Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2019
272 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
When Eliza Carmody returns to her small hometown after a destructive wildfire, she witnesses a crime that draws her back into the mysteries of a childhood she thought she'd left behind for good.
When the biggest legal case of her career brings Eliza Carmody back to Kinsale, the hometown she thought she had left forever, she witnesses an old friend commit a crime that sends her on a dangerous quest to uncover the mysteries of her childhood that the rest of the town seems willing to ignore.
With her friend on the run and the police investigating the bones of an unidentified dead body at a historic homestead near town, Eliza becomes convinced that the truth lies in her memories of the New Year's Eve years ago when her friend Grace disappeared from Kinsale forever.
While Eliza desperately explores the connections between the crimes of the present and those of the past, she begins to suspect that no one ― even her own family ― is telling the truth.
"This brilliantly crafted, slow-burn crime novel ...The author tugs hard at universal human emotions as she explores themes of grief and the unreliability of memory. Clifford is definitely a writer to watch." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A gripping, gut-wrenching thriller. The novel moves at a tantalizing pace. Second Sight is an excellent, tense, slick mystery that investigates a small town's evil secrets." - Foreword Reviews (starred review)
"Fans of Jane Harper's mysteries will feel right at home." - Booklist
"Incisive prose that establishes Clifford as something of a stylist. Trouble and teenagers are at the heart of this fine crime novel that introduces us to Melbourne lawyer Eliza Carmody, who has reluctantly returned to her home town to investigate the cause of a catastrophic bush fire two years earlier. Nice work." - Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
"A gripping thriller. The tension is high, the pace rapid, and the plot primed to keep the pages turning. Clifford's interwoven themes let her tackle significant contemporary issues." - The Australian (Australia)
"Clifford absolutely nailed it again. The characters were beautifully drawn and the small town intrigues kept me turning pages to the big reveal at the end. Brava!" - Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow
"Aoife Clifford is brilliant at showing how the past is a strong, pulsing stream that infects and directs the present. She's done it again with Second Sight, a pacy, gripping thriller with thick ropes of regret, trauma, misunderstood love and misdirected duty slithering beneath." - Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident and Fishing for Tigers
"Second Sight is a beautifully crafted tale of treachery, tangled perceptions, and family dysfunction. Clifford masterfully packages skewed realities and hard-held grudges in a ride that breathlessly picks up speed until its last shocking conclusion. Impossible to put down!" - Julie McElwain, author of A Murder in Time
"I was addicted from page one and I read Second Sight like I was on fire. Perfect pacing. Aoife Clifford has painted a wonderful portrait of a town struggling under the weight of its secrets. I couldn't get enough of Eliza Carmody." - Sarah Bailey, author of The Dark Lake
"Aoife Clifford's Second Sight put me right there in Kinsale with Eliza Carmody. Heavy with secrets, twisty, propulsive, and beautifully written, it grabbed me from the first sentence and just didn't let go. Impossible to put down and even more impossible to shake after you're finished." - William Boyle, author of The Lonely Witness and A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself
This information about Second Sight was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Aoife Clifford is the author of All These Perfect Strangers, which was long-listed for both the Australian Industry General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize. Born in London of Irish parents, she grew up in New South Wales and now lives in Melbourne. Clifford has won two premier short story prizes for crime fiction in Australia, the Scarlet Stiletto and the S.D. Harvey Ned Kelly Award, among other prizes. She has also been shortlisted for the UK Crime Association's Debut Dagger.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
