Blur (Steven James)

When I first bought Blur, it was largely due to two factors. First, I couldn't remember ever reading a thriller, and the very name sounds appealing. Second, it seemed that Steven James had won all of the critics' hearts. "A thought-provoking and thrilling mystery" proclaimed the New York Journal of Books, while The Suspense Zone went as far as to say "(James' writing will) leave you breathless." Being the young, impressionable teen I was two months ago, I happily purchased Blur. Only recently did I realize that all of that praise was in fact directed at James' other books.

Blur was a series of ups and downs the whole way through, my mental rating system constantly torn between two and five stars. There was so much potential within those pages, and so many careless errors. It was frustrating.
 Momentarily, I'll be ripping the book apart, although it pains me to do so. Know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and let's plunge into the darkness.

The first third of Blur was painful.

We open on a town hit by the tragic drowning of a Emily Jackson, an unremarkable girl in high school. Everyone believes that the death was accidental, including Daniel Byers, a senior at Emily's former school. However, this all changes when Daniel starts seeing things. Visions of Emily start appearing, which no one but Daniel can see. "Stay. Seek. Learn," she says to him. Find the truth. Not knowing what else to do, Daniel follows her instructions as his line between reality and fantasy begins to blur- and what he discovers will change his life forever.

That all sounds great until you start reading.

One of my main problems with Blur would have to be the characters. It's almost as if James, this being his debut YA novel, thought he could cut a few corners and get away with it. But no! We're on to you, James.

This lack of care is perhaps most notable in the main character, Daniel, as well as a poorly thought out bully named Ty. The problem with Daniel is that he's a character with virtually no flaws. He's a brave, confident, smart, caring, modest guy who also just so happens to be the quarterback of the football team and a math genius. As if this isn't bad enough, it's practically shoved down our throats within the first chapter or two through cliché encounters and clumsy writing.

Ty, on the other hand, is somehow even more stereotypical and one-dimensional. It's as if his only purpose is to show the reader how great Daniel is. Honestly, we first meet this guy when he's stuffing some poor younger kid into a locker, until Daniel strolls over and saves the day. It's all rather predictable, rather dry.

During that scene, Daniel reflects that bullies are cowards like to pick on the weak. This soon proves to be false, however, when Ty goes out of his way to attack the strongest and most popular kid in the school-Daniel. He goes so far as to lay a trap for Daniel late at night on a isolated road, during which he pulls a knife. What's Ty's problem, honestly!? Sure, Daniel is annoying as hell, but... some explanation, or perhaps cutting some scenes, would make Blur a much stronger work.

Thankfully, the other characters were a slight improvement. Daniel’s friend Kyle was actually somewhat interesting, and as were most of the underused females. It was the relationships between these characters that got me through the rough start.

Indeed, the first third of Blur was hands down the worst. This was largely an issue of pacing. During that time, we were just getting introduced to the characters and nothing too remarkable happened to them. The middle was a little faster paced, and then the book tried to make up for lost time in the last few chapters. This made for a great ending, but significantly reduced the chance a reader would make it that far.

The one thing that James did manage to flaunt was the plot. By no means was the story groundbreaking, or without it’s flaws. It merely did it's job of being engaging. The questions of why Daniel had these hallucinations and who or what killed Emily were ever present and intriguing and, as we drew closer to the answers, the entertainment factor improved tenfold.

I do hope that this, as well as what can be salvaged from the characters, are enough to get any readers through the first third of Blur. The next two parts are exponentially better, and I promise it’s worth it.

Overall, Blur had great potential. The characters could have easily been fascinating, the premise was promising, but it was sadly done rather sloppily at first. Thankfully, it got it's act together in the second half, and manages to hang on for a respectable 7/10 rating.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Finished the book, and want to talk about it more in-depth? A separate, discussion post will be up soon!

Oh no. There's another!