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Liked It “Storyline: Kaycee Raye is paranoid about multiple things. Rollercoasters. Bees. Darkness. Most of all, she’s frightened with the thought that someone is watching her every single instant. |
Didn’t Like It “Wanted to love it, but too predictable.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Wanted to love it, but too predictable. ”
AKirisheyes wrote this review 25 minutes ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Storyline: Kaycee Raye is paranoid about multiple things. Rollercoasters. Bees. Darkness. Most of all, she’s frightened with the thought that someone is watching her every single instant.
Heather wrote this review Thursday, September 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
She’d begun to conquer the fear, then her best friend died, leaving a young child behind. For the past year, Kaycee’s fears have taken on a life of their own. Her coping skills no longer help.
And it all starts one evening when she walks into her house and a camera goes off—with no one to press the button. Every one of her fears begin to stack up, paralyzing her. The local police think she’s crazy. Kaycee also has her doubts—until too many things happen too conveniently.
My Take: Wow! I read this book in three hours. Suspense is always difficult for me to put down (and obviously I had way too much time on my hands that day).
This book was well done. Even though it was somewhat short, I connected to the characters, especially the main character Kaycee, well. Kudos to Brandilyn Collins’ ingenious character building schemes!
It was also tense. I don’t think I relaxed a single bit while I was reading it. Definitely not a book I’ll revisit if I’m ever at home by myself right before bedtime.
Her tagline "Don’t forget to b r e a t h e…" was well-earned.
I think everyone could connect to Kaycee well because she represents the fearful part of us. I mean, I connected with her fears of darkness and bees. And it made me examine why I particularly feared those things—both of mine are pretty tame compared to Kaycee’s. (I dislike darkness because I have poor night vision, and not being able to see things makes me jumpy. I dislike bees because they sting and hurt! Duh! :0) ) And I cheered happily at the end when Kaycee is well on her way to defeating those fears.
A couple of dislikes: description of lots of blood at a couple of points. I know this won’t be a problem for most people. I just happen to get sick at the sight of a lot of blood (and my imagination works too well to read that kind of description). And, it's definitely edgy Christian fiction.
On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this book. If you can handle heart-pounding suspense, go for it!
”
“I love Brandilyn Collins. Everytime I read one of her books I think, no way can she top her last book, it's just not possible. I have figured out her style and I can see any twist coming. Right? WRONG!!! She gets me everytime and with "Exposure" she blows the doors off of all my expectations - she shattered my preconceived notions and I promise never to underestimate Brandilyn again!
Janna R wrote this review Sunday, August 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
We see two stories unfold in "Exposure". The first one is Kaycee, the ultimate scaredy cat, afraid of everything - especially her own shadow. But her fears have escalated since her friend died a year ago and now she figures she is really going crazy, or at least the police are going to think so. She sees a picture of a dead man showing up everywhere - her computer screen, her tv, but no proof. Her friend's daughter disappears as she is running away to Kaycee's house and she feels responsible. Will she fall apart before she can help find Hannah?
At the same time we see Martin and Lorraine's story unfolding. A bank robbery, a murder, the mob, a sick daughter.
I knew the two stories would intersect at some point, but BAM! I didn't figure out how. This book is fantastic - thank you Brandilyn for doing what you do better than anyone else and doing it again! Please don't stop!”
“Exposure is the sixth Brandilyn Collins novel I’ve read, and I think it’s time to officially call myself a fan. After reading Dark Pursuit, I started asking “when’s the next one coming out?” and picked up Exposure and Always Watching (co-written with daughter Amberly Collins) as soon as they released.
Joanna Mallory wrote this review Thursday, August 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Always Watching is a fast-paced young adult read, and it’s now circulating among my nieces.
In Exposure, Kaycee Raye’s syndicated column on fighting fears helps a lot of people. But the realization that a person’s worst fears can come true has turned her private world into a terrifying place. A fearful woman… doesn’t sound like an ideal protagonist for us to bond with, but Brandilyn Collins pulls it off in her usual “seatbelt suspense”® style.
As terrified as Kaycee is, she’s determined to fight this inner battle because something more important is on the line. Her best friend’s young daughter disappeared on the way to Kaycee’s house. Hannah is nine years old—the same age as Kaycee when she realized she’d absorbed all of her mother’s fears.
But Kaycee’s mother never saw things that weren’t there—someone watching, a camera, images. Is Kaycee cracking up, or is the old joke true: “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out to get me”?
Kind police officer Mark says he believes her, but he’s also the one who accused her of making money from other people’s fear. And she can’t offer proof of what she’s seen. Even her trusted friend suggests it’s a product of her own mind.
As these scares pile up, the search for Hannah intensifies. And there’s another plot thread running through the novel, complete with stolen money, mobsters, and a mother and child on the run.
Brandilyn Collins brings everything together for a tense and satisfying conclusion that I did not see coming. I was so pleased with myself for deciphering some of her clues… and completely missed the twist at the end.
Exposure is a fast-paced read that I didn’t want to put down. Yes, it’s intense, thanks in part to the author’s masterful use of deep point of view to pull readers into Kaycee’s heart and head, but it’s not the traumatic type of scary.
Brandilyn Collins is a multi-published, best-selling author. To read an excerpt of Exposure, or for information on the author's other books, visit her website. Better still, grab a copy of the novel, buckle your seatbelt, and as Brandilyn Collins’ tagline warns, “Don’t forget to b-r-e-a-t-h-e!”®”
“Exposure by Brandilyn Collins is a haunting look at the power that fear can hold over our lives, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really after you. Kaycee Raye has lived in fear of people watching her. Her mother lived with the same paranoia, always watching out windows and moving from place to place to find some semblance of peace. Kaycee's tried to turn her fear into something good by writing a newspaper column about the effects of fear and how to overcome it. Despite recent baby steps to freedom from fear, she's been making calls to the police about seeing someone lurking around her home, making her look like the woman who cried wolf. When a young girl disappears while on the way to Kaycee's home, it starts to look like someone may really be after her, and everything gets really scary. I am a longtime fan of Collins, because she never fails to surprise even me, a fairly jaded reader. When the two divergent plotlines came crashing together in this book, I was stunned and blown away by just how good her writing really is. I did feel a bit at times as though I had stepped into the second book in a series; there's a lot of backstory. I do love how she portrayed the debilitating effects of fear and how perfect love casts out fear. ”
clockstein wrote this review Wednesday, July 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great suspense. I could barely put it down.”
Elizabeth H wrote this review Thursday, June 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Thriller explores possibility of living with worst fears come true
cmpctjen wrote this review Friday, June 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
by Jennie McGhan
What is your worst fear? How would you deal with it if you were forced to face that fear both in your nightmares and in reality?
Exposure by Brandilyn Collins explores such a sce-nario and is bound to keep its readers bracing them-selves at the turn of each page.
A thriller, this book is one of many suspense novels written by Collins. Each novel is what has been termed “seatbelt suspense,” because of her ability to take her readers on a veritable thrill ride as the characters are faced with the horrors of crime.
The main character in Ex-posure, Kaycee Raye is faced with unexplainable fears coming to life. A syn-dicated columnist, who writes about her fears, she begins having frightening experiences. She believed she had been conquering many of the things she was afraid of, including visiting the dentist.
Now, images of a dead man mysteriously appear on a camera, her computer, in her dreams and in a photo-graph left in her car.
The nine-year-old daugh-ter of Kaycee’s deceased best friend also mysteriously disappears.
She is challenged to stand strong against what some in her small town believe are hallucinations or paranoia. She must try to forget the images and focus on finding her friend’s daughter.
The feeling of being watched never fades through Kaycee’s search, but she won’t let the authorities or her fears stop her from look-ing for the young girl.
She delays telling local law enforcement officers about the images, wanting them to focus on the search for the little girl. Besides, it is difficult to prove the images even exist.
Officer Mark Burnett, however, begins to believe in Kaycee and the things she has been seeing. He wants to help her.
Exposure also takes its readers through a series of events occurring elsewhere.
Martin, Lorraine and four-year-old Tammy Giordano are caught up in crimes tied to the mob.
Lorraine and Tammy don’t know of Martin’s in-volvement in the robbery of the bank where he works. Lorraine also doesn’t know what is hidden inside a rental unit at the storage facility she manages.
After Martin’s murder, Lorraine is faced with some tough decisions. She and Tammy were, after all, inside the family’s apartment when he was shot to death.
She must keep herself and young Tammy safe from the murderer…but, how?
Although I was able to guess how Kaycee’s cir-cumstances were tied to those of the Giordano family, I found myself riveted to the book and depriving myself of much needed sleep. I didn’t want to put the book down and was held captive, wanting to discover how each chapter played out.
Collins has a way of weaving stories together that compel her readers to explore their own lives, as well as venturing into her frightful scenarios.
She divides her time be-tween the Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho area and the California Bay area. She has also re-cently released a new young adult series with her daugh-ter Amberly.
Exposure is a novel any suspense and mystery enthusiast can enjoy. If you have a thirst for a great thriller, be sure to purchase this novel.”
“Kaycee Raye is scared of...well...everything. All of her life she has struggled with paranoia and irrational fears, something she believes was passed down from her troubled mother. Kaycee has found a way to deal with the fear by writing a column that has taken on a life of its own and has turned Kaycee into a household name. Up until now the column has been both fun and therapeutic as she has found a way to connect with readers who share many of the same fears and experiences. Unfortunately for Kaycee, someone out there is watching her and waiting for just the right moment to unleash the greatest fear she has ever known.
jachism wrote this review Monday, May 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
To say that Brandilyn Collins is prolific would be an understatement. You would think that a writer who cranks out a novel every few months would sooner or later hit the wall and lose their edge. It's bound to happen right? Guess again. If Collins has proven anything to me it's that she is not only a master of her craft, but there literally seems to be no end to the depth of her talent.
Exposure has many of the elements that we have come to expect from Collins: intensity, tension, high-caliber suspense, and engaging mystery. It's all there and once again works well. We are also treated to a unique story telling device that really propels the narrative along. While I figured out the twist early on, never did the story lose steam in my mind. Collins knows how to grab readers early on and she never gives us a moment to even consider letting go.
Where Brandilyn Collins always excels is her ability to bring us strong spiritual insight through what her characters experience. Many fans will be able to relate and sympathize with Kaycee's struggles in this story and will be moved by her journey to overcome. Collins once again delivers a pulse pounding story that will have you on the edge of your seat and will leave you desperate for more.”
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