Dark Visions: The Strange Power, The Possessed, The Passion »

L.J. Smith is the NYT Bestselling author of the Night World and The Vampire Diaries series. She has written over twenty-five books and lives in California.

Kaitlyn Fairchild has always felt like an outsider in her small hometown. Her haunting eyes and prophetic drawings have earned her a reputation as a witch. But Kait's not a witch: She's a psychic. Tired of being shunned, Kait accepts an invitation to attend the Zetes Institute, where she can have a fresh start and study with other psychic teens.

Learning to hone her abilities with four other gifted students, Kait discovers the intensity of her power -- and the joy of having true friends. But those friendships quickly become complicated when Kait finds herself torn between two irresistible guys. Rob is kind and athletic, and heals people with his good energy. Gabriel is aggressive and mysterious, a telepath concealing his true nature as a psychic vampire, feeding off of others' life energy. Together, Rob and Gabriel's opposing forces threaten the group's stability.

Then one of the experiments traps the five teens in a psychic link. A link that threatens their sanity and their lives. And Kaitlyn must decide whom to trust...and whom to love.

Children's Literature

A single volume re-release of three separate books published in 1994 and 1995 titled, The Strange Power, The Possessed, and The Passion, this trilogy follows the experiences of outsider Kaitlyn Fairchild as she discovers her secret psychic skills, first love, and true friendship—and helps save the world from a mad scientist determined to rule the world using a powerful, mind-bending crystal. Kaitlyn is recruited to join four other psychic teens at the Zetes Institute, a scientific institution devoted to studying psychic phenomena, where she learns to hone her abilities and makes intense friendships with her equally gifted friends. Over the course of the three books, Kaitlyn is increasingly torn between her attraction to bad boy and "psychic vampire" Gabriel, and her loving relationship with the gentle, golden healer, Rob. Kaitlyn and the other teens learn that the Zetes Institute and its leader, Mr. Zetes, are plotting to use them as "psychic assassins," for sale to the highest bidder. Kaitlyn and her friends use their psychic skills to escape from the Institute, travel to a secret island to meet an ancient race of people and acquire the only surviving crystal powerful enough to thwart Zetes' master plan, and finally crush Zetes and his bunch of psychic—and psychotic—young accomplices, thus saving the world. The premise is far fetched, but the books are engaging and a very fun read. Young adults will enjoy the dynamics between the psychic teens, and the plot delivers unexpected twists that keep the reader interested through all 732 pages. Reviewer: Lauri Berkenkamp