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Overview
Julia is a young woman with extraordinary powers. She has the ability to heal people with her touch. She also knows things that are happening in far-of places when she looks in water that has sunlight shining on it. She comes from a tradition of witches—good witches. But before Julia's mother died, she warned her daughter never to look in water that had moonlight shining on it.Unfortunately, almost by accident, Julia does. What she sees is a vision of the future, a scene in which a young man she doesn't know is shot in a hold-up and dies in her arms. Only later, when Julia attends a football game at school, does she meet the young man.
He is her girlfriend's new boyfriend.
Julia immediately falls for the guy, but it is an ill-fated love. He does not belong to her, and he is supposed to die. Or does he have to die? Julia doesn't know if her vision of the future is set, or if it can be changed. She doesn't know why the gunman in her vision evokes such hatred inher, and why she feels she must destroy him at all costs. But using the supernatural powers at her command, and risking her own life, plus the lives of her friends, Julia will find the answers to all these questions—at a terrible cost.
Synopsis
Julia is a young woman with extraordinary powers. She has the ability to heal people with her touch. She also knows things that are happening in far-of places when she looks in water that has sunlight shining on it. She comes from a tradition of witches—good witches. But before Julia's mother died, she warned her daughter never to look in water that had moonlight shining on it.
Unfortunately, almost by accident, Julia does. What she sees is a vision of the future, a scene in which a young man she doesn't know is shot in a hold-up and dies in her arms. Only later, when Julia attends a football game at school, does she meet the young man.
He is her girlfriend's new boyfriend.
Julia immediately falls for the guy, but it is an ill-fated love. He does not belong to her, and he is supposed to die. Or does he have to die? Julia doesn't know if her vision of the future is set, or if it can be changed. She doesn't know why the gunman in her vision evokes such hatred inher, and why she feels she must destroy him at all costs. But using the supernatural powers at her command, and risking her own life, plus the lives of her friends, Julia will find the answers to all these questions—at a terrible cost.
Publishers Weekly
In this hokey, meandering novel, Julia is a girl gifted with a healing touch and the power to glimpse the future. When she sees a vision of her best friend's boyfriend, Jim, shot and bleeding to death, she does her best to keep him out of danger. But then another friend is shot while witnessing a gas station holdup, and Julia and Jim set out to wreak revenge on the gunman. Meanwhile, Julia's best friend discovers that the gunman just happens to be the deranged former boyfriend of Kary, the recently deceased half-sister Julia never knew. Julia's mother--also a healer--had died in an attempt to save Kary's life. In another part of town, a carload of good witches is hot on Julia's trail, determined to keep her from abusing her powers. Typically, Pike's writing is peppy enough to animate his most tangled plots; here, however, his style becomes choppy and unconvincing--unable to sustain the coincidence-riddled story. In addition, the text is littered with sexist one-liners which, along with a humorless running ``joke,'' are as irritating as they are offensive. Ages 13-up. (Dec.)