‘InSight of the Seer’ by Linda Anderson and Sara Marx

Author: Pamela Bigelow

August 8, 2011

The authors introduce Guin Marcus, LAPD cop and closet psychic. Guin is involved with her sergeant, Cheryl Jones, who is married with kids. Their affair is conducted secretly since the Department forbids dating on the job. The two cops ignore the edict and see one another when they can. When they respond to a call one afternoon, Guin’s life changes forever.

Guin is remarkably unaware of her own feelings and her powers. She courts disaster with nearly every decision she makes without caring about the consequences, even if those consequences will negatively affect those she cares for most.

Anderson and Marx expect the reader to suspend disbelief throughout the book, particularly about the lack of professionalism exhibited by characters who profess to love their jobs and who want to retain them for years to come. For instance, Guin and Cheryl jeopardize their careers in order to rush home to jump into bed. Maybe once, okay. But again and again? And they don’t get caught? And Cheryl won’t drink a beer while in uniform because it’s against the rules, so she strips off her uniform and enjoys the beer, still defying the no dating rule which she ignores. The instances of these kind of behavioral aberrations can be found throughout the book.

While readers may be willing to suspend disbelief once in a book, having to do so over and over again is asking too much of any reader, and will take any reader out of the story.

The publisher and authors needed a strong editor to take control, but failed to receive the necessary expertise. While the authors have an interesting story to tell, this book reads like a first draft rather than a polished finished product. Consequently, the authors didn’t live up to their story’s potential, and there are too many flaws to make this an interesting read.

Insight of the Seer
by Linda Anderson and Sara Marx
Bella Books
Paperback, 9781594932274, 216pp.
April 2011