Perception: Enjoyable light mystery for YA readers

Perception by Kim Harrington

Perception is Kim Harrington’s second mystery starring Clarity “Clare” Fern, a young girl who comes from a family of psychics. Clare’s special power is psychometry: she can touch an object and see scenes from its past.

In the first novel, Clarity, Clare used her ability to help solve a murder mystery. As Perception begins, that story’s aftereffects have turned Clare’s social life upside down. Once a social misfit, now she’s locally famous and unsure how to deal with the sudden fawning attention she’s getting from kids who once shunned her. She also has two boys vying for her heart, plus a rather creepy secret admirer. Her brother is acting strangely too. And if this weren’t enough, another mystery emerges: Sierra, a fellow student, has gone missing. Clare feels a responsibility to use her power to help people and becomes embroiled in the case.

The mystery is a really good one; Harrington scatters red herrings throughout the story, sending the reader’s brain off in many different directions, and when the solution is finally revealed, it makes perfect sense. I once read a guide to mystery writing that said, to paraphrase, that when the culprit is exposed the reader should first be surprised and then a moment later think, of course, it had to be! This is exactly the experience I had with Perception. Another well-done aspect is the way Clare deals with her love triangle. Rather than string either boy along, she takes a step back from both of them to sort out her own feelings.

I didn’t enjoy Perception quite as much as I did Clarity; to me there was a sense that Clare was driving events less than she did in the previous book, instead being moved along by events. This made Perception slightly less satisfying.

That said, it’s an enjoyable light mystery for YA readers, and I hope Harrington writes more in this series. In particular, I think there’s a lot of potential that could be explored regarding Clare’s father.