Evidence

by Clair M. Poulson

Myster Type

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

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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

[T.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clair Poulson's books are like mediocre cookies: you kind of enjoy them, and if they're sitting there in front of you, you might just eat the whole plate.

[Kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are holes in the plot, big ones. I can't recommend it. Some of it was fine, but a little outlandish and a poor plot line. The evidence to find the missing boy is obvious yet it takes two weeks to find him mostly starved to death. That is a little thin when he is giving clues to his whereabouts from day one.

[the girl who reads a lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this mystery years ago, and I decided to revisit it. Cody took Bridgette home from a date, and vanished. Nobody saw him or his car after that. His dad receives a ransom note, and is trying to figure out how to get the money to pay it. Meanwhile, several people in town are acting strange...

I totally forgot the ending from when I read this before, and I was sure I knew who the kidnapper was, and I was wrong. The ending really took me by surprise! I love when that happens!

[Kassandra Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book. It was suspenseful and really made you think about each character and who could have malicious intentions towards a local family. I gave this book a 4 star rating instead of 5 because of the ending. It was a little confusing on how certain things were so easily misdirected, and how obvious things were missed. I probably am just overthinking it, and it left me with several unanswered questions.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay, but it reminded me why I don't usually read this author. Who done it? It could be anyone! But the actual kidnapper was someone who would never have been considered! Clues that led to someone impossible.

[Kevin Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Clair Poulson's eailier books. It keep me quessing as to who had kednapped Cody Linn. But just like the Sheriff I didn't know till the last few pages. And it was a total surprise, but I won't spoil it for you.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

My youngest son loves all of Clair Poulson’s books. I love that they are clean mysteries he can enjoy. When my son asked me to read this one, I got sucked in and I couldn’t put it down. Plot twists and a million suspects to choose from, but then the ending was too outlandish and bugged me.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another chilling, thriller from an outstanding author, that knows how to spin a tale that the reader long remembers.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously, such an amazing author!! I loved this book!!You can make any assumptions you want but you have to read the whole thing to know who it really is.

[Kari Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

With all of my Perry Mason episode-watching, I thought I'd pegged the kidnapper/murderer. Foiled me right at the end!

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man oh man I wish this book was a movie. I was totally surprised at the end. Great suspense and great cast of characters which seems to be a Clair M Poulson speciality.

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out I didn't have it figured out after all. But I still don't approve of Deputy Kara falling in love that quickly.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clean mystery. LDS author.

[Tina Hermansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! Suspenseful. Good from beginning to end!

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the kidnapping took place at the first of the book my first thought was the whole book is going to be about this kidnapping??? Yes but the twist and turns in the plot kept me listening.

[04rachels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cody Lind has been kidnapped. The place could probably be anywhere else, but the time is different. They had cellphones in the book. A different time period could effect the story. There are a lot of main characters. Deputy Smith has a big part of the book, but so does Cody's dad, Cody's uncle, the doctor, and Bridget. All of the characters are either a protagonist or antagonist. Throughout the book some of the characters change from protagonist to antagonist. Clair Poulson always starts his books out with a really good hook. My favorite quote in the book that caught my attention was "Don't look back or you'll die." I started reading it because that line caught my eye. It sounds so exciting. I liked the end of the book because that's where the action started to take place the most. I didn't like the book that much because there wasn't a lot of action. There was mystery, which I liked, but most of the action was toward the end of the book. Sometimes people kidnap people for ransom or they try to kill them. In most of Clair Poulson's books it starts out with a kidnapping or somebody goes missing. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes mystery. I thought it was okay, but if you like a lot of action, you might want to try a different book of his.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I didn't need to finish this book for book club, I would have willingly set it aside without finishing it. Ugh, I didn't enjoy the writing at all. I haven't read anything else by this author, but I'm uncertain why his books are popular in the LDS market. I saw one review that said he was the "master of LDS suspense." Hmmm...

So why didn't I enjoy it? The characters were cliche: the fat, greedy banker who will do anything to get his hands on riches and property, the suave outsider, the silly young female love interest (who happens to be the sheriff's deputy on the case, and completely ignores her better judgment, if she had any to begin with!), the older widowed father who comes close to death from grief, etc. And I just rolled my eyes at the heavy-handed attempts at romance. I laughed out loud when one scene described the handsome nephew's eyes "drilling into" the deputy's face. Ummm... Not to mention the unnecessary scenes. Why did we have to witness two guys fishing twice before they played into the plot?!

I reserve 1 star ratings for bad writing that I find offensive. This was simply writing that I didn't enjoy -- a waste of time, but not offensive.

[A.L. Sowards]

I'm really not sure how many stars to give this book. It's a mystery. When I finish a mystery, I like to be surprised, but I also like to look back and think "yes, that makes sense, of course (fill in the blank) was the bad guy. Why didn't I see it sooner?" This book surprised me, but my reaction was more "Really? Umm...OK."

I was suspecting one particular character from his first appearance in the story. As I read, I thought I wouldn't be surprised at the end, but at least I could enjoy all the subtle clues, like his melodramatic dialogue, which had to be a cover for his guilt. Then he ended up being innocent, which means the dialogue was just over-the-top cheesy as far as that character went.

A note about the book's cover: a footprint does play an important role in the story, but it was a cowboy boot, so I'm not sure why they didn't get a different footprint. I also laughed that the back cover refers to a main character named Peggy Smith. Somewhere in the revision process the author changed her name to Kara Smith, but no one updated the back cover. Funny!

[Kevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cody LInd had just finsihsed the perfect date with the most beautiful girl in town. As the seventeen-year-old slips the keys into the car ignition, cold steel touches the back of his neck. "Don't look back or you'll die," says a muffled voice. "Just start it up and drive. I'll tell you where to go."

Soon, the disappearance of one of Harrisville's favorite sons, and the arrival of an ominous ransom note, send ripples of terror throughout the small town. Now it's up to Sheriff Vince Hanks and his deputy, Peggy Smith, to unravel the mystery. But as they encounter unremitting obatacles in the investigation, they realize that no one is above suspicion. It seems Cosy wasn't popular with everyone. Especially not with the five major suspects-each with his own dark motives. When one of the suspects ends up being murdered, the duo knows that Cody's kidnapper is deadly serious, and that time may be running out.

[Rachael Dorronsoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a young man Cody Lind goes missing, Sheriff Vince Hanks and his Deputy Kara Smith are on the trail, but in the small town of Utah, there appear to be more suspects than clues, it really is a mystery as to who could have kidnapped the young man. The town people are so busy watching each other, the Sheriff has a hard time keeping track of the clues that he did find. This book was great, it was a great read, it was fast paced and good mystery and of course a happy ending. This book is a clean read.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, I listened to this on CD. Somehow, it is harder for me to rank an audio book than it is to rank an ebook or a regular book. I guess I rank this 2.5.

I was interested in seeing the story through to its conclusion (just ask my family); however, I was disappointed in the end of the book. It ended in a way that is one of my pet peeves--maintaining the surprise element by bringing in stuff that was never even mentioned in the rest of the book. I also had the feeling I had read that ending in some other book.

[Alysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery. I don't think I've read anything else by this author yet. I'll probably end up reading others because I have been given some hand me down books, but I'm not sure yet if I'd seek out this author if I didn't have a stack of books already...I'm not going to decide until I read some others. It was a good story, but not amazing. I was a little surprised by the ending, so that's always fun. But, there were a few things left unclear...like how is the relationship and trust rebuilt between a couple main characters.

[Tanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent!! I thought I'd figured out "whodunit" by chapter 6, but I loved the surprise ending. Well, actually it kind of annoyed me because through the whole book I really thought I was right and the end threw me for a loop, but that's good. Mysteries shouldn't be too predictable. I will definitely read more of this author's books. Highly recommended if you like myster and suspense.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reading of this book was okay, but sometimes quite dull. The story however was good. It is from the point of view of the police chief mostly, so the action is more understated because it's just a lot of gathering evidence. I knew "who dunnit" early on and thought I was really smart! However, the author had some great twists and I discovered I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Alas, this is not the first time I have discovered this!!

[Linnae · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some good moments. I liked many of the characters. My biggest contention: I couldn't believe that the villain could have fooled all these people the way the plot claims he did. It was just too thin. After I finished it, I even went back to see if there were any clues that supported this big unveiling, and they were pretty sketchy. It left me with more questions than answers.

Not my favorite of Poulson's.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. I liked the story line and the suspense. I thought it was a good mystery because you never could quite figure out who had done the kidnapping. I did have a hard time with some of the characters. They seemed a little fake and hard to believe at some points. But I liked the ending and feel satisfied by reading it.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good mystery that has clues along the way and either I figure out who the bad guy is or I smack my head when the "duh" moment happens. This didn't happen with this story. There were subtle clues along the way, but they were all misdirection. The Scooby Doo bad guy reveal (costume and everything) at the end seemed to come out of nowhere.

[Stephanie Michelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed the audio version and listened to it with the family everywhere we travelled for a week or so. We'd get in the truck and my boys would say "mom, can we listen to that book?" It was fun to listen to a mystery because every time a new clue was discovered we were all guessing "who dunnit." The story is fairly average but the listening experience was a lot of fun.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book on CD for a road trip and it barely kept us awake. It was VERY long and drawn out; she could have told the whole story in 3 chapters. Also, very contrived and corny. Didn't like it, sorry.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. I probably wouldn't have finished it, but I wanted to know how it ended. I thought I had is figured out and then there was a twist at the end. I'm glad I finished it, but I'm not sure I would recommend it.