Blur (Blur Trilogy)

I really enjoyed this story and genre. It felt liked I was participating in the whole series. My whole attention was on the story line and all of the characters.

Great murder mystery. I like Mr. James writing style. ...clean editing. Unusual,interesting story line...I will read more from him. On to book two.

Daniel Byers is an all American kid living in a small isolated town in Wisconsin. When the body of a high school freshman is found in Lake Algonquin Daniel is shocked by how he is affected by her death. Then he starts seeing things. Everyone believes that Emily Jackson’s death was an accident but before long things start looking differently for Daniel. At her funeral he has a vision of her and his world starts to come apart. He is convinced that her appearance to him is more than just a dream or hallucination, Daniel begins to look carefully into her death and the more he looks the harder it is to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy. Daniel confides in his friends but even that isn’t enough to keep him from questioning his sanity. What is real and what is a Blur and how can he tell the difference?Steven James is a master story teller. It doesn’t matter what story he is telling, it is always worth the time to read it. When I heard he was doing a Young adult series I was excited, there are not nearly enough YA books out there that are worth the time it takes to read them. James weaves a compelling story that will keep even reluctant readers turning the page. The chapters are short which helps quicken the pace. Every time you are ready to put it down you see how short the next chapter is and think it wouldn’t hurt to read just one more, which always turns into more than just that one. There is no tricky language or anything that makes it confusing to keep going. The main character Daniel is one of those kids that in high school everyone wants to be friends with but unless you are in with that group it rarely happens. But here, James made Daniel popular yet relatable. A little unbelievable at times but something nice to strive for.With all the books out there it is hard to find a clean good read to recommend to kids but this one can be recommended without thinking twice about it. Even though you are dealing with finding who murdered a young girl there is never anything graphic or any harsh language that would be inappropriate. Wish there were more writers like Steven James.

Steven James is an amazing author! I bought this book when I was randomly looking for books and I didn't know what to expect. This book is well written. There are many twists and turns that keep you turning pages. I found myself losing time when I was reading. I would just keep saying one more chapter and that turned into 6-7 more. Now, onto the book itself. Daniel is a great character. Even though he is still in high school, I found myself relating to him (I am 27 and well out of high school). However, with the stresses he faces with football and being a normal teenager it is something that everyone can relate to. While I was reading I could not help but think about what was going to happen next. I will tell you this, you will never think the ending will happen. Going through the journey with Daniel on how he tries to figure out the strange death of one of his classmates with the help with some amazing friends, you would think that you would be able to figure out what will happen, but you don't. Steven James keeps you guessing in Blur and that is something that I truly love about this book. If you are looking of a book that will keep you guessing with each turn of the page, I highly recommend this book, you will love it as much as I did.

This was an awesome book! I am a HUGE fan of Steven James and when I saw he was writing a YA series, I was thrilled. I even decided to hoard it until the final book came out so I could read them one after another and not have to wait! So to the story. WAY different than what Steven usually writes, and it was fantastic. This had a huge paranormal twist to it that I wasn't expecting, and it was so creepy and I loved every second. This is about Daniel Byers, a teenager who lives in the small town of Beldon, Wisconsin. His dad is the town sheriff. In the opening scene, Daniel and his dad are on their way to a funeral for Emily Jackson, a fellow classmate who died in a drowning accident at Lake Algonquin. Something absolutely CRAZY happens at the funeral and Daniel begins to have these "blurs," as he calls them. It turns into a fantastic mystery that had me reading way past my bedtime and I got creeped out so many times! Loved. Can't wait to read Fury!

I enjoyed this book, although not quite as much as his Patrick Bowers series (Pawn, Rook, Knight, etc). All through the story I wasn't sure if Daniel was having his visions just as a way to solve a crime or if something else, like schizophrenia, was going on with him, and I'm still not sure. There are two more books to try and figure that out, though, which I look forward to reading. I'm glad this book ended the way it did, rather than Daniel being straight-jacketed. To me the story was a little slow at times, but the ending was tense and well written. Overall, I recommend this book for those who like YA or fantasy/supernatural or suspense stories because this is all three. It's always a bonus that Steven James's stories are clean--no vulgarity and no sexuality--that's a necessity for me to read and enjoy a story.

The characters in this book are high school students...who think and act as if they're many years older. This wasn't a book I'd normally read but wanted a change and I'm glad I stuck with it. Some parts were implausible but others were intriguing. Because of the different plot I've already ordered books #2 and #3. I'm hoping they're at least as weird as this one was.

Loved finding a suspenseful novel without bad language and vulgarity. Says young adult read but I enjoyed it very much and I'm 55. I just bought the second in the series. I hope to find more thriller type books that are clean like this one.

Pleasantly different to have a who-done-it told from a teenagers POV. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

You'll be seriously dissapointed is you're hoping for the same quality as the Bower series