Review: *****5- O'Rourke Never Disappoints -Stars*****
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2014
*****5- O'Rourke Never Disappoints -Stars*****~this review may contain minor spoilers~Flashes! That's what I call them. I'm Charley Shepard, the girl who can see things, the seventeen-year-old with an overactive imagination, the freak who can see lights like a thousand photographers crammed inside her head snapping away all at once!I have been waiting a long-a** time for this book/series to come out, now that it's here, I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. Not that I really expected to be, I don't think there is anything that Tim O'Rourke could come out with that I wouldn't love with everything that I have. He once again throws us into a world of unknowns, biting our nails wondering what will happen next. No one does mystery or horror like O'Rourke does, every story is so different from anything else out there and Flashes is just another example of that.If the flashes were really visions of some kind, then what would that make me? A medium? Clairvoyant? Psychic? Or just someone who could see people's deaths? Because that's what I always saw in those flashes-I saw people dying.Charley has had visions, or 'flashes' as she calls them, for as long as she can remember. No one believes her and have always chalked it up to an overactive imagination, though Charley knows better. The only person who has ever had faith in her, who stuck up for her and believed in her, was her best friend Natalie. But with Natalie's sudden and brutal death, Charley is left alone when her flashes return with a vengeance, hitting stronger than ever before and this time she is determined to prove once and for all that she is not crazy and what she sees is real. This is how she meets Police Constable Tom Henson.“I'm scared because I saw that girl being dragged to her death, but there is another part of me that's happy too.” she whispered.“How can you be happy about a young girl losing her life?”“It means I'm not losing my mind. It proves I haven't been making this stuff up. The stuff I saw in those flashes wasn't the work of my overactive imagination. They weren't dreams, nightmares or hallucinations. They were real!”Tom doesn't know what to make of Charley. On the one hand-he doesn't really think she is lying to him about her flashes exactly and she doesn't seem to be crazy. But on the other hand-how can he really believe her? Stuff like that just doesn't happen. However, she does seem to know more than she should about the death of the girl he is currently investigating and he's desperate to find out if she was in fact murdered or if it was just a tragic accident. Charley is determined to get Tom to believe her, but will he? Can they find the answers they are looking for before the killer strikes again, if there is in fact a killer to  be found?And what if she was right and the flashes were true? What if Charley saw some clue-something that would explain what had really happened to Kerry Underwood? What did I do with that information?Since this was only part one of a three part story, we are left with more questions than answers, especially with the ending that left me screaming at my kindle. Tim O'Rourke is damn good at making my heart drop into my stomach and then cutting me off with my mouth laying on the floor. Every time I finish one of his books I'm left climbing the walls wondering when in the hell I'll be able to get my greedy little fingers on his next book. Sadist :pBut that is just one of the many reasons why my 'O'Rourke Obsession' started waaaayy back with Vampire Shift and has steadily grown over the last two years into the all-encompassing addiction that it is today. The fact that he is such an awesome and brilliant (if somewhat evil) author is made that much sweeter with the knowledge that he is a genuinely nice guy as well. He loves his fans with all that he has and shows this on a daily basis. I count myself lucky that I can now call him friend and am so happy with all the success he has earned. Not only does he deserve it, but us readers would be missing out on some truly spectacular work if he had never made the decision to publish that first book. If you haven't had a chance to read any of his work yet, you are being severely deprived. So pick a series, any series, he has several to choose from, and dive into the world of the O'Rourkians. This man is our master and we are his willing followers.Jenn @ Bookworm Betties