March 2004: Stephen Woodworth's THROUGH VIOLET EYES
One of the perks of being an author is receiving Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of new and interesting novels. Recently, I received THROUGH VIOLET EYES by Stephen Woodworth. Never heard of Woodworth? That's because VIOLET EYES is his debut novel, coming from Bantam in August 2004. A work of "speculative fiction," VIOLET EYES brings us a not-so-distant future, where the US has harnessed the powers of special individuals, Violets, to communicate with the dead. Great for culture-Beethoven is back to composing using the talents of a musical Violet. Great for history-an in depth account of Waterloo can now be provided by Napoleon. But even better for criminal justice-if you want to know who killed the victim, just ask her.
The results are a drop in the nationwide homicide rate.until someone starts killing the Violets. In VIOLET EYES, Woodworth has produced a positively masterful thriller. From page to page you are constantly guessing what will happen next. More than that, however, he's created an intriguing world where the line between life and death has become simultaneously blurred and more definitive than ever. As Woodworth's characters learn, to be able to communicate with the dead is not always a good thing. The book is in equal parts exciting, thought-provoking, and, as appropriate given its subject matter, haunting.
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