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Clouded Vision
Keisha Ceylon is a psychic. At least, that's what she passes herself off as. The truth is, Keisha's real powers have more to do with separating troubled families from their money than actually seeing into the netherworld. Keisha watches the news for stories of missing family members. She gives it a few days, then moves in, tells these families she's had a vision, that she may have some clue to where these missing people are. And by the way, she charges for this service, and likes to see the money up front. Keisha's latest mark is a man whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or, if she's been abducted, pleading with whoever took her to let her go. Keisha knows a payoff when she sees one. So she pays a visit to our troubled husband, tells him her vision. Trouble is, her vision just happens to be close enough to the truth that it leaves this man rattled. And it may very well leave Keisha dead.
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2010
41 people are currently reading
1803 people want to read
About the author
Linwood Barclay
83 books7,200 followersLinwood Barclay is the #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels for adults, including No Time for Goodbye, Trust Your Eyes and, most recently, A Noise Downstairs. He has also written two novels for children and screenplays.
Three of those seventeen novels comprise the epic Promise Falls trilogy: Broken Promise, Far From True, and The Twenty-Three. His two novels for children – Chase and Escape – star a computer-enhanced dog named Chipper who’s on the run from the evil organization that turned him into a super-pup.
Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film.
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed by three more Zack Walker thrillers: Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, and Stone Rain. (The last two were published in the UK under the titles Bad Luck and Bad News.)
His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was published in 2007 to critical acclaim and great international success. The following year, it was a Richard and Judy Summer Read selection in the UK, and did seven straight weeks at #1 on the UK bestseller list, and finished 2008 as the top selling novel of the year there. The book has since been sold around the world and been translated into nearly thirty languages.
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two grown children, Spencer and Paige.
Three of those seventeen novels comprise the epic Promise Falls trilogy: Broken Promise, Far From True, and The Twenty-Three. His two novels for children – Chase and Escape – star a computer-enhanced dog named Chipper who’s on the run from the evil organization that turned him into a super-pup.
Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film.
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed by three more Zack Walker thrillers: Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, and Stone Rain. (The last two were published in the UK under the titles Bad Luck and Bad News.)
His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was published in 2007 to critical acclaim and great international success. The following year, it was a Richard and Judy Summer Read selection in the UK, and did seven straight weeks at #1 on the UK bestseller list, and finished 2008 as the top selling novel of the year there. The book has since been sold around the world and been translated into nearly thirty languages.
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two grown children, Spencer and Paige.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
June 9, 2015
The strength of this story is not so much in the murder mystery, but in the intrusion of a fraudulent psychic who makes a living out of exploiting the vulnerable families of missing persons.
The prologue, entitled Setting the Scene: Ellie, describes the death and ingenious seclusion of the body from the victim's point of view. That builds the suspense on which the rest of the story is founded.
Each chapter describes the progress of the plot from the perspective of one of the characters, and the conclusion of this quick read is worth the wait. It is possible to read the whole book in just over an hour.
As I read, I could guess what was going to happen next, but only a few lines ahead of each event. I think that this is skillful writing. You don't want to be able to guess the ending in the first chapter. Equally, you don't want to arrive at several revelations in the final chapter for which there have been not a single clue on the way to that point.
Definitely recommended if you want a short, entertaining murder with twists story.
The prologue, entitled Setting the Scene: Ellie, describes the death and ingenious seclusion of the body from the victim's point of view. That builds the suspense on which the rest of the story is founded.
Each chapter describes the progress of the plot from the perspective of one of the characters, and the conclusion of this quick read is worth the wait. It is possible to read the whole book in just over an hour.
As I read, I could guess what was going to happen next, but only a few lines ahead of each event. I think that this is skillful writing. You don't want to be able to guess the ending in the first chapter. Equally, you don't want to arrive at several revelations in the final chapter for which there have been not a single clue on the way to that point.
Definitely recommended if you want a short, entertaining murder with twists story.
July 23, 2020
Ellie wakes up covered in blood. She's trapped in a car on a frozen lake. CRACK. The ice is breaking. One more crack and the car will plunge into the water below, taking Ellie with it.
Meet Keisha Ceylon - she's a nasty piece of work. She tricks families with visions she says will lead them to missing loved ones. However, one of those dodgy visions gets too close to the truth. Someone doesn't like it - and they're ready to kill to keep a terrible secret safe.
Meet Keisha Ceylon - she's a nasty piece of work. She tricks families with visions she says will lead them to missing loved ones. However, one of those dodgy visions gets too close to the truth. Someone doesn't like it - and they're ready to kill to keep a terrible secret safe.
September 1, 2012
Started this book this morning at Starbucks with a "grande bold". This is the first "Quick Read" that I have ever read. As I was taking my last sip of coffee I read the last page.I was thoroughly entertained by L.B.'s latest chilling suspense story. Could not put it down. Good surprise endings ( that's right, plural ). I won't make a habit of these "Quick Reads" but they're very good for once in a while. Linwood Barclay has successfully left behind his career as a writer for the Toronto Star newspaper. He really is one of the very best out there when it comes to crime fiction. He always has lots of suspense and twists and turns. He's one of those authors that I read everything her writes. I totally recommend this book to anyone who needs a quick literary fix. You'll not be disappointed.
October 6, 2020
Okay. That's twice in a row for gruesome.
Some people would say, "No way."
Some people would say, "No way."
July 4, 2011
Edgar Allan Poe invented the short story and Linwood Barclay carries on the tradition admirably with as good a tale as Poe himself might have created. Billed as a novella, it edges closer to the short story form, and, as such, was perfect.
The "trick" to creating a great suspense/mystery story is that the close reader is able to figure out the major turns just a sentence or two before the narrative delivers. This is one of the toughest things a writer can attempt to do. If the surprise is guessed at too soon, the reader regards it as unintelligent; if the reader is fooled always, he feels manipulated, as in those old O. Henry stories or Twilight Zone episodes, which is why they're no longer in vogue--no intelligent reader enjoys being manipulated. It's a balancing act that few writers are capable of pulling off--Barclay does and masterfully.
When the reader guesses correctly just before the twist is revealed, he subconsciously considers himself a pretty smart cookie. That's a reader, who by association with what he's just done, considers the writer equally smart and becomes a fan. If he's always surprised, that indicates a writer who's showing off and who doesn't really care about involving his reader. He's mostly concerned with showing how clever he is.
It's all in the timing. The reader who is disappointed at guessing the turns--even if just before they're revealed--is the kind of reader who reads solely on an entertainment and fairly superficial level. That's a person who mostly wants to be titillated and cares little about the literary quality. A person who reads most stories one time. Once they know what happens, they're off to another "entertainment." The stories by a writer such as Poe are read over and over. They don't appeal to the more superficial reader for the reasons stated above--once they know how it turns out they're onto something else. Nothing wrong with that--but that's a reader more of today than in older times when people read for more than just the entertainment value. Today, many want to go to the movie or read the book, find out what happened, and then that book is put away forever and that movie isn't viewed again.
This is a "Poe-quality" or "Chekhov-quality" story. One many readers will return to more than once. Even when we know the twists. It has that almost undefinable quality the best writing delivers.
And, that's why it deserves five stars and not four.
The "trick" to creating a great suspense/mystery story is that the close reader is able to figure out the major turns just a sentence or two before the narrative delivers. This is one of the toughest things a writer can attempt to do. If the surprise is guessed at too soon, the reader regards it as unintelligent; if the reader is fooled always, he feels manipulated, as in those old O. Henry stories or Twilight Zone episodes, which is why they're no longer in vogue--no intelligent reader enjoys being manipulated. It's a balancing act that few writers are capable of pulling off--Barclay does and masterfully.
When the reader guesses correctly just before the twist is revealed, he subconsciously considers himself a pretty smart cookie. That's a reader, who by association with what he's just done, considers the writer equally smart and becomes a fan. If he's always surprised, that indicates a writer who's showing off and who doesn't really care about involving his reader. He's mostly concerned with showing how clever he is.
It's all in the timing. The reader who is disappointed at guessing the turns--even if just before they're revealed--is the kind of reader who reads solely on an entertainment and fairly superficial level. That's a person who mostly wants to be titillated and cares little about the literary quality. A person who reads most stories one time. Once they know what happens, they're off to another "entertainment." The stories by a writer such as Poe are read over and over. They don't appeal to the more superficial reader for the reasons stated above--once they know how it turns out they're onto something else. Nothing wrong with that--but that's a reader more of today than in older times when people read for more than just the entertainment value. Today, many want to go to the movie or read the book, find out what happened, and then that book is put away forever and that movie isn't viewed again.
This is a "Poe-quality" or "Chekhov-quality" story. One many readers will return to more than once. Even when we know the twists. It has that almost undefinable quality the best writing delivers.
And, that's why it deserves five stars and not four.
October 31, 2021
I’ve read a few Linwood Barclay books and have mostly enjoyed them. There have been a few I was on the fence about, yet I’ve constantly found myself wanting to read more of the author’s work. While I’m not the biggest reader of short stories, Clouded Vision had me curious because of the main character.
I’ll be honest and say this is okay as a bonus, working for people curious about the main character, yet it is far from the best story I have ever read. In fact, it was extremely easy. There wasn’t enough depth to this one for me to be hooked in the way I had hoped, which was a bit disappointing. I’m sure many will enjoy this, but I’d been hoping for a lot more.
All in all, this worked to add more to a character, yet it did not wow me as a story.
I’ll be honest and say this is okay as a bonus, working for people curious about the main character, yet it is far from the best story I have ever read. In fact, it was extremely easy. There wasn’t enough depth to this one for me to be hooked in the way I had hoped, which was a bit disappointing. I’m sure many will enjoy this, but I’d been hoping for a lot more.
All in all, this worked to add more to a character, yet it did not wow me as a story.
August 9, 2011
Such a great (and short) novella, I hardly had time to read it before it was done. I have always liked Barclay (shout out to being CANADIAN!!) and this one did not disappoint. Barclay sets the scene quickly and then uses each chapter to focus in on the three main characters, offering narration in the third person from their point of view.
The story was good... the plot held my attention... I liked how he worked things into the story, both essential and window dressing. And, of course, the true Barclay feature, a massive twist in the end. Alas, you will have to read it to find out!
The story was good... the plot held my attention... I liked how he worked things into the story, both essential and window dressing. And, of course, the true Barclay feature, a massive twist in the end. Alas, you will have to read it to find out!
March 25, 2015
This was a good book but I got a shock as I did not realise it was such a short story. Shame as if it had been developed further it would have made an excellent novel as the premise of the story was very good.
July 27, 2023
Oh my word, amazing book. It only took me 40 minutes to read such a quick read with a massive plot twist. Like I mean massive Defo need to go and everyone’s TBR
March 2, 2025
Love me a good quick and easy read. To the point, a one and done thriller.
November 4, 2022
Wonderful
May 14, 2016
One star from me. I am a Barclay fan, unfortunately I stopped reading the moment I realized this was just a condensed version of Never Saw It Coming. Reading a 90 page novella was going to take away the enjoyment of reading the proper book. Nowhere on the cover tells you this. At least if he had used the same title I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. Shame.
September 19, 2016
Too short
I love Linwood Barclay but this story left me wanting more. He does know how to hook you in.
I wanted to know what the real psychic knew as nd if the pregnant daughter got what was coming to get and if the fake psychic was caught for murdering the father in self defense. Serves me right for reading a short story
I love Linwood Barclay but this story left me wanting more. He does know how to hook you in.
I wanted to know what the real psychic knew as nd if the pregnant daughter got what was coming to get and if the fake psychic was caught for murdering the father in self defense. Serves me right for reading a short story
July 8, 2016
I do enjoy these Quick Read & this was no exception. An entertaining read with a nice twist & an ending that had me smiling with satisfaction. Well worth an hour (or less!) of anybodies time :o)
March 16, 2011
Meh. Very predictalbe twist. No really likeable characters for a story that needed them. Quick read, though.
May 29, 2018
Premise: Keisha Ceylon is a fraudulent psychic who passes herself off as possessing real powers in order to extort money from vulnerable families with missing family members, in return fpr psychic predictions regarding their disappearance. When Keisha spots Wendell Garfield on tv pleading for information regarding his wife’s disappearance she decides to pay him a visit. However, the man might not be quite as innocent as he looked on camera.
I am a Linwood Barclay fan. His books are all quite similar and if you have read one of the books, the others are quite predictable. That said I do enjoy his style of writing, easy to read, quick-paced and not overly gory. This book is part of the “quick reads” collection, which I have begun looking through lately. The idea of this collection is exactly as it says on the tin (or should that be cover), a shorter than normal book by world leading authors. One of the things I quite like about these books are that they force the authors to cut out a lot of the waffle that sometimes goes on in books. This keeps the stories quite fast paced with a lot happening in less time. This shorter novel suits Linwood Barclay’s writing style.
The only downside to this book (and I realise it is a personal taste thing) but this is one of the reasons I haven’t given it 5 stars, is that in this book there are actually no likeable characters. Keisha who seems to be the main character/hero of the book, you are told from the outset is a fraud and is there to pray on vulnerable people. The grieving husband is covering something so already you like and distrust him, even the vanished wife is a constant nag and in some ways, you think the family are better without her.
I always think it is useful to see an extract of an author’s writing and in this book there are quite a few action focussed parts to choose from but I thought this one is quite interesting as its intriguing without giving too much plot away:
You started off vaguely, with something like, ‘I see a house… a white house with a fence out front…’
And they’d say, ‘A White house? Wait, wait, didn’t Aunt Gwen live in a white house?’
Someone else would say, ‘That’s right, she did!’
Then picking up the past tense, you said, ‘And this Aunt Gwen, I’m sensing… I’m sensing she’s passed on.’
And they said, ‘Oh my god, that’s right, she has!’
I did enjoy this book. As I said, it was predictable especially if you are familiar with Barclay’s previous work but it was still a good read.
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May 25, 2021
"Perhaps many people would be willing to engage a psychic, a medium - whatever this woman wanted to call herself. This might be so even if they believed, at best, there was only a 1 in a million chance that she really knew anything."
This book centres around a convicted fraudster called Keisha who approaches the loved ones of someone who has recently gone missing, falsely claiming that she has had visions of the individual and knows where they are... for a fee of course.
I cannot think of a more deplorable way to make money than to pray on the families of murder victims and kidnapees but that's what this woman does. However, she chooses the wrong mark this time.
Crime fiction is such an over saturated market that I probably wouldn't read a book like this if it was a full length novel. But at 96 page novella length it is perfect. Very easy to read, managed to get through it in a day and was pleasantly surprised.
It is a pretty simple story with not many characters. There are a few twists and turns but what makes it really interesting is the psychic.
I wrote down while I was reading it "paranoia = misunderstanding". That is where this book is really good, it shows how when someone's paranoid they start thinking of crazy things and jumping to negative conclusions and their thoughts become so frantic that they cannot cope.
I also didn't see the last chapter coming, that was excellent.
March 9, 2023
4.5 stars
This book was amazing in the sense that right up until the last page the plot was still twisting. Not once did I guess a plot twist and the ending is very clever. I picked up this book as it was short and I was a few books behind in my reading challenge and I was not disappointed. The book is about 100 pages so it’s not very long but I’ve read books far longer (say 300-400) that haven’t been able to convey this type of ‘on the edge of my seat’ feeling at all. This book is soo good and got me out of my reading slump after. 1000% recommend but just be aware that there is a bit of blood and gore but it’s a murder mystery so what can you expect 😝
Age rating : 13/14+
So I recommend: yes 🙌🏻
The book gives me the same vibes as - ‘the landlady’ by Road Dahl and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. The book gives you a feeling that something is off but you can’t put your finger on it
This book was amazing in the sense that right up until the last page the plot was still twisting. Not once did I guess a plot twist and the ending is very clever. I picked up this book as it was short and I was a few books behind in my reading challenge and I was not disappointed. The book is about 100 pages so it’s not very long but I’ve read books far longer (say 300-400) that haven’t been able to convey this type of ‘on the edge of my seat’ feeling at all. This book is soo good and got me out of my reading slump after. 1000% recommend but just be aware that there is a bit of blood and gore but it’s a murder mystery so what can you expect 😝
Age rating : 13/14+
So I recommend: yes 🙌🏻
The book gives me the same vibes as - ‘the landlady’ by Road Dahl and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. The book gives you a feeling that something is off but you can’t put your finger on it
May 15, 2023
It is a gripping novel that kept me hooked until the very end. No slang or cursing words. The pacing of the story is expertly crafted, with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the very end.
One aspect of the novel that I particularly enjoyed was how the author incorporated various themes and motifs, such as family relationships, grief, and deception, into the plot. These elements added depth to the story and made it more than just a simple mystery. Such a great light crime reading !
Overall, "Clouded Vision" is an excellent novel that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a well-crafted mystery with unexpected twists and turns. Linwood Barclay has once again proven himself to be a master of the genre, and I can't wait to see what he writes next.
One aspect of the novel that I particularly enjoyed was how the author incorporated various themes and motifs, such as family relationships, grief, and deception, into the plot. These elements added depth to the story and made it more than just a simple mystery. Such a great light crime reading !
Overall, "Clouded Vision" is an excellent novel that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a well-crafted mystery with unexpected twists and turns. Linwood Barclay has once again proven himself to be a master of the genre, and I can't wait to see what he writes next.
April 16, 2020
A short quick blast of a read, which was just what the doctor ordered as I'm currently stuck in a book that I'm having a hard time with and needed a break. This is my first Linwood Barclay book read, and the story kept me captivated the whole read. I finished the book in 75 mins, which was to be expected being a 'galaxy quick reads' book. The story flowed well and didn't feel rushed due to the length of the book. Mainly set around an interaction between a 'psychic' and a client, this book manages to be well written and descriptive, conjuring good imagery without complex plot lines or landscapes. There even managed to be a twist at the end. Id certainly read more of this author.
July 1, 2019
Una historia corta y que entretiene, no más que eso. Tenemos una "vidente" a la que le sale el tiro por la culata. Desde el vamos sabemos que las cosas no van bien, solo quizás nos sorprenda al final, el pequeño giro de los acontecimientos. Si no fuera porque ya he leído otro libro de este autor, me hubiera decepcionado y quizás no le diera otra oportunidad, si solo conociera este, con ello quiero decir que en este caso estuvo muy floja la historia.
October 10, 2017
This is just a very short novella. Half of the book is a preview of "Trust Your Eyes". Anyway, I love Barclay and have read all his books and found this at a thrift store so had to pick it up. As I said it is short and you could see the end coming a mile away. Barclay is a good writer so the plot kept you reading but I've read much much better short story mysteries.
October 15, 2018
I’ve read this twice now, once a while ago and again today. Thoroughly enjoyed it both times. Having read many of Linwood’s books, this was as enjoyable as the full length books. I love the way he twists and turns the plots, especially when there doesn’t appear to be any way to go, but he finds a way. One of my favourite authors.
December 7, 2018
Part of the Quick Reads series and it definitely was. An enjoyable tale with a nice twist in the middle ( although it's not too difficult to see coming). A very easy read, definitely not great literature even by Linwood Barclay's standards but it kept up the pace all the way and I wanted to keep reading.
August 3, 2022
This is a delightful quick read that weaves a lot of intricacies into just a few pages. It starts with a mysterious murder and cover up with a devastated family and a 'psychic' who believes she can help them and ends with a surprising confession and bloody finale. The writing flows well with a good amount of character development that drives the story along.
November 11, 2019
Maybe it was because this book was so short but it really didn't grab me like Linwood Barclay's other novels. The who did it came sort out of left field for me. The story was a good concept but it just needed more to be likeable.
December 21, 2019
Ok for a bit of light reading. The story itself was good, it could have been written as a much more detailed, longer book. It was almost like a draft of a book that the author planned to go back and expand upon.
December 21, 2019
A quick little read by Linwood Barclay. This story is similar in fact a shorter version from the book, I read in early November. I was looking for a quick read & this packed quite a punch.
Looking forward to reading more by this author in the coming year.
Looking forward to reading more by this author in the coming year.
August 2, 2021
Pretty good short story. Unlike his full novels, it didn't go off the deep end with too many coincidences that are unbelievable. Of course, all his stories are pretty unbelievable, but they do have entertainment value for me.
March 7, 2017
Amazing. Just as any other Linwood Barclay book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews