The Third Eye

High school senior Karen Conners finally has everything that her mother wants for her, a boyfriend, and popular friends. But all of that changes when the seven-year-old boy she is babysitting disappears and Karen envisions where he is, leading to his rescue. Karen discovers that she is a psychic and reluctantly solves the case of another missing child, this time with an unhappy ending. She wants to put this ability behind her, until a group of children at the daycare center where she works are kidnapped and a young police officer convinces her to try to track them down. Narrator Madeleine Lambert does an excellent job of portraying Karen’s reluctance to deal with her “visions” and her initial confusion about what they mean.  Her voice is flat as she recounts them, almost as if Karen is in a trance. The voice of Karen’s mother is somewhat shrill and nasal with no warmth, perfectly reflecting her character. Lambert is less successful in voicing the male characters. That said, Lois Duncan’s story ((Little, Brown, 1984) is strong, especially for those who like mysteries and paranormal situations.–Edie Ching, University of Maryland, College Park