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The Killing Vision
When the tortured body of fourteen-year-old Sarah Jo McElvoy washes up on the river's edge during a Fourth of July fireworks display, panic seizes Cedar Hill. And when another young girl goes missing just days later without a trace, detectives fear the small town harbors a serial killer.
Psychic Joel Roberts believes the murderer may be someone he knows. But after he reluctantly shares his suspicions with the police, he finds the killer may be closer than he first thought, and Joel might be in danger himself.
Evil has come to Cedar Hill. And its face will keep you guessing to the very end.
Psychic Joel Roberts believes the murderer may be someone he knows. But after he reluctantly shares his suspicions with the police, he finds the killer may be closer than he first thought, and Joel might be in danger himself.
Evil has come to Cedar Hill. And its face will keep you guessing to the very end.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Will Overby
23 books22 followersAward-winning author and sometime banker Will Overby has spent thirty years in the boardrooms and glass offices of retail banking. Between dodging mergers and drafting policies he publishes novels.
He lives along the Ohio River in western Kentucky where mysteries still abound and the tradition of storytelling is as strong as ever.
A graduate of Indiana University, Will is an avid Hoosiers football fan.
Connect with him on his website, willoverby.com, on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter (@Will_Overby).
He lives along the Ohio River in western Kentucky where mysteries still abound and the tradition of storytelling is as strong as ever.
A graduate of Indiana University, Will is an avid Hoosiers football fan.
Connect with him on his website, willoverby.com, on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter (@Will_Overby).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 1, 2016
A very gruesome find by some teenagers on the edge of a river on New Years Eve sets the scene for a story of a nasty serial killer abducting and raping young girls.
It is also the story of psychic Joel Roberts who cannot touch people for fear of "reading" them. He feels he knows who the killer is, but the police are sceptical as he is a leader of the community.
Joel also has a brother who cheats on his wife and treats Joel like an idiot.
The ways in which the killer tortures the girls (both when alive and then dead is probably one of the worst cases of killings I have read.
Having said that- Great read
It is also the story of psychic Joel Roberts who cannot touch people for fear of "reading" them. He feels he knows who the killer is, but the police are sceptical as he is a leader of the community.
Joel also has a brother who cheats on his wife and treats Joel like an idiot.
The ways in which the killer tortures the girls (both when alive and then dead is probably one of the worst cases of killings I have read.
Having said that- Great read
December 20, 2017
Overby has created a wonderfully suspenseful novel in The Killing Vision. Its a crime story at heart, but it reaches out into horror and the paranormal just a bit. Girls are going missing, and showing up dead. Two brothers are central the to story. One a bit of a goofus, and the other a bit of a gallant. The mayor looks like a suspect, and the mayor directs the police department. Who is killing these girls? And what do the brothers have to do with it? A great story, fast page turner, with quite the twist at the end. I highly recommend.
October 5, 2018
For this #FictionFriday review, we're talking about Will Overby's 2013 novel, The Killing Vision. I actually came across this book during a Goodreads giveaway the author was running. I know I'm always down for a chance to win a free book, so I threw my name in there like a boss. Well, I sadly wasn't boss enough since I didn't win. But that won't keep a man down when chasing down a juicy story. So, I kept this on my TBR list until I finally got around to getting the audiobook for my daily commute.
So, what's this book all about? The body of a fourteen-year-old girl washes up on the riverbanks during a fireworks display on the Fourth of July in the small town of Cedar Hill. Outright murder isn't something the police in this town deal with as often as a big city, so their investigation is piled higher when a second body is found a few days later. So far, so good. Sounds like something I can sink my teeth into.
Now, we throw in a psychic named Joel Roberts that believes he knows who the murderer is but is reluctant to go to the police and sound like a lunatic. Soon, Joel finds he might be in the killer's crosshairs. Needless to say, there is a lot going on here. However...
My honest review of the book was that the hook sounds great, but the execution falls flat. I feel like the writer was sitting at his desk one day with the following thoughts.
1) I want to write a story of murders in a small town with police that are ill-equipped to deal with this type of crime.
2) Actually, I think I might write a story about a woman that is physically and emotionally abused by her husband with no way out other than framing him for murder.
3) Oh...I know. What if I wrote a story about psychics that helped the police track down killers!
4) You know what? The hell with it, I'll just make all three of those into one crappy book.
There are way too many storylines going on in this book and none of them really tie together or have anything to do with each other. Let's go through each of them, shall we? First off, don't be fooled by the description that comes along with the book because Joel the psychic does absolutely nothing that has any effect on the story or the investigation. He points them towards the mayor as a suspect in the murders of the two girls, but it turns into nothing. If this never happened, it wouldn't affect how the story plays out. Then, Joel does eventually find out who the killer is, but it again has no bearing on the story as one of the detectives already found the identity on his own and shows up seconds after Joel's discovery. So, the psychic has nothing to do with the story there.
Next, there is another woman murdered to frame a cheating husband that happens to be Joel's brother, Wade. This death has nothing to do with the two young girls and the investigations never cross each other. Again, Joel does discover that Wade's wife murdered the woman to frame him, but it again has no bearing on the story. The woman buckles under the pressure of the investigation and confesses on her own, so there was absolutely no reason to have psychic's in this novel at all.
Lastly, I don't want you to assume that the detectives on the case actually do any detecting. The one lead on the mayor given by the psychic doesn't pan out. Then, the lead detective just happens to trip and fall face first on the evidence that damns the killer. Nothing about the investigation or the damned psychic does anything that helps this evidence come to light. And then the story is over. What a waste of my time. Oh, and did I mention all the time spend on Joel and Wade's abusive stepfather when they were kids that again had nothing to do with the rest of the book? I didn't? Well, that's just another reason to avoid this book.
As always though, that is just one reader's opinion. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments and check me out at jdmartinbooks.com or follow me on Goodreads for more reviews and to find my own books and other merchandise.
Thanks for reading!
So, what's this book all about? The body of a fourteen-year-old girl washes up on the riverbanks during a fireworks display on the Fourth of July in the small town of Cedar Hill. Outright murder isn't something the police in this town deal with as often as a big city, so their investigation is piled higher when a second body is found a few days later. So far, so good. Sounds like something I can sink my teeth into.
Now, we throw in a psychic named Joel Roberts that believes he knows who the murderer is but is reluctant to go to the police and sound like a lunatic. Soon, Joel finds he might be in the killer's crosshairs. Needless to say, there is a lot going on here. However...
My honest review of the book was that the hook sounds great, but the execution falls flat. I feel like the writer was sitting at his desk one day with the following thoughts.
1) I want to write a story of murders in a small town with police that are ill-equipped to deal with this type of crime.
2) Actually, I think I might write a story about a woman that is physically and emotionally abused by her husband with no way out other than framing him for murder.
3) Oh...I know. What if I wrote a story about psychics that helped the police track down killers!
4) You know what? The hell with it, I'll just make all three of those into one crappy book.
There are way too many storylines going on in this book and none of them really tie together or have anything to do with each other. Let's go through each of them, shall we? First off, don't be fooled by the description that comes along with the book because Joel the psychic does absolutely nothing that has any effect on the story or the investigation. He points them towards the mayor as a suspect in the murders of the two girls, but it turns into nothing. If this never happened, it wouldn't affect how the story plays out. Then, Joel does eventually find out who the killer is, but it again has no bearing on the story as one of the detectives already found the identity on his own and shows up seconds after Joel's discovery. So, the psychic has nothing to do with the story there.
Next, there is another woman murdered to frame a cheating husband that happens to be Joel's brother, Wade. This death has nothing to do with the two young girls and the investigations never cross each other. Again, Joel does discover that Wade's wife murdered the woman to frame him, but it again has no bearing on the story. The woman buckles under the pressure of the investigation and confesses on her own, so there was absolutely no reason to have psychic's in this novel at all.
Lastly, I don't want you to assume that the detectives on the case actually do any detecting. The one lead on the mayor given by the psychic doesn't pan out. Then, the lead detective just happens to trip and fall face first on the evidence that damns the killer. Nothing about the investigation or the damned psychic does anything that helps this evidence come to light. And then the story is over. What a waste of my time. Oh, and did I mention all the time spend on Joel and Wade's abusive stepfather when they were kids that again had nothing to do with the rest of the book? I didn't? Well, that's just another reason to avoid this book.
As always though, that is just one reader's opinion. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments and check me out at jdmartinbooks.com or follow me on Goodreads for more reviews and to find my own books and other merchandise.
Thanks for reading!
August 8, 2018
!I really liked this book. There were some nice tangle of characters and action overlapping that kept you guessing who the actual killer was. And when it's revealed, surprise! Looking forward to learning more about Joel and Halloran in the next books.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews