From GR: "What happens when a pseudo psychic suddenly gets the real gift?

Marina Marks has been on the grift as a psychic since she was a child, forced into the business by a junkie mother who was always desperate for her next fix—and willing to use her solemn dark-haired daughter to peddle an extra buck. As an adult, Marina has earned a handsome living preying on the dreams and fears of her clients. She doesn’t believe there is such a thing as psychic ability, but she does believe in intuition. Her gift is the ability to gain the trust of her clients and subtly raise her fees as they become more attached to her and her readings.

But when Marina moves her “intuitive counseling” business out of muggy, cloying Florida to the milder environs of southern California, her past follows her. As she takes on new clients—a trophy wife desperate to bear a child, a gay man involved with a closeted psychiatrist, and a philandering businessman who’s smitten with her—a former client resurfaces in an eerie way. Suddenly, Marina is in love for the first time, but it is a romance whose roots lie deep in her past and threaten her efforts to reinvent herself.

As Marina’s life gets more and more entangled with those of her clients, she makes a startling discovery: she suddenly has the actual ability to see the future. After predicting a murder exactly as it happens, she becomes the sole suspect. Now she’s the desperate one—desperate to clear her name and to discover the meaning behind her visions."

Right up my alley, I read this for a tarot Card Challenge Group, however the challenge isn't until 202, and the admin. do not respond to any posts!

Did I like the characters? Not really, they were unethical and shallow with few, if any, redeeming qualities....

I did find the book interesting, so much so, I read in in less than 24 hours! ( )

Interesting premise. Woman works as a psychic and midway through her life, realizes she truly has a gift to see in to the future. The writing was stodgy though and sometimes I felt like I was plowing through sludge. ( )

I got this book because the premise was an interesting one. I actually loved this book and it is truly one of my favorites I've read this year. The book is about a psychic who thinks she can just read people and make good money pretending to be a psychic. However, when she meets a strange man, her world gets turned upside down and realizes her psychic abilities are real.

For the rest of the review, visit my blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/71490.html ( )

I truly enjoy Debra Ginsberg's gift of storytelling. The Grift is the story of a woman who learned the techniques of cold reading and pretending to be a psychic to protect herself in childhood. Marina makes this her living, all the while determined to "retire" after earning enough money.

Her move to San Diego and building a client base of rich, low self-esteem, needy people goes fairly well. Until the day she meets the Mysterious Stranger (duhn duhn duhn) and things go sideways. Now she's really got the "gift" and it interferes with her ability to keep her clients happy.

Things fall apart, people go mad blaming Marina for things she has no control over. That's what needy people do. Wrap it up in one big angry scene, in which murder is revealed, Marina's life gets back on track and everyone sorta lives happily ever after. ( )

A great read about a fake psychic who finds out she really has the gift. All this while solving a mystery. ( )