THE EYE OF THE MIND

by Lynn Biederstadt ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 1981

Clairvoyance and psychokinesis ride again, not very credibly--as a brain-trust of super-psychics strives to foresee and forestall assorted disasters. The group leader is non-psychic scientist Harold Morrison, whose first attempt at such a psychic commune ended in disaster: government interference, accidental fire, several deaths. So now, guilt-ridden, he's trying again with a new batch of psychics: Russian pianist Karel, who has given up concerts and is dying of psychic overload; drunken actor Evan (the lone escapee of the earlier fire); spunky pre-teener Claire; beautiful Kate, former nun; her lover Stef, who foresees his own death; and lesbian Marva, who short-circuits her psychic powers. The group starts out in a super-equipped lab--guessing cards, bending spoons, exploding a light bulb. They foresee an Australian train disaster but can't prevent it. They do better with a gas-storage explosion: their warning saves lives. But this also alerts Smith, a government agent (Morrison had been working with him in the previous brain trust) who now comes with an urgent need: the son of the Secretary of State has been kidnapped. The psychics locate the kid, killing a kidnapper by long distance. And so on--until widespread tragedy results from their successful work with a hostage plane down in the Canadian wilds; the brain trust is then broken up by three deaths: Morrison, Stef, and Karel (a suicide). First-novelist Biederstadt labors hard at giving this string of psychic events the aura of realism--but the result is merely competent melodrama for psi believers only.

Pub Date: July 14, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Marek--dist. by Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1981

Categories: FICTION