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The Third Eye
When Karen closes her eyes, the visions come. Through time and space, she sees a place where stolen children sleep. And if Karen denies a young policeman’s request for help, the children may never go home again.
220 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1984
About the author
Lois Duncan
86 books1,824 followersLois Duncan (born Lois Duncan Steinmetz) was an American writer and novelist, known primarily for her books for children and young adults, in particular (and some times controversially considering her young readership) crime thrillers. Duncan's parents were the noted magazine photographers Lois Steinmetz and Joseph Janney Steinmetz. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Duncan started writing and submitting manuscripts to magazines at the age of ten, and when she was thirteen succeeded in selling her first story.
Duncan attended Duke University from 1952 to 1953 but dropped out, married, and started a family. During this time, she continued to write and publish magazine articles; over the course of her career, she has published more than 300 articles, in magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. After her first marriage, which produced three children, ended in divorce, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, where she also earned a BA in English in 1977. In 1965 she married Don Arquette, and had two more children with him.
Duncan was best known for her novels of suspense for teenagers. Some of her works have been adapted for the screen, the most famous example being the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, adapted from her novel of the same title. Other made-for-TV movies include Stranger with My Face, Killing Mr. Griffin, Don't Look Behind You, Summer of Fear and Gallows Hill.
In 1989 the youngest of Duncan's children, Kaitlyn Arquette, was murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under suspicious circumstances. Who Killed My Daughter? relates the facts and conjecture about the still unsolved case.
Duncan's second book about her daughter's murder, ONE TO THE WOLVES: ON THE TRAIL OF A KILLER, picks up where the first book leaves off and contains all the new information Kait's family has uncovered from private investigation.
The 1971 children's book Hotel for Dogs was released as a theatrical movie in 2009, starring Emma Roberts. That book has now been republished by Scholastic along with two sequels, News for Dogs (2009) and Movie for Dogs (2010).
Duncan's Gothic suspense novel, DOWN A DARK HALL, is being filmed for the Big Screen and will probably be released in 2016.
Follow Lois on Twitter: http://twitter.com/duncanauthor
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
http://www.kaitarquette.arquettes.com
Duncan attended Duke University from 1952 to 1953 but dropped out, married, and started a family. During this time, she continued to write and publish magazine articles; over the course of her career, she has published more than 300 articles, in magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. After her first marriage, which produced three children, ended in divorce, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, where she also earned a BA in English in 1977. In 1965 she married Don Arquette, and had two more children with him.
Duncan was best known for her novels of suspense for teenagers. Some of her works have been adapted for the screen, the most famous example being the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, adapted from her novel of the same title. Other made-for-TV movies include Stranger with My Face, Killing Mr. Griffin, Don't Look Behind You, Summer of Fear and Gallows Hill.
In 1989 the youngest of Duncan's children, Kaitlyn Arquette, was murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under suspicious circumstances. Who Killed My Daughter? relates the facts and conjecture about the still unsolved case.
Duncan's second book about her daughter's murder, ONE TO THE WOLVES: ON THE TRAIL OF A KILLER, picks up where the first book leaves off and contains all the new information Kait's family has uncovered from private investigation.
The 1971 children's book Hotel for Dogs was released as a theatrical movie in 2009, starring Emma Roberts. That book has now been republished by Scholastic along with two sequels, News for Dogs (2009) and Movie for Dogs (2010).
Duncan's Gothic suspense novel, DOWN A DARK HALL, is being filmed for the Big Screen and will probably be released in 2016.
Follow Lois on Twitter: http://twitter.com/duncanauthor
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
http://www.kaitarquette.arquettes.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 211 reviews
September 9, 2016
My Lois Duncan jag continues with The Third Eye, a supernatural thriller first published in 1984 and revised by the author in 2012 with superficial updates including what the Young Adult reader of today is wearing and how they're communicating. "Superficial" might be too strong for a book that dispenses with high school soap opera to plunge its eighteen year old heroine into existential dread involving ESP, an aloof mother, a mysterious young cop and a gang of kidnappers. It's a lightning fast and mostly engaging read that seemed as if it was written lightning fast, with a main character who's a little too perfect to sustain sufficient levels of unease.
Set in New Mexico-the Duncan novels I've read so far transverse the AAA Road Atlas--the story concerns unusual high school senior Karen Connors, who's babysitting seven-year-old Bobby Zenner and his two-year-old sister for the afternoon. While Karen is feeding the baby, she receives a visit from her cocky boyfriend Tim Dietz, a popular senior who swept Karen off her feet two months ago and propelled her from ugly duckling to white swan status at school. Karen has always had difficulty fitting in with the crowd and walks on egg shells getting Tim to leave the Zenner house without risking he might get angry and break up with her.
Karen notices that Bobby is missing. Her efforts to locate him end with Bobby's friends telling her they last saw him playing Hide n Seek two hours ago. An intuitive sense tells her that Bobby isn't close by, so Karen contacts the police. She's questioned by Officer Robert Wilson, a blue-eyed cop who seems to her too young for this job. Reassured that actual kidnappings are rare, Karen has a gut feeling that Bobby is in a box. The Zenners arrive home hysterical. By now, Karen is picking up more feelings and is able to tell Officer Wilson that Bobby is locked in the trunk of her boyfriend's car. Bobby is rescued from the open trunk he crawled into and Tim shut after Karen had him leave.
Karen returns home to be lectured by her mother Wanda for breaking the Zenners' house rules for Tim. She interrogates her daughter on how she knew where to find Bobby. It reminds Mrs. Connors of an incident in their old neighborhood when Karen was five and she "knew" that a missing boy had been trapped in a drainage pipe. Driven out of the neighborhood by the gossip, Mrs. Connors is worried it might happen all over again and affect her daughter's new social life. Karen could care less. Tim wants to put the incident behind him and is nowhere near as curious about Karen's abilities when she returns to school. In fact, Karen is even asked to join the Prom Committee. Life is good.
Someone who is interested in Karen's intuition is Officer Rob, who pays a visit to the Connors home and asks for Karen's help locating another missing child, an eight-year-old named Carla Sanchez who disappeared a week ago. Objections by Mrs. Connors convince Karen to give the experiment a try. Driving to the outskirts of Albuquerque, Officer Rob shares with her the theory that Carla's indigent father took her. Carla's mother allows Karen into her daughter's room, but rummaging through the missing girl's possessions fails to conjure any feelings. Once in the car, Karen leads Rob to a path along a riverbank where her visions of the missing girl intensify and dread creeps in.
The knowledge was undeniable. Carla Sanchez was dead. Somewhere in that rushing river, there was a body of a barefoot, blue jeans-clad child. The bright new bike would go unridden; the yellow bear unhugged. The dresses in the closet of the tiny bedroom would be taken from hangers and given to Goodwill. The portrait on the television set in the living room would be enshrined forever now, no longer just a photograph, but the last school picture--the final picture--"the way Carla looked the last year of her life." Mrs. Sanchez would show it to everyone who entered the house. She would speak in the past tense, her pride shrouded in pain. She was so beautiful, my Carla!
Haunted by her experience at the river, Karen's problems get worse when Carla's mother tells the media that her daughter's body was located by a psychic named Karen Connors. The house phone starts ringing with calls from reporters, Karen's parents are upset with her for getting involved and Tim is suddenly interested in Karen's ability to see the answers of their English literature test. She goes through the motions for the rest of her senior year, hoping that college will let her put the events of the spring behind her. Passionate about children, Karen takes a job at a daycare center, where a mysterious van and the couple driving it have their own plans for her.
The text was revised unnecessarily by Duncan in 2012 to give her characters contemporary gadgets like mobile phones, computers and DVDs. Roller skates are changed to skateboards and Karen's prom dress underwent a makeover, but unlike I Know What You Did Last Summer which involved a criminal conspiracy between four teenagers, the heroine of The Third Eye actually prefers to socially disconnect. Karen's first experience using her wild talent to help law enforcement is the most vivid and the creepiest section of the novel and I liked the way Duncan turned her heroine inward, threatening to dissolve her like The Incredible Shrinking Man from the inside out.
Different novelists might've taken this opportunity to chart Karen's descent into social stigma and possibly madness, but this is a Young Adult novel and Duncan is handicapped by the form rather than liberated by it. Karen's emotionally estranged relationship with her mother is the most important in the book but her character is essentially a Mary Sue with only superficial imperfections. A good student who loves babies, there's never any possibility Duncan could torture with the reader by sacrificing Karen and in addition to a pair of weak antagonists, the book is unable to sustain suspense. It's an entertaining read whose pieces fit together well enough, but not a riveting thriller.
Set in New Mexico-the Duncan novels I've read so far transverse the AAA Road Atlas--the story concerns unusual high school senior Karen Connors, who's babysitting seven-year-old Bobby Zenner and his two-year-old sister for the afternoon. While Karen is feeding the baby, she receives a visit from her cocky boyfriend Tim Dietz, a popular senior who swept Karen off her feet two months ago and propelled her from ugly duckling to white swan status at school. Karen has always had difficulty fitting in with the crowd and walks on egg shells getting Tim to leave the Zenner house without risking he might get angry and break up with her.
Karen notices that Bobby is missing. Her efforts to locate him end with Bobby's friends telling her they last saw him playing Hide n Seek two hours ago. An intuitive sense tells her that Bobby isn't close by, so Karen contacts the police. She's questioned by Officer Robert Wilson, a blue-eyed cop who seems to her too young for this job. Reassured that actual kidnappings are rare, Karen has a gut feeling that Bobby is in a box. The Zenners arrive home hysterical. By now, Karen is picking up more feelings and is able to tell Officer Wilson that Bobby is locked in the trunk of her boyfriend's car. Bobby is rescued from the open trunk he crawled into and Tim shut after Karen had him leave.
Karen returns home to be lectured by her mother Wanda for breaking the Zenners' house rules for Tim. She interrogates her daughter on how she knew where to find Bobby. It reminds Mrs. Connors of an incident in their old neighborhood when Karen was five and she "knew" that a missing boy had been trapped in a drainage pipe. Driven out of the neighborhood by the gossip, Mrs. Connors is worried it might happen all over again and affect her daughter's new social life. Karen could care less. Tim wants to put the incident behind him and is nowhere near as curious about Karen's abilities when she returns to school. In fact, Karen is even asked to join the Prom Committee. Life is good.
Someone who is interested in Karen's intuition is Officer Rob, who pays a visit to the Connors home and asks for Karen's help locating another missing child, an eight-year-old named Carla Sanchez who disappeared a week ago. Objections by Mrs. Connors convince Karen to give the experiment a try. Driving to the outskirts of Albuquerque, Officer Rob shares with her the theory that Carla's indigent father took her. Carla's mother allows Karen into her daughter's room, but rummaging through the missing girl's possessions fails to conjure any feelings. Once in the car, Karen leads Rob to a path along a riverbank where her visions of the missing girl intensify and dread creeps in.
The knowledge was undeniable. Carla Sanchez was dead. Somewhere in that rushing river, there was a body of a barefoot, blue jeans-clad child. The bright new bike would go unridden; the yellow bear unhugged. The dresses in the closet of the tiny bedroom would be taken from hangers and given to Goodwill. The portrait on the television set in the living room would be enshrined forever now, no longer just a photograph, but the last school picture--the final picture--"the way Carla looked the last year of her life." Mrs. Sanchez would show it to everyone who entered the house. She would speak in the past tense, her pride shrouded in pain. She was so beautiful, my Carla!
Haunted by her experience at the river, Karen's problems get worse when Carla's mother tells the media that her daughter's body was located by a psychic named Karen Connors. The house phone starts ringing with calls from reporters, Karen's parents are upset with her for getting involved and Tim is suddenly interested in Karen's ability to see the answers of their English literature test. She goes through the motions for the rest of her senior year, hoping that college will let her put the events of the spring behind her. Passionate about children, Karen takes a job at a daycare center, where a mysterious van and the couple driving it have their own plans for her.
The text was revised unnecessarily by Duncan in 2012 to give her characters contemporary gadgets like mobile phones, computers and DVDs. Roller skates are changed to skateboards and Karen's prom dress underwent a makeover, but unlike I Know What You Did Last Summer which involved a criminal conspiracy between four teenagers, the heroine of The Third Eye actually prefers to socially disconnect. Karen's first experience using her wild talent to help law enforcement is the most vivid and the creepiest section of the novel and I liked the way Duncan turned her heroine inward, threatening to dissolve her like The Incredible Shrinking Man from the inside out.
Different novelists might've taken this opportunity to chart Karen's descent into social stigma and possibly madness, but this is a Young Adult novel and Duncan is handicapped by the form rather than liberated by it. Karen's emotionally estranged relationship with her mother is the most important in the book but her character is essentially a Mary Sue with only superficial imperfections. A good student who loves babies, there's never any possibility Duncan could torture with the reader by sacrificing Karen and in addition to a pair of weak antagonists, the book is unable to sustain suspense. It's an entertaining read whose pieces fit together well enough, but not a riveting thriller.
October 28, 2007
[Note the date of publication. 1984, i wasnt even born yet! Oh well, its considerably a quite modern book anyway. ] There are three 'psychics' in this book, Karen Connors, Anne Summers and at the end of the story, Karen's mother who serves as a twist in this tale. It is an impressive and highly imaginative book. These three psychics can 'see' missing or already dead children screaming for them in their dreams. Although Mrs Connors regards this as a nightmare and a freak's show, Karen refused to back down and continues in her fight to save the poor children. She sees this psychic ability as a gift and wishes to help other, risking her reputation and even possibly her life. I respect her for that. Duncan's books teenagers make very bad decisions that lead them into a life of guilt and lies. What consequences do these teens face for their deceit? Had Karen not stood up against her parent's orders to keep a low profile about this ability of hers, the truth of Carla Sanchez would have never been found, and Karen would not have met Ron, a young policemen who joins Karen in her fight, who almost gets killed in the process. Despite her mother's constant nagggings that she should not meddle in the affairs that should be left to the police or authority, Karen, unable to face her guilt unless she does her part in revealing the whereabouts of the children, runs away with Ron to Colorado to track down the band of kidnappers who have stolen many babies from a nursery in her hometown. And this book illustrates some of Karen's dreams of these children in very imaginative descriptions. This makes me wonder if the author has had any personal experiences, for she really makes this psychic visions appear real. People have long been fascinated with fortune-tellers, palm readers, psychics, tarot card readers, and others who claim to have the ability to predict the future. And I wonder if this story has any credence. However, i do believe in the ability to predict the future.
Youths these days are each striving to be accepted by the kids at school. Karen, in her effort to be accepted, makes a bad decision and takes part in something that is very wrong. In the first part of the story, she is swayed to her mother's side in wanting to be accepted and not be seen as a freak by her peers, and thus she did not want to take part in the investigations for the missing children. This desire to be accepted made her see that her morals were less important than image. However, i am glad that she makes up her mind to help the kids as much as she can. And i am impressed by this.
There is love amidst the crisis. Ron Wilsons, motivated to track down the kidnappers by the fact that his very own nephew, Matthew Wilson, was one of the victims who was in danger of being sold away illegally. He assists Karen in her dreams and visions, hoping to help her lead him to his nephew. Karen, who was put off by the fact that the officer,Ron Wilson, sent to investigate in one of the disappearances was 'young---much too young...to have been sent to handle something as important as a missing-child report'. He is briefly described as the 'sandy-haired policeman with the vivid blue eyes' and Karen had noticed his 'bitten down' fingers which showed that Karen's first impressions of him was basically weak and not approving. It is most surprising that they would end up as an item.
Karen psychic ability is also a window to the future. There is no mention of Karen's future children, but in her dreams, she sees a young girl who takes after Ron Wilson's eyes, and the baby girl she sees had blue eyes, 'blue as the summer skies of Colorado', just like her mother had seen Karen long long before she was born. Their daughter, who makes no appearance in this story, is a great connection to the to-be relationship between Ron and Karen.
Youths these days are each striving to be accepted by the kids at school. Karen, in her effort to be accepted, makes a bad decision and takes part in something that is very wrong. In the first part of the story, she is swayed to her mother's side in wanting to be accepted and not be seen as a freak by her peers, and thus she did not want to take part in the investigations for the missing children. This desire to be accepted made her see that her morals were less important than image. However, i am glad that she makes up her mind to help the kids as much as she can. And i am impressed by this.
There is love amidst the crisis. Ron Wilsons, motivated to track down the kidnappers by the fact that his very own nephew, Matthew Wilson, was one of the victims who was in danger of being sold away illegally. He assists Karen in her dreams and visions, hoping to help her lead him to his nephew. Karen, who was put off by the fact that the officer,Ron Wilson, sent to investigate in one of the disappearances was 'young---much too young...to have been sent to handle something as important as a missing-child report'. He is briefly described as the 'sandy-haired policeman with the vivid blue eyes' and Karen had noticed his 'bitten down' fingers which showed that Karen's first impressions of him was basically weak and not approving. It is most surprising that they would end up as an item.
Karen psychic ability is also a window to the future. There is no mention of Karen's future children, but in her dreams, she sees a young girl who takes after Ron Wilson's eyes, and the baby girl she sees had blue eyes, 'blue as the summer skies of Colorado', just like her mother had seen Karen long long before she was born. Their daughter, who makes no appearance in this story, is a great connection to the to-be relationship between Ron and Karen.
September 27, 2021
I read this waaaay back in middle school, or maybe my freshman year of high school? It was a bit cheesy - adult me says it is definitely cheesy, but teenager me also thought it was a little cliched and cheesy. That doesn't mean it's a bad book... it was basically a typical YA novel with some romance thrown in, and some mystery and tension, and a relatively happy ending Pretty standard for most of Lois Duncan's work, from what I understand, though I've only read 2 of her novels.
June 27, 2019
Every single one of these characters is INSUFFERABLE. The mother and boyfriend especially. There's just no gray area for any of them. They're either awful people or supposed angels. If the plot hadn't been actually decent, I would have dropped it after meeting them in chapter 1.
But then the plot turned ridiculous and statutory rape-y and gross and I didn't like it. The ending especially can fuck all the way off. I don't recommend this at all. It's bad, even as 90s YA goes.
But then the plot turned ridiculous and statutory rape-y and gross and I didn't like it. The ending especially can fuck all the way off. I don't recommend this at all. It's bad, even as 90s YA goes.
June 1, 2022
There is no denying that Lois Duncan was a very good author and it is present in books whether they were written by her in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s. The ones she wrote for young adults are exceptionally well done that they can transcend decades and some have so I'm so curious as to why The Third Eye hasn't been made into a made-for-TV film or a motion picture yet.
Karen Connors is just an average teenage girl about to graduate from high school dating popular guy Tim Dietz and she is good with children that she baby-sits ad works at a day care center during the summer. There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about her but it all changes the day Karen is baby-sitting and the little boy she is watching disappears.
The boy is later found, keeping the situation from becoming tragic, but how he is found is not so normal. Karen has a feeling that little Bobby was trapped in a moving box and it turns out to be the trunk of Tim's car in a rather dumb place to play a game of hide and seek. Karen told this to the young policeman, Officer Rob Wilson, and he doesn't seem all that skeptic about what Karen told him.
Karen's mother isn't too thrilled to learn from her daughter that she just had a feeling, a vision, some sort of premonition. This happened once before when Karen was really little but she doesn't remember having visions about a neighbor boy being found but her mother remembers the weirdness that followed and had them move away.
Rob comes to Karen and wants her to try and help him find a little girl who has been missing for a week. The information, the "vibes" Karen picks up are too late to save little Carla Sanchez and the experience forces her to grow up fast. Karen never wants to experience anything so terrible ever again but destiny has plans for her...
This extraordinary gift is seen as a terrible curse in Karen's eyes and it is put to the test when Karen becomes involved in trying to help Rob solve a case. Babies are taken from the day care where she works and her path becomes crossed with the couple responsible be it coincidence or a force from another world.
Can Karen help Rob locate the children safely or will time run out?
It's such a great book that I don't want to go in to it so much that I spoil it. The stakes are much more terrifying with such real life horror being explored and so hauntingly bittersweet in hindsight that Duncan writes so favorable about psychic gifts before her own real-life tragedy of her daughter being murdered a few years later after it was first published. It's an opposite of how I felt reading Gallows Hill which was more dark but it's still just as good.
Two sides of a coin...a before and after in Lois Duncan's psyche. One tarnished and one bright and shiny but still...beautiful.
Karen Connors is just an average teenage girl about to graduate from high school dating popular guy Tim Dietz and she is good with children that she baby-sits ad works at a day care center during the summer. There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about her but it all changes the day Karen is baby-sitting and the little boy she is watching disappears.
The boy is later found, keeping the situation from becoming tragic, but how he is found is not so normal. Karen has a feeling that little Bobby was trapped in a moving box and it turns out to be the trunk of Tim's car in a rather dumb place to play a game of hide and seek. Karen told this to the young policeman, Officer Rob Wilson, and he doesn't seem all that skeptic about what Karen told him.
Karen's mother isn't too thrilled to learn from her daughter that she just had a feeling, a vision, some sort of premonition. This happened once before when Karen was really little but she doesn't remember having visions about a neighbor boy being found but her mother remembers the weirdness that followed and had them move away.
Rob comes to Karen and wants her to try and help him find a little girl who has been missing for a week. The information, the "vibes" Karen picks up are too late to save little Carla Sanchez and the experience forces her to grow up fast. Karen never wants to experience anything so terrible ever again but destiny has plans for her...
This extraordinary gift is seen as a terrible curse in Karen's eyes and it is put to the test when Karen becomes involved in trying to help Rob solve a case. Babies are taken from the day care where she works and her path becomes crossed with the couple responsible be it coincidence or a force from another world.
Can Karen help Rob locate the children safely or will time run out?
It's such a great book that I don't want to go in to it so much that I spoil it. The stakes are much more terrifying with such real life horror being explored and so hauntingly bittersweet in hindsight that Duncan writes so favorable about psychic gifts before her own real-life tragedy of her daughter being murdered a few years later after it was first published. It's an opposite of how I felt reading Gallows Hill which was more dark but it's still just as good.
Two sides of a coin...a before and after in Lois Duncan's psyche. One tarnished and one bright and shiny but still...beautiful.
June 15, 2022
Everyone in this book is both boring and stupid, which unfortunately means that it is longer than it needs to be. The police officer is also a sexual predator, but none of the other characters notice this due to their previously mentioned limitations. The ending is also massively twee and sentimental, and just generally awful. And then there’s the unaddressed sexual harassment throughout, and the casual racism…
Worst Line
Someone loves systematic authoritarian violence and toxic masculinity. It isn’t me though.
Worst Line
“she found herself thinking inanely that she could never before have visualized an angel with a revolver in his hand”
Someone loves systematic authoritarian violence and toxic masculinity. It isn’t me though.
November 11, 2016
The Third Eye was written by Lois Duncan and published on April 1984. She has written many other novels that you may recognize since they were turned into films, Hotel for Dogs and I Know What You Did Last Summer. I've watched both films and thought of them to be very good for children and teens. This novel is about an 18 yr old girl named Karen, who has been somewhat of a loner with a very pushy mother who insists she go out and enjoy her senior year. She meets her boyfriend Tim who is the popular jock in school and gets her to be the socialite her mother always wanted her to be. Karen also enjoys working with children and takes on two jobs as a babysitter and assisting at a daycare. One morning the Zenners ask her to babysit 8 yr old Bobby and 18 mth old Stephanie. Around lunch time Bobby doesn't show up. A frantic Karen tries to find him and with no success she has to notify Police. Officer Ronald Wilson who looks way too young to be a cop is on the case. While questioning Karen he notices she is acting quite oddly. She blurts out that she knows Bobby is trapped in a box. "He isn't able to come home. He wants to but he can't." Karen's head is spinning and is losing control of all her senses. She could smell urine, sweat, and grease. "Mr. Zenner, I have this feeling about Bobby. I think he's in a car." Ever since that incident Karen knows her life will never be the same again. Duncan did a great job at making me feel what a babysitters worst nightmare could feel like. She was very detailed on every character in this book. She explained who they were and how they became. This 220 pg book was a page turner beginning to end. I highly recommend this to anyone who feels they are different in any way. Definitely would read this again and read some of her other novels as well.
February 24, 2010
Product Description
High school senior Karen, who worries that her psychic powers will make her seem different from other people, is frightened at first when a young policeman asks her to use her gift to help the police locate missing children.
As stated in other Lois Duncan book reviews: I really enjoyed Lois Duncan's books; she was probably my favorite YA author. I have always enjoyed books with psychic phenomenon in them - ESP, ghosts, clairvoyance, etc - but it's so difficult to find them written well. Lois Duncan is one of those rare authors who manages to write about these topics convincingly.
I actually did a book report on this book in high school and as part of it, I wrote to Lois Duncan and asked a few questions. She actually took the time to respond and answer my questions! TERRIFIC!
High school senior Karen, who worries that her psychic powers will make her seem different from other people, is frightened at first when a young policeman asks her to use her gift to help the police locate missing children.
As stated in other Lois Duncan book reviews: I really enjoyed Lois Duncan's books; she was probably my favorite YA author. I have always enjoyed books with psychic phenomenon in them - ESP, ghosts, clairvoyance, etc - but it's so difficult to find them written well. Lois Duncan is one of those rare authors who manages to write about these topics convincingly.
I actually did a book report on this book in high school and as part of it, I wrote to Lois Duncan and asked a few questions. She actually took the time to respond and answer my questions! TERRIFIC!
Read
March 18, 2019I loved Lois Duncan's books when I was a teen. I had a conversation with someone about this book and it gave me the hankering to reread it. Luckily my library had the ebook on overdrive so I was able to check it out and read it the same night.
Karen Connors in New Mexico has had "hunches" all her life that she trusts and knows to be true. When her babysitting charge Bobby goes missing, she whispers to the young police officer involved in the search that she knows he's in a box. It's revealed that the box is a car trunk, and Karen's vision clears enough that she knows whose car Bobby is in. The officer returns with another missing child case to see if Karen has a "hunch" about that as well. Though Karen tries not to get involved with both the officer and other cases, she is forcibly dragged into a mass baby-kidnapping case that is a little too close to everyone involved.
The Third Eye was published in 1984 and I read it in the late 90s. This version has been updated to mention newer technology like cell phones, even though Karen still only calls people from where there would be landlines (gas stations, restaurants) and shuts her phone off to avoid other confrontation. The story aged fine for the most part, since a lot of the action could have happened where there was no cell signal. The writing is simple, and Karen's feelings are a little clunky and obvious (she falls in love within 2 days, because of course) but it held the same nostalgic punch as I expected.
I think my favorite part about the updated version is that there's an interview with Lois Duncan at the very end, reflecting on the new version (published in the 2010s, I believe). The interviewers are Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of The Fug Girls (who have also written a few books) and Duncan's description of how she updated the book for the recent publication was pretty interesting. And heartbreakingly, Duncan also describes how her own daughter (for whom the book is dedicated) was murdered a few years after the book's publication, which I did not know. The murderer has still not been found.
If I were to have read this book for the first time today, it would not get a high rating — YA as a genre has so much more to offer these days than a simple story about a teenage psychic. But Duncan was a groundbreaker back in the day and the story obviously stuck with me for over 20 years, and this was one of my favorite books in the 90s, so for nostalgia's sake it's probably a 4- or 5-star. Hence the no rating :)
Karen Connors in New Mexico has had "hunches" all her life that she trusts and knows to be true. When her babysitting charge Bobby goes missing, she whispers to the young police officer involved in the search that she knows he's in a box. It's revealed that the box is a car trunk, and Karen's vision clears enough that she knows whose car Bobby is in. The officer returns with another missing child case to see if Karen has a "hunch" about that as well. Though Karen tries not to get involved with both the officer and other cases, she is forcibly dragged into a mass baby-kidnapping case that is a little too close to everyone involved.
The Third Eye was published in 1984 and I read it in the late 90s. This version has been updated to mention newer technology like cell phones, even though Karen still only calls people from where there would be landlines (gas stations, restaurants) and shuts her phone off to avoid other confrontation. The story aged fine for the most part, since a lot of the action could have happened where there was no cell signal. The writing is simple, and Karen's feelings are a little clunky and obvious (she falls in love within 2 days, because of course) but it held the same nostalgic punch as I expected.
I think my favorite part about the updated version is that there's an interview with Lois Duncan at the very end, reflecting on the new version (published in the 2010s, I believe). The interviewers are Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of The Fug Girls (who have also written a few books) and Duncan's description of how she updated the book for the recent publication was pretty interesting. And heartbreakingly, Duncan also describes how her own daughter (for whom the book is dedicated) was murdered a few years after the book's publication, which I did not know. The murderer has still not been found.
If I were to have read this book for the first time today, it would not get a high rating — YA as a genre has so much more to offer these days than a simple story about a teenage psychic. But Duncan was a groundbreaker back in the day and the story obviously stuck with me for over 20 years, and this was one of my favorite books in the 90s, so for nostalgia's sake it's probably a 4- or 5-star. Hence the no rating :)
February 16, 2022
A classic. Truly.
August 18, 2017
It's been years since I read this, but I really liked it at the time. The supernatural elements aren't overwhelming, but they were cool.
June 20, 2012
I actually went someplace without my iPhone without my
Kindle or nook without a book...aaaahhhh oh noooo! I started to get the shakes from reading withdrawal! I had a two hour wait time and While mid panic I remembered there were a couple of bags of books from my daughters shelves in the back of the car waiting to be dropped of at the local library for donation. I'm glad I hadn't dropped them off yet. I went through them and there is a whole collection of Lois Duncan books so I chose this one. It's a super fast read at only 220 pages of easy y h n reading. I think if I was a young teen I would have wanted to have the psychic powers the main lead Karen, a high school senior, who apparently since the age of 5 has had premonitions which gave her the ability to find lost children.
This is a well written story. I remember my daughter who read these during grade school had liked all of the Lois Duncan series of mild horror/science fiction. But I would know how much scare your youngster can handle however. Because this would give me quite the scare if I were too young. But I am sensitive to lost children, stolen children stories etc. not much else could scare me as much in life as something happening to children mine or oterwise. And all these stories don't always come out with a happy ending.
Kindle or nook without a book...aaaahhhh oh noooo! I started to get the shakes from reading withdrawal! I had a two hour wait time and While mid panic I remembered there were a couple of bags of books from my daughters shelves in the back of the car waiting to be dropped of at the local library for donation. I'm glad I hadn't dropped them off yet. I went through them and there is a whole collection of Lois Duncan books so I chose this one. It's a super fast read at only 220 pages of easy y h n reading. I think if I was a young teen I would have wanted to have the psychic powers the main lead Karen, a high school senior, who apparently since the age of 5 has had premonitions which gave her the ability to find lost children.
This is a well written story. I remember my daughter who read these during grade school had liked all of the Lois Duncan series of mild horror/science fiction. But I would know how much scare your youngster can handle however. Because this would give me quite the scare if I were too young. But I am sensitive to lost children, stolen children stories etc. not much else could scare me as much in life as something happening to children mine or oterwise. And all these stories don't always come out with a happy ending.
June 18, 2010
I borrowed this book from a friend last week, not knowing much about it but thinking it looked pretty interesting. And it was interesting. The plot moved along quickly and kept me coming back for more. But the characters were dry and hard to picture. I never really figured out how old Ron was, and couldn't image the bond between him and Karen as a result. Karen was utterly, hopelessly dependent on others and what they wanted for her to do. She was also incredibly selfish-if you knew that you could save dozens of babies, would you run away to California and pretend that you could do nothing at all? I think not.
The ending, however, was fabulous. That's what redeemed the story for me. It tied up the past and gave a glimpse into the future. That was by far my favorite part.
Though I didn't really hate this book, it wasn't one of my favorites. It's more of one of those that you can read if you want to, but if you have something better available, don't bother. I give 'The Third Eye 3/5 stars.
The ending, however, was fabulous. That's what redeemed the story for me. It tied up the past and gave a glimpse into the future. That was by far my favorite part.
Though I didn't really hate this book, it wasn't one of my favorites. It's more of one of those that you can read if you want to, but if you have something better available, don't bother. I give 'The Third Eye 3/5 stars.
December 5, 2011
Another great Lois Duncan thriller. I love these. I hope I never have to choose a favorite.
I see and appreciate the differences in writing style, coverage of material and the level and type of emotional stimulation among books written with various age groups as intended audiences. The time period that a book was written in can suggest similar differences as well. Sophistication and experiences of people of an age group has evolved and these books may be considered by some to lean toward the younger end of YA compared to more contemporary fiction. But these are very good and I'm perfectly happy reading them at my current age. I like the suspense. I like the visual descriptions. I relate to the characters. I'm looking forward to my next one.
I see and appreciate the differences in writing style, coverage of material and the level and type of emotional stimulation among books written with various age groups as intended audiences. The time period that a book was written in can suggest similar differences as well. Sophistication and experiences of people of an age group has evolved and these books may be considered by some to lean toward the younger end of YA compared to more contemporary fiction. But these are very good and I'm perfectly happy reading them at my current age. I like the suspense. I like the visual descriptions. I relate to the characters. I'm looking forward to my next one.
November 17, 2010
An interesting story written in 1984. It's surprisingly not that 80's (thankfully) except for the lack of cell phone/modern technology. I'm interested in "mind reading" books lately and found this one on the shelf at the library. I hated the topic the author used to create drama, but it's a personal thing so most will probably not be bothered by that. Otherwise, it was a good, short little paranormal book.
February 5, 2011
This book is my favorite by Lois Duncan. I love the fact that she gave this girl a power that she didn't understand and then at the end helped her get through the pain and hardness of the power from with in her world. I love the fact that the girl worked through all the pain and hardship.
July 24, 2015
W. T. F.
Worst cop ever. Most goody goody heroine ever. Most annoying mother ever.
So many awards! I also feel like this book wouldn't have ever lived to see the light of day had it not been written by Duncan. I mean really?! Or am I just that out of touch with her books?
Worst cop ever. Most goody goody heroine ever. Most annoying mother ever.
So many awards! I also feel like this book wouldn't have ever lived to see the light of day had it not been written by Duncan. I mean really?! Or am I just that out of touch with her books?
August 23, 2011
Ran out of books while watching my nephew. I read this years ago when I was actually a teen. It holds up pretty well. A quick read.
January 16, 2019
Book review for The Third Eye, Written By: Lois Duncan
By: Emily Myers
Karen Connors is an 18 year old mystery. When Bobby, the kid she babysits for, goes missing while playing outside, Karen goes to all of his friends’ houses to ask if they’ve seen him. After she calls the police, Karen gets visions of Bobby, unconscious, stuck in a box. When she feels the box coming closer to her, she realizes that Bobby isn’t in a box, but in the trunk of a car. The trunk of her boyfriend’s car. This wasn’t the first time Karen has had these visions, and it most certainly wasn’t the last.
Karen was a loner in high school, she didn’t have many friends, until she started to date the popular jock, Tim. She was actually starting to fit in, until people began to see her as a freak after she found a missing boy out of the blue. Tim came over while Karen was babysitting the Zenner family, and they had a small fight while Bobby and his friends were playing a game of Hide and Seek. After Tim left, Bobby was nowhere to be found. Karen called the police and Bobby’s parents. No one knew where Bobby hid during the game of hide and seek, but Karen found him due to visions she had of him in a box. This gained the interest of Officer Wilson. Wilson talked to Karen about how she came to these visions but Karen didn’t know. She said it was some freak accident. With Karen’s permission, but not her parents’, Wilson took her to the house of a missing girl. The girl was believed to be with her father, who is divorced. Karen went into the girl’s room, trying to get visions, but nothing came to her. While driving away from the missing girl’s house, Karen receives psychic messages, leading them to a riverbank. There, was the missing girl’s bike and shoes. Standing where the girl stood and seeing what the girl saw, Karen saw what happened to the girl, and will never forget it. Though this event, Karen and Officer Wilson work unofficially together to find other missing children, which includes risking Wilson’s job, Karen’s personal life, and both of their lives.
The Third Eye, by Lois Duncan, is a 1983 novel that creates enough suspense for you to keep reading. After one child is found, there are plenty more to help. In between the police work, Karen fights with her parents, breaks up with her boyfriend, and makes a new friend. With all of this she realizes that getting through the harsh visions might be hard, but the outcome is worth it. This book gets you thinking about the supernatural, it creates questions about psychics, and wants you to read more like it.
By: Emily Myers
Karen Connors is an 18 year old mystery. When Bobby, the kid she babysits for, goes missing while playing outside, Karen goes to all of his friends’ houses to ask if they’ve seen him. After she calls the police, Karen gets visions of Bobby, unconscious, stuck in a box. When she feels the box coming closer to her, she realizes that Bobby isn’t in a box, but in the trunk of a car. The trunk of her boyfriend’s car. This wasn’t the first time Karen has had these visions, and it most certainly wasn’t the last.
Karen was a loner in high school, she didn’t have many friends, until she started to date the popular jock, Tim. She was actually starting to fit in, until people began to see her as a freak after she found a missing boy out of the blue. Tim came over while Karen was babysitting the Zenner family, and they had a small fight while Bobby and his friends were playing a game of Hide and Seek. After Tim left, Bobby was nowhere to be found. Karen called the police and Bobby’s parents. No one knew where Bobby hid during the game of hide and seek, but Karen found him due to visions she had of him in a box. This gained the interest of Officer Wilson. Wilson talked to Karen about how she came to these visions but Karen didn’t know. She said it was some freak accident. With Karen’s permission, but not her parents’, Wilson took her to the house of a missing girl. The girl was believed to be with her father, who is divorced. Karen went into the girl’s room, trying to get visions, but nothing came to her. While driving away from the missing girl’s house, Karen receives psychic messages, leading them to a riverbank. There, was the missing girl’s bike and shoes. Standing where the girl stood and seeing what the girl saw, Karen saw what happened to the girl, and will never forget it. Though this event, Karen and Officer Wilson work unofficially together to find other missing children, which includes risking Wilson’s job, Karen’s personal life, and both of their lives.
The Third Eye, by Lois Duncan, is a 1983 novel that creates enough suspense for you to keep reading. After one child is found, there are plenty more to help. In between the police work, Karen fights with her parents, breaks up with her boyfriend, and makes a new friend. With all of this she realizes that getting through the harsh visions might be hard, but the outcome is worth it. This book gets you thinking about the supernatural, it creates questions about psychics, and wants you to read more like it.
July 20, 2023
Pretty enjoyable read. I like mystery and that kind of thing so I liked this one. I had no idea what to expect at the beginning bc a friend choose this book for me to read so I gave it a try. I am not disappointed.
Story is easy so follow and enjoyable. Not a lot of twists and turns and like the major “turn” about the mom calling the police yeah i was already expecting that one since she got the migraine
Lowkey thought the whole falling in love with Ron thing was unnecessary at the beginning but then when if to to talking about how nobody was gonna love Karen for being different and the ending I didn’t mind the choice of making Ron the love interest. Honestly that was a super cute ending considering it was a mystery book. I really liked it and gives a good contrast to all of the mean thing Karen’s mom said about her future.
Really like it :)
Story is easy so follow and enjoyable. Not a lot of twists and turns and like the major “turn” about the mom calling the police yeah i was already expecting that one since she got the migraine
Lowkey thought the whole falling in love with Ron thing was unnecessary at the beginning but then when if to to talking about how nobody was gonna love Karen for being different and the ending I didn’t mind the choice of making Ron the love interest. Honestly that was a super cute ending considering it was a mystery book. I really liked it and gives a good contrast to all of the mean thing Karen’s mom said about her future.
Really like it :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2017
The Third Eye by Lois Duncan is about Karen Connors' "third eye," which allows her to see visions that other people cannot see. For example, in her visions, she can see a missing child and say where they are. Karen becomes asked by Officer Rob Wilson to help find more children, and she gets letters asking for help from all over the country. Carelessly, she says no, which I thought was odd. I didn't find her character very realistic. As a reader, I would've thought she wanted to help these children, as much as anyone else would like to be a hero/heroine to others. I did enjoy the suspense the author included, though. My eye were glued into the book, page to page. The plot did flow well afterwards. I recommend this to anyone looking for a suspenseful read.
July 7, 2020
This is a teen-hood favorite, and I re-read it recently and enjoyed the visit to my past. ;)
What I like:
~ Karen's journey -- although not nearly as angsty and complicated as many of today's YA characters, Karen still has clear growth and learns to accept herself and her unusual gift in this tale.
~ Ron -- he's so accepting of her -- even though he also pushes her harder than perhaps he should.
What isn't as strong:
~ the ending -- don't get me wrong, I like the tool used to end the story. :) But I would like more about Karen and Ron going forward and how they work things out through Karen's college years (and so on). It's just a little abrupt for me, that's all.
Lois Duncan will always be a favorite, I suspect.
What I like:
~ Karen's journey -- although not nearly as angsty and complicated as many of today's YA characters, Karen still has clear growth and learns to accept herself and her unusual gift in this tale.
~ Ron -- he's so accepting of her -- even though he also pushes her harder than perhaps he should.
What isn't as strong:
~ the ending -- don't get me wrong, I like the tool used to end the story. :) But I would like more about Karen and Ron going forward and how they work things out through Karen's college years (and so on). It's just a little abrupt for me, that's all.
Lois Duncan will always be a favorite, I suspect.
January 31, 2018
Mini-Review: Another solid 3-star novel from Lois Duncan. As is often the case in Duncan's novels, there are some parts that are done perfectly and others that feel a little rushed, but in the end it's a quick, easy read of decent quality.
Content Warning: Animal Death & Child Death - There are some mentions of a dead girl (not vivid) and the protag has a nightmare about some missing infants being dead (not vivid). The cop shoots a dog that tries to attack him. You don't see the dog die, but you see it's body after and it is described in detail (~2 sentences).
I also have a book blog :)
Content Warning: Animal Death & Child Death - There are some mentions of a dead girl (not vivid) and the protag has a nightmare about some missing infants being dead (not vivid). The cop shoots a dog that tries to attack him. You don't see the dog die, but you see it's body after and it is described in detail (~2 sentences).
I also have a book blog :)
December 9, 2018
The Third Eye is about a girl named Karen Conners and how she has a, "Third Eye." While she is babysitting the Zenner family, Bobby the older son of the Zenners, goes to play with his friends, but doesn't come back for lunch. When Karen asks the nearby families about Bobby, they say he was at his own home, but after the Zenners come back, Karen has a feeling that Bobby is in her boyfriend, Tim's car, when she is right, everyone is happy but the Zenners lose contact with them, because they think that she is a psycho and Karen realizes she has a third eye. When other babies go missing, everyone is counting on her to find them. I rate the book five stars, because I could not stop reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2021
I remember reading this book as a kid and loving it, so I revisited it 25-ish years later. The edition I read was revised in 2012, so it included things like cell phones and such. I really wish it didn't. I remember the story being stronger when I was a kid, and some the revised elements didn't enhance the story at all. However, it was still fun to read again. I used to read Lois Duncan a lot, and there's a few books that have still stuck with me, even a quarter of a century later.
When I was a kid, this totally would have been a 4-5 star book; as an adult (and possibly because of the revised parts, which I don't think work), I'd give it 3 or 3.5 stars.
When I was a kid, this totally would have been a 4-5 star book; as an adult (and possibly because of the revised parts, which I don't think work), I'd give it 3 or 3.5 stars.
Read
September 27, 2021This book is about a young teen Karen Connors and when in high school starting dating this boy named Tim. She finally feels as if she is fitting in and her mother is pleased with her boyfriend. Karen gets a job as a babysitter for the Zenner family. One of the kids leaves to go and play with his friends, but doesn’t show up at lunchtime. Karen eventually calls the police. The first thing Karen realizes when the officer shows up, is his vivid blue eyes. Karen eventually starts to have visions of her missing kid that she babysat. She starts to realize that the visions lead to her boyfriend. I thought this book was very interesting and exciting.
Read
October 29, 2021I read the book “The third eye” by Lois Duncan. At the beginning of the book we get to meet Karen and that she likes to babysit and for the first time she finally feels popular at school. Then a neighborhood child goes missing, when Karen realizes she can somehow see the missing child. She uses this power to try and help officer wilson but quickly realizes she is in a bad situation and quits.
I thought this book was very enjoyable because it was a thriller to read. I did not like that the book felt too long for what it explained. I also would definitely recommend this book to other readers who like suspenseful books.
I thought this book was very enjoyable because it was a thriller to read. I did not like that the book felt too long for what it explained. I also would definitely recommend this book to other readers who like suspenseful books.
May 24, 2019
I remembered just enough of this book to know the ending but I didn’t remember this book being this hardcore. Not to spoil but the consequences and stakes in this book are very real and real life terrifying.
This also may be the best and nuanced depiction of a mother daughter relationship I have ever read. It goes into sexual aggression and ethnic stereotypes and families and masculinity and popularity and work and ageism and Christ I don’t know this book was a lot deeper and interesting g than I remembered!!!!
This also may be the best and nuanced depiction of a mother daughter relationship I have ever read. It goes into sexual aggression and ethnic stereotypes and families and masculinity and popularity and work and ageism and Christ I don’t know this book was a lot deeper and interesting g than I remembered!!!!
May 11, 2018
I really liked this book. It had a good beginning that made you wonder what would happen to Karen and if she would find all the other children that they were asking her to find. At first it kind of dragged after the first part of the book because I had a feeling that she would end up finding all the children but it took her so long to acutely do it. I would think that this book is for teens and if you like to mystery and solving crime this is a good book for you.
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