Trick of the Eye

by Dennis Haseley

Richard has started seeing things. And hearing them too. Suddenly he has discovered that he can communicate with the characters in paintings. And they’ve begun to tell him that there’s something he has forgotten—something important in his past that he’ll be able to remember if only he can find the right painting. Does he dare look for it? Does he dare remember?

In this intriguing, intricate novel with a Gothic flare, Dennis Haseley has spun a breathtakingly original mystery. The ending will astonish you.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2004

About the author

Dennis Haseley a écrit de nombreux livres pour enfants (Kite Flier, The Old Banjo). Il vit à Brooklyn, New York, avec sa famille.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this book. I mean, was he really going into paintings and talking to the figures painted there? At first I believed so, and felt it was going to ve some sort of supernatural book. But my final conclusion was that he was not really conversing with the people in the paintings. He suffered a lot psycholologically because, as we discover (spoilers spoilers ahead) after he follows the man who has been stealing the paintings, his mom is not actually his mom, but his aunt, whose husband had killed his mother, and these things had been forgotten, buried in his subconscious, til they all came back to him.
Honestly, it coukd have been a goid story, if it wasn't so confusing to read. I was constantly rereading paragraphs to try to figure out what the author was trying to say. And I just didnt like the style this book was written in.

[Amanda "Coffin Critiques" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I read the Uncorrected Proof edition.
This was a bit frazzled. It had a perceivable plot overall I suppose but it wasn’t well adjusted. I felt a lot of melancholy from the overall tone of this novel, but that’s about it. I think the twist itself was relatively intriguing but the entire build was a bit lackluster. I didn’t really understand what it was I was supposed to want to figure out. It could have been why Richard can even speak to paintings, or what’s happening with his mother, or even why certain paintings that Richard can talk to are going missing. It just wound up feeling a bit jumbled and messy. It may have been interesting if the style was more intriguing as well as a more direct focus on the “mystery” in this work. It just felt flat and because of that I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but I do have to admit, in another genre or in a more adult setting, I think this could have been done much better because the author does have a good way with tone still.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard has discovered a secret. He can communicate with people in paintings. They seem to want to help him remember something, something important. As Richard investigates, the paintings start to disappear. With the help of the cook, Madeline, Richard searches for the thief and the key to his past.

[Caniah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trick of the Eye is in all a good book, it has an interesting story but is confusing asidontknowwhat.

The author had very good story idea, but he did a horrible job at explaining what was being talked about and what was happening so much that I didn't even want to read it after the first chapter. This being said if you read this book prepare yourself, for you will have to re-read paragraph after paragraph in order to actually understand what's being talked about.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!


YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

So the whole book is about this boy named Richard trying to figure out what happened in his past because he started talking to a painting? (I'm still not sure). So he goes trying to locate other paintings behind his mothers (who turns out to be his aunt) back, trying to find out more about his past, because his aunt obviously lied to him about what happened to him. So baiscally (because I don't feel like going into detail about what happened) he finds out that his uncle, who was in love with his aunts sister, who is his mother, had killed his mother by accident because he was obssesed with her. He would paint pictures of her and obviously take advantage of her until he killed her.

I don't want to get into detail about what happened, this is just what I understood from theconfusingasheckwriting.

CONTINUE HERE!!

All in all the book was pretty good despite the writing, but I probably will not read another book by this author.

[Katie Lance · Rating 2 out of 5]

One gigantic meh.

[Tales Untangled · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was immediately intrigued with Trick of the Eye because I could not immediately determine where the author was leading me. I was also puzzled by Richard, the voice in the story, who had a skewed perception of reality. Even after reading the entire novel the question remains, did Richard really talk to the paintings or were the experiences bubbling up from his subconscious? It could easily be argued that he is projecting his own thoughts and feelings onto the characters in the paintings.

I'm trying not to spoil the mystery at the end for you. I will say it was not what I was expecting. As I reached the last quarter of the book the tension continued to increase making me feel nervous as to how the mystery would be solved. Due to the nature of the mystery...

To read the full review go to http://talesuntangled.wordpress.com

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept but not very well executed. It was sometimes hard to follow and for being such a short book there were definitely points that seem to drag on for me.