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James L. Black
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The Glimpsing Kindle Edition

by James L. Black (Author), Mary Byrnes (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 101 ratings
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Unrelentingly suspenseful, The Glimpsing is the haunting tale of Portia Childress, a former model who discovers that her playboy ex-boyfriend is having an affair with her best friend. Enraged, she offers him the painting of a woman in a brilliant red dress. Soon the woman emerges from the painting, determined to lead him and his lover deep into a paranormal trap filled with seduction, vengeance, and murder.
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  1. Print length
    278 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    January 7, 2014
  5. Reading age
    15 - 18 years
  6. File size
    573 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005G4OMF4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ James L. Black; 1st edition (January 7, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 573 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 278 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 101 ratings

About the author

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James L. Black

James L. Black

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Before penning The Glimpsing, James L. Black was a film critic for several newspapers and websites. He grew up a major fan of Alfred Hitchcock (especially Psycho and The Birds) and counts Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series as his favorite of all time. His favorite books include Stephen King's Carrie, The Dark Tower series, Koontz's Intensity, The Bible, and McCarthy's No Country for Old Men.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
101 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

mountainwhisper
5.0 out of 5 stars review of the glimpsing
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2012
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This book is great read. It's story is completely unique and is very classic horror. I loved it. The main character Portia is both evil and innocent. You will find yourself sympathizing with her, and condemning her at the same time. It reminds me of a new take on the Dorian Grey story. It's highly disturbing, and very graphic. The story follows a young virgin, Portia, who is mistreated badly by a series of would be lovers. The rejection and self-loathing that they drive her to causes a very interesting mental break with a scary curse of a twist. She has success and beauty, but cannot find true love. Her boyfriends' inability to love her costs them much more than they bargain for. Her final object of affection betrays her with her best friend. This is the catalyst for the climax of the story, which has everything from betrayal, sex, murder, and even redemption. I thought the writing style was wonderful, It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, kind of like a lot of Stephen King's work. I'll be interested to read more of James L. Black's work.
One person found this helpful
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Avid Reader 637
4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2014
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I'm torn between three and four stars for this one, but have finally settled on four, with reservations. This was an easy book to get in to, with a first person point of view prologue opening up the suspense and mystery and drawing you in. I was glad when Chapter One changed to third person, as I find it a much better writing style. It introduced new questions and mysteries for us to ponder while we read. We get answers as to who is who (mostly) fairly early on, which works well, setting the scene for the supernatural story to begin.

I liked the writing style but would not classify this book as a horror, although there is the odd bloody scene, and I certainly wouldn't liken the author to the likes of Mr S King. It was a good concept, with a few good twists and some nice revelations. However, it felt it dragged in places, and brought up some subjects (in particular, Angela) which it then never fully explained or explored, leaving me slightly unsatisfied.

Overall, this was a good, suspenseful read, well written with characters one had a connection with, and wanted to learn what befell them. The ending was a bit of a contradiction, with two different concepts being employed. I don't want to say too much and give spoilers, but felt it would have been more profound if the author had gone one way or the other, and not tried to encompass both. Also, there was one main occurrence which was never explained, and therefore was left unbelievable and felt a little contrived. Kept me reading 'til the end, but I wouldn't say I felt great excitement at picking it up, more intrigue.
2 people found this helpful
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:Klem
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting ideas but...
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2012
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This novel had some potentially interesting and suspenseful ideas, but overall the novel was poorly executed. The writing was not up to par, and it seemed that the author used a thesaurus frequently to up the intellectual value of the novel which resulted in ambiguous and incorrect meanings. I would have felt very bad had I paid full price for this book. I would have rated it 2 and a half stars if that was possible.
One person found this helpful
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Maureen H
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read!
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2013
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I really enjoyed this book. It is very well written. The characters are fleshed-out and it is easy to identify with them. That Portia is one wacked out chick! The 'narrator's voice' was really easy to identify; I can't say why because I'm just not sure. Maybe it was the way his voice was presented in the story's flow.
This was quite a page turner - very exciting and there was a lot of thrilling stuff happening. I have to say, I was surprised the ending wound up being what I was hoping for. I feel that doesn't happen in a lot of paranormal thrillers. Or if it does, it is not done in the elegant, beautiful way this was done.
Fantastic job! I will be looking for more from this author (including the sequel!!).
One person found this helpful
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Megan
4.0 out of 5 stars Spooky but a little confusing and repetitive
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2014
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I really liked this book. The characters were developed and the plot was interesting--I was eager to see how the story would end.

At times, the author was a bit repetitive. The information in the prologue appeared several more times in the story and it just wasn't that necessary. There were also a couple parts of the plot that I found confusing and would have liked a little more explanation/development.

None of my complaints took away from my enjoyment of the book and I would recommend it!
One person found this helpful
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S. C. Travis
2.0 out of 5 stars Almost a one star
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2022
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I only give it 2 stars because of the in depth building of characters. The story became tedious and had a feeling it would never end, not my kind of book. I can't recommend this book, but a reader into more of the sci-fi side may give it a try.
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PattyW
5.0 out of 5 stars A very entertaining read
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2012
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I will say right away that this book is good. Maybe I liked it so much because of the price and I wasn't expecting what I got but The Glimpsing is well written and the author does a good job of moving the story and developing the characters. The Glimpsing has it all. Love, hate, torment, horror, suspense and the ending was a good twist. If I had to come up with a complaint it would be that I wanted more of the character Portia's history. The Glimpsing is a good story for a mature audience that the genre of horror sometimes forgets.
16 people found this helpful
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dgh
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read!
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2012
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I must say I really enjoyed this book. It was a unique take on a horror story. Didn't quite get the ending but... The concept and characters I enjoyed. I would recommend this book. I think the author will only get better the more he writes. I think he has a future in horror, he just needs to remember the genre and end the stories that way.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Tina Ord, Alsager
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2023
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This book was really enjoyable. It had a realistically creepy effect on me, quite scary. Easy to read too. Would happily read another of his.
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Suzanne Millar
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good story - different and creepy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2013
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Read this based on the positive reviews, and wasn't disappointed. Not my kind of stort in so far as the supernatural never normally graps (or keeps) my attention.. however I had to keep reading to find out what happened next, even though it is quite sinister at times, and sad as well. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: My biggest issue was near the end, think about 94% through, with Janice... I was just shaking my head and getting really annoyed, like the scenes in horror films where the victim runs upstairs and is left with no way out, I was thinking why on earth is she ascending the stairs at all - especially given the 'darkness' and the supernatural feelings she was having - felt that spoilt it a bit. The ending was okay, a bit too sort of 'happy ever after' for this sort of story, but was definitely worth a read and would happily recommend to fans of this genre.
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Clive Almond
4.0 out of 5 stars WHAT A. GOOD. READ
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2013
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A really good book and well written it kept you involved with all the characters and I did not want to put it down. The reason I gave it 4 stars was because I thought the ending seemed a bit rushed compared with the rest of the book. Well done James Black I will be recommending this book and look forward to reading more of your work.
One person found this helpful
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Jason Vokes
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2014
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I downloaded this as a free book on Amazon's kindle site. However after reading it in one sitting, I can honestly say I'd have gladly paid for it. I won't give away any plot details and ruin it for you. If you like horror, supernatural elements, and not entirely pandering to the happy ending brigade, then give this a read.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars creepy and captivating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2014
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I very much enjoyed this book as it had a creepiness and intrigue about it. the use of multiple characters viewpoints and clever way the tale is interwoven kept me turning to the last page.
One person found this helpful
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