Review: Clarity by Kim Harrington

Title: Clarity
Author: Kim Harrington
Publisher: Scholastic/Point
Pub. Date: 3.1.2011
Genre: Paranormal YA
Keywords: Psychic Powers, Murder, Mystery, Family, Romance
Pages: 242
Description (from Goodreads):

When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth?

This paranormal murder mystery will have teens reading on the edge of their seats.

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

CLARITY starts with a bang - literally. Kim Harrington doesn't waste any time with introductions, instead she starts at the end, with Clare in a sticky situation involving a gun and someone who's definitely not afraid to use it. From there, Harrington takes the reader back to the beginning, slowing things down and introducing a colorful cast of characters, but by the that point the reader is hooked and they uncover how Clare finds herself in this rather unfortunate situation.


I really liked the pacing of CLARITY. It clipped along at a fairly rapid pace, but I never felt like I was missing anything or like I was being pushed towards a conclusion. At less than 250 pages, Harrington successfully packs in romance, mystery, and action, which doesn't leave a lot of down time for Clare... or the reader. The only negative is that I didn't particularly want to devour this novel as quickly as I did... it makes the wait for book two seem even longer.


I thought the mystery element was well executed. It was fairly obvious that the main suspect wasn't the actual killer, but I took me quite some time to figure out who actually did the deed. I definitely knew who I didn't want the killer to be... 


Apparently boys aren't dissuaded by Clare's unique abilities because they're all over her. Each of them have something different to offer Clare in terms of personality, but they all seem to have one common trait: good looks. I know who I think Clare should choose - I love "smoldering detectives" - and I'm really hoping she'll see things my way in the next installment, PERCEPTION.


CLARITY is a action packed debut and has landed Harrington's upcoming novels, including the sequel, PERCEPTION, on my list of must reads. Don't miss this action packed first installment to what could easily shape up to be a new paranormal series favorite for many YA readers.