The Third Eye

Blessed, or cursed, with the supernatural power of a third eye, Karen Connors has the ability to locate missing children by seeing them in her mind's eye. Madeleine Lambert's tone has a youthful quality that is pleasant to listen to and rings true. The deeper tones of her male characters sound natural as well. She adds tension to her voice as Karen struggles to accept who she is and whether or not to use her gift. Keeping in step with the action of the novel, Lambert quickens her pace to heighten the sense of urgency as time begins to run out for a group of abducted children. M.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2012

Gr 7 Up-High school senior Karen Conners finally has everything that her mother wants for her, a boyfriend, and popular friends. But all of that changes when the seven-year-old boy she is babysitting disappears and Karen envisions where he is, leading to his rescue. Karen discovers that she is a psychic and reluctantly solves the case of another missing child, this time with an unhappy ending. She wants to put this ability behind her, until a group of children at the daycare center where she works are kidnapped and a young police officer convinces her to try to track them down. Narrator Madeleine Lambert does an excellent job of portraying Karen's reluctance to deal with her "visions" and her initial confusion about what they mean. Her voice is flat as she recounts them, almost as if Karen is in a trance. The voice of Karen's mother is somewhat shrill and nasal with no warmth, perfectly reflecting her character. Lambert is less successful in voicing the male characters. That said, Lois Duncan's story ((Little, Brown, 1984) is strong, especially for those who like mysteries and paranormal situations.-Edie Ching, University of Maryland, College Park

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.