration of mental illness. The main story is driven onwards by Ray’s visions, of course. They keep us moving towards that fateful end but it’s what happens around them that really hit home with me. I find this whole subject matter deeply interesting and found Bad Vision to be a fresh, exhilarating yet sorrowful take on it. The characters are deep, occasionally disturbing but they also feel real. They story itself keeps you guessing on how they reach the end, right up to the last pages.
Full Review at -
https://www.gbhbl.com/horror-book-rev...
For me though, it is a heart wrenching exploration of mental illness. The main story is driven onwards by Ray’s visions, of course. They keep us moving towards that fateful end but it’s what happens around them that really hit home with me. I find this whole subject matter deeply interesting and found Bad Vision to be a fresh, exhilarating yet sorrowful take on it. The characters are deep, occasionally disturbing but they also feel real. They story itself keeps you guessing on how they reach the end, right up to the last pages.
Full Review at -
https://www.gbhbl.com/horror-book-rev...
December 6, 2018
Ray Tonks has a gift, the power to see disasters as they happen though he can’t do anything to stop them. When those visions begin to defy logic, showing ghastly shapes of depravity and torture, he struggles to work out why, terrified they’re a sign his fragile mind has finally given in to madness.
Opening in Bromsgrove Police Station, where Ray is being interviewed, the novella follows two main storylines, with one featuring his wife Denise and the remnants of an affair she feels terribly guilty about. The other revolves around his work colleagues Mike Tanner and Eloise Adebola, who have their own issues which get worse when they come into contact with Brendan Short, a cleaner at their office. This is a tough, occasionally brutal psychological thriller that plays its mysteries close to its chest, eking out the reveals and twists in the narrative until nothing is quite what you thought it was. Jeffery writes well, the characters are clearly defined (overly so at times, my one niggle was that I’d have preferred less backstory spelled out), the storylines work effectively and the plot unravels elegantly. If you like your psychological thrillers tinged with horror, I’d recommend this.
Opening in Bromsgrove Police Station, where Ray is being interviewed, the novella follows two main storylines, with one featuring his wife Denise and the remnants of an affair she feels terribly guilty about. The other revolves around his work colleagues Mike Tanner and Eloise Adebola, who have their own issues which get worse when they come into contact with Brendan Short, a cleaner at their office. This is a tough, occasionally brutal psychological thriller that plays its mysteries close to its chest, eking out the reveals and twists in the narrative until nothing is quite what you thought it was. Jeffery writes well, the characters are clearly defined (overly so at times, my one niggle was that I’d have preferred less backstory spelled out), the storylines work effectively and the plot unravels elegantly. If you like your psychological thrillers tinged with horror, I’d recommend this.
March 24, 2019
This is actually the first book I've read by Dave Jeffrey - despite knowing him from FB and the occasional Convention for a good couple of years - but it won't be my last.
As Jeffrey remarks in the story notes, he was inspired by the under-appreciated 70s British horror film The Medusa Touch (starring Richard Burton) and that alone made me want to read it. And what a great read it is too, a story that rattles along with various convoluted plot strands that centres around Ray Tonks - the man with the gift to foresee disaster - and the inner workings of an NHS Trust.
At just 150 pages, Jeffrey creates a huge amount of detail in the narrative - perhaps a little too much - but in doing so the characters and world are superbly fleshed out and wholly believable.
Thoroughly recommended, with a special mention to Neil Williams cover artwork which I had to keep face-down on my bedside table: that eye sees all!
As Jeffrey remarks in the story notes, he was inspired by the under-appreciated 70s British horror film The Medusa Touch (starring Richard Burton) and that alone made me want to read it. And what a great read it is too, a story that rattles along with various convoluted plot strands that centres around Ray Tonks - the man with the gift to foresee disaster - and the inner workings of an NHS Trust.
At just 150 pages, Jeffrey creates a huge amount of detail in the narrative - perhaps a little too much - but in doing so the characters and world are superbly fleshed out and wholly believable.
Thoroughly recommended, with a special mention to Neil Williams cover artwork which I had to keep face-down on my bedside table: that eye sees all!
September 6, 2018
***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
A childhood accident which saw Ray Tonks header a rock in a moment of madness playing football, has left him suffering from pre-cognition, getting visions of impending disasters that he is helpless to stop. Fearful of being made out to be mad if he shares his secret, Ray suffers in silence as he is plagued with guilt over being unable to stop deadly earthquakes and terrorist attacks, unable to tell his wife and friends. Now his visions have become more sinister with mutilations and cruxifictions by demon like creatures with stitched skin and he is truly scared about what is coming and what his visions mean. Can he do anything to stop this before his mind gives out? And is this connected to a series of brutal murders in the papers with missing body parts?
His wife Denise is distracted, trying to cover up the end of her guilty affair with a man who is not yet ready to let go and wants to continue seeing her at all costs. Ray's friend and colleague Eloise is still trying to get over the death of her adoptive parents who brought stability to her once chaotic upbringing, and working hard is all she can do to deal with it. Her colleague Mike is trying to hide his true feelings for her and has a guilty secret about a secret hobby that others might not understand, as he continues to struggle with the effects of childhood bullying. And then there is Brendan the creepy janitor who is always lurking there, watching and waiting for his chance to get closer to Eloise...
I first read this as a shorter story a good few years back and very much enjoyed it and I was so pleased to see it being made into a longer story. I can certainly say that this version was also really enjoyable to read and it really works great in this longer format. The author has a great knack for getting the story going and investing the reader in the characters, regardless of the story length, and this is what keeps the reader wanting to find out what is happening next. It is not full on gory action horror, more to the psychological side with gory visions but it never gets dull or boring. It kept me interested throughout, and the story gets more gripping as it progresses.
A lot of that is down to the characters. I really felt bad for Ray, having these dreadful and painful visions of death and disaster that he can't talk about, followed by the guilt of all the deaths, nightmares and blackouts which have him questioning his own sanity. The strain of keeping it together at work and at home is starting to get to him and he just can't talk to anyone about it. The strain between him and Denise is also showing but she has her own problems trying to end her affair with Peter and deal with her guilt about it. Dealing with her husband and his problems is not really top of her priority list.
I liked Eloise, who has turned her difficult early life around to have a successful career, but sometimes struggles with her own demons when times get tough. Mike was a great character, the quiet little boy who was bullied relentlessly at school and still suffers from a confidence crisis, hiding behind an image of a foul mouthed idiot. They are aware that something isn't right with Ray but have problems of their own to deal with. Brendan is a seriously creepy man who enjoyed a voyeur life with his wife. However with Judith's death, he is now very much alone and feeling the need for a different kind of adventure with leads to his fixation with Eloise. Going from voyeur to participant is a bold move but Brendan is getting ready to embrace that change.
The story switches between what is happening with Ray, Denise, Eloise, Mike and creepy Brendan who has become fixated with Eloise. I liked the way the author did this, as the reader gets the chance to see what each character was feeling and doing. It certainly aids the character development through the story. This keeps the story moving forward nicely and I felt that I was just anticipating how all of these sub plots were going to join up with what was happening to Ray. Without spoiling anything for those planning to read the book, I found the ending not just satisfying, but quite unexpected, in a good way. It says a lot about the writing skills of an author when you don't see things coming, especially in a horror book.
If you like a character driven psychological horror/thriller, then I recommend this one. The book is due for release in October 2018.
A childhood accident which saw Ray Tonks header a rock in a moment of madness playing football, has left him suffering from pre-cognition, getting visions of impending disasters that he is helpless to stop. Fearful of being made out to be mad if he shares his secret, Ray suffers in silence as he is plagued with guilt over being unable to stop deadly earthquakes and terrorist attacks, unable to tell his wife and friends. Now his visions have become more sinister with mutilations and cruxifictions by demon like creatures with stitched skin and he is truly scared about what is coming and what his visions mean. Can he do anything to stop this before his mind gives out? And is this connected to a series of brutal murders in the papers with missing body parts?
His wife Denise is distracted, trying to cover up the end of her guilty affair with a man who is not yet ready to let go and wants to continue seeing her at all costs. Ray's friend and colleague Eloise is still trying to get over the death of her adoptive parents who brought stability to her once chaotic upbringing, and working hard is all she can do to deal with it. Her colleague Mike is trying to hide his true feelings for her and has a guilty secret about a secret hobby that others might not understand, as he continues to struggle with the effects of childhood bullying. And then there is Brendan the creepy janitor who is always lurking there, watching and waiting for his chance to get closer to Eloise...
I first read this as a shorter story a good few years back and very much enjoyed it and I was so pleased to see it being made into a longer story. I can certainly say that this version was also really enjoyable to read and it really works great in this longer format. The author has a great knack for getting the story going and investing the reader in the characters, regardless of the story length, and this is what keeps the reader wanting to find out what is happening next. It is not full on gory action horror, more to the psychological side with gory visions but it never gets dull or boring. It kept me interested throughout, and the story gets more gripping as it progresses.
A lot of that is down to the characters. I really felt bad for Ray, having these dreadful and painful visions of death and disaster that he can't talk about, followed by the guilt of all the deaths, nightmares and blackouts which have him questioning his own sanity. The strain of keeping it together at work and at home is starting to get to him and he just can't talk to anyone about it. The strain between him and Denise is also showing but she has her own problems trying to end her affair with Peter and deal with her guilt about it. Dealing with her husband and his problems is not really top of her priority list.
I liked Eloise, who has turned her difficult early life around to have a successful career, but sometimes struggles with her own demons when times get tough. Mike was a great character, the quiet little boy who was bullied relentlessly at school and still suffers from a confidence crisis, hiding behind an image of a foul mouthed idiot. They are aware that something isn't right with Ray but have problems of their own to deal with. Brendan is a seriously creepy man who enjoyed a voyeur life with his wife. However with Judith's death, he is now very much alone and feeling the need for a different kind of adventure with leads to his fixation with Eloise. Going from voyeur to participant is a bold move but Brendan is getting ready to embrace that change.
The story switches between what is happening with Ray, Denise, Eloise, Mike and creepy Brendan who has become fixated with Eloise. I liked the way the author did this, as the reader gets the chance to see what each character was feeling and doing. It certainly aids the character development through the story. This keeps the story moving forward nicely and I felt that I was just anticipating how all of these sub plots were going to join up with what was happening to Ray. Without spoiling anything for those planning to read the book, I found the ending not just satisfying, but quite unexpected, in a good way. It says a lot about the writing skills of an author when you don't see things coming, especially in a horror book.
If you like a character driven psychological horror/thriller, then I recommend this one. The book is due for release in October 2018.
November 24, 2018
UK writer Dave Jeffery is the author of twelve novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. A health professional by day, Jeffery’s body of work comprises predominantly dark fiction written for adult and YA readerships. However, since Bad Vision involves adult themes and graphic moments of extreme body horror, IMHO it is definitely not suitable for YA! It takes a certain sangfroid to conjure scenes like this and yet none of the horror is gratuitous, Jeffery choosing his moments carefully in order to build suspense. A dual protagonist tale, the novella is, in fact, two parallel stories artfully interlaced to create a single cohesive narrative. In the first, a man struggles with his inability to get medical, family, community or even spousal support in the face of a debilitating and terrifying premonitory disorder. In the second, a young woman, abandoned as a small child, is able to turn her life around before gaining the attention of an office stalker. Overall, I enjoyed Bad Vision in an awful-but-can’t-look-away sense. Jeffery is a sure-bet for a creep-show read. I really only encountered one issue while reading Bad Vision and that concerned the formatting of the ebook version: there are no section breaks indicating the change of point of view, so several times I missed the change in narrator, confusing me and causing me to backtrack a paragraph or two. Not enough to detract from the story, but hopefully the publisher will consider rectifying that for future issues.
December 9, 2018
I needed a blanket, a stuffed kitty, and a cuppa after finishing Bad Vision. Dave can write scary! My knees are still knocking. Wow!
November 11, 2018
Hersham Horror Books follow the release of Richard Farren Barber’s tremendous “Perfect Darkness, Perfect Silence” novella of last year with another quality release, Dave Jeffery’s “Bad Vision” which will be launched at FantasyCon on 24th September. At the moment, the horror community is spoilt for choice with high quality novellas being released thick and fast and the latest from Jeffery is an enjoyable fusion of thriller and paranormal horror.
If you’ve never come across Jeffery, he’s an author who is equally impressive in writing in different areas of the horror genre. His YA “Beatrice Beecham” supernatural adventure series is old-fashioned good-natured fun, and at the other end of the spectrum there is “Frostbite” a trashy, but very entertaining horror adventure yarn with rampaging yetis in the Himalayas. This latest novella sees Jeffery in more serious mood, spinning a yarn that tackles both mental health issues and premonitions that seem too real to be simple nightmares.
The action opens in Bromsgrove Police Station, where Detective Malcolm Cross is beginning his interview with the main character Ray Tonks for a crime yet to be revealed to the reader. But whatever it is, it sounds nasty. Surprisingly, Ray waives his right for a lawyer and seems unnervingly calm and detached. We quickly realise why the novella is called “Bad Vision” as Ray is suffering from weird visions which apparently foresee future disasters such as plane crashes and earthquakes. These nightmare visions hit him like epileptic fits and if it happens in public it looks like some sort of seizure. For the majority of the time Ray has kept these fits hidden, but they start to occur more frequently and it gets increasingly difficult and puts a strain on his marriage, hiding much of the truth from his wife. Secrets are an underlying theme of this novella; all the characters have them.
Whilst Ray is in the police station the plot goes into partial flashback mode with other characters are introduced, including his wife Denise, whom he has drifted apart from. Ray works as a Clinical Risk Manager in the area of mental health and manages a small team all whom have key roles to play in the drama including Mike Tanner, a talented Data Analyst, the cute Eloise Adebola and the sleazy Brendan Short. At various stages the point of view switches to these three characters, this was a bit odd as the plot initially seemed to unfold via Ray telling his story from the police station to the detective.
There are plenty of very memorable scenes, particularly with Ray trying to hold it together when the blackouts get systematically worse and the visions themselves are powerfully drawn. His mental disintegration is skilfully handled and there is one particularly memorable scene in which he has a blackout whilst presenting a paper to his bosses which will have you cringing. In the background we are alerted to a serial killer on the prowl and the integration of that into the main plot cumulated with a nice twist. The support characters all have their own issues and secrets, but in the end their connection to the central plot of Ray and his “Bad Visions” did not add up to very much and were periphery to the main story.
The plot periodically flicks back to the police station and gradually it is revealed what Ray is doing there. Dave Jeffery crams a lot of plot, characters and action into this punchy novella and you’re never too sure which direction it is going to take with the twists nicely shrouded until the last minute. I enjoyed the final sequences; the cool ending and “Bad Visions” was very good company over the period in which I read it. A heady mix of paranoia, thriller and horror which over 150 quality pages is very likely to enhance Dave Jeffery’s growing reputation in the horror scen
If you’ve never come across Jeffery, he’s an author who is equally impressive in writing in different areas of the horror genre. His YA “Beatrice Beecham” supernatural adventure series is old-fashioned good-natured fun, and at the other end of the spectrum there is “Frostbite” a trashy, but very entertaining horror adventure yarn with rampaging yetis in the Himalayas. This latest novella sees Jeffery in more serious mood, spinning a yarn that tackles both mental health issues and premonitions that seem too real to be simple nightmares.
The action opens in Bromsgrove Police Station, where Detective Malcolm Cross is beginning his interview with the main character Ray Tonks for a crime yet to be revealed to the reader. But whatever it is, it sounds nasty. Surprisingly, Ray waives his right for a lawyer and seems unnervingly calm and detached. We quickly realise why the novella is called “Bad Vision” as Ray is suffering from weird visions which apparently foresee future disasters such as plane crashes and earthquakes. These nightmare visions hit him like epileptic fits and if it happens in public it looks like some sort of seizure. For the majority of the time Ray has kept these fits hidden, but they start to occur more frequently and it gets increasingly difficult and puts a strain on his marriage, hiding much of the truth from his wife. Secrets are an underlying theme of this novella; all the characters have them.
Whilst Ray is in the police station the plot goes into partial flashback mode with other characters are introduced, including his wife Denise, whom he has drifted apart from. Ray works as a Clinical Risk Manager in the area of mental health and manages a small team all whom have key roles to play in the drama including Mike Tanner, a talented Data Analyst, the cute Eloise Adebola and the sleazy Brendan Short. At various stages the point of view switches to these three characters, this was a bit odd as the plot initially seemed to unfold via Ray telling his story from the police station to the detective.
There are plenty of very memorable scenes, particularly with Ray trying to hold it together when the blackouts get systematically worse and the visions themselves are powerfully drawn. His mental disintegration is skilfully handled and there is one particularly memorable scene in which he has a blackout whilst presenting a paper to his bosses which will have you cringing. In the background we are alerted to a serial killer on the prowl and the integration of that into the main plot cumulated with a nice twist. The support characters all have their own issues and secrets, but in the end their connection to the central plot of Ray and his “Bad Visions” did not add up to very much and were periphery to the main story.
The plot periodically flicks back to the police station and gradually it is revealed what Ray is doing there. Dave Jeffery crams a lot of plot, characters and action into this punchy novella and you’re never too sure which direction it is going to take with the twists nicely shrouded until the last minute. I enjoyed the final sequences; the cool ending and “Bad Visions” was very good company over the period in which I read it. A heady mix of paranoia, thriller and horror which over 150 quality pages is very likely to enhance Dave Jeffery’s growing reputation in the horror scen
December 11, 2018
This short novella packs a lot into its pages. There are lots of characters, but each is distinct and Jeffery is very skilled at making them seem like real people. The plot has echoes of The Medusa Touch, the old Richard Burton film. I don't want to say too much about the plot as I think it will potentially ruin the joy of this story. Suffice to say that I really enjoyed it and I think it is close to an essential purchase for discerning horror fans.
I had a slight issue with the very end, as something happens that seems out of place with what has gone before, but that did not spoil my enjoyment at all. Highly recommended.
I had a slight issue with the very end, as something happens that seems out of place with what has gone before, but that did not spoil my enjoyment at all. Highly recommended.
October 14, 2018
I read this in one sitting, pausing only for a coffee refill. A twisting tale of twisted individuals and their twisted deeds. Innocence and guilt are confused concepts and even demonic visions, normally so accurate, can't provide Ray with the answers he needs. Mental health is a speciality of Dave Jeffery, I'm just not sure which side of the line he sits. This will leave you wondering whether your own childhood left a mark on your soul you will never escape. A book that screams out to be read but will leave you with bad visions!
October 29, 2018
A thoroughly enjoyable novella with some surprising twists at the end. At first I was a little concerned it was going to contain the usual violence against women - which does put me off some books (it's as if it's regarded as mandatory for horror to have such aspects forgetting that in the process they risk alienating a sizeable audience) - but, whilst one woman does suffer a nasty end, another completely turns the tables on the reader's understanding of her character in a rather clever way. I also think there is a novel lurking in this novella.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews