Seeing Evil

First of all, many thanks to NetGalley / the Author / Red Adept Publishing, LLC for furnishing this e-book to be read and reviewed with an honest, unbiased opinion.
I have to say I don't like paranormal ... zombies, shape-shifters, end of the world dystopian, alternate worlds stuff. I do like psychics, though .. those that can see what the future holds or what has happened in old abandoned mansions, etc. This book combines both a psychic and a serial murderer and a female detective ... all my favorites rolled into one.

Major Crimes Detective Samantha (Sam) Reilly has been looking out for 14-year-old Michael since he was three and witnessed the murder/suicide of his parents. He's now living with foster parents who seem to care for him. Michael has been having some problems with the school bullies and one day he passes out and finds himself somewhere else. When he comes to, he realizes that he has had a vision ... and he isn't very happy. He tells his school counselor.. he tells his foster parents ... he even tells Sam and no one believes him. When his vision happens exactly as he described, people look at him with new eyes.

Sam is on a case concerning a missing wife. They have found her car immersed in a nearby lake, but there is no sign of the woman. Sam picks up Michael and takes him with her to interview the husband. Michael accidentally touches him and has another vision ... his wife is in the basement and being horribly tortured.

I will stop here ... for one thing, I needed to suspend belief (more so then usual) because I know of no detective who would take a young teenager along while interviewing someone believed to have killed his wife.

The story continues as Michael crosses paths with Tessa .. and he "sees" her killing her father. No spoilers, but things go terribly wrong when Sam also gets involved. Is Tessa a murderer .. or a victim? Is her father a serial killer? Or is he just an abusive, controlling father?

Although this is mainly a murder mystery, the teenage psychic takes the biggest role. I loved the plot. Characters were well developed. This was a new author to me, and I'd follow him anywhere.

Loved this book,could not put it down.l have not read any of this authors book but plan to read more of his work

I decided to read this book because of a friend's suggestion. I had thought it would be an ok read but was surprised to find that it is one of the best suspense thrillers I have read in a very long time. In lesser hands it would have been a decent read but the author's skill in setting the scene, character development, and story telling makes this a far superior novel. The premise is simple. A teenager who witnessed a family massacre when he was a toddler develops precognition abilities. A police detective who worked on the family massacre and has stayed in his life is working on a case that may not only end her career but her life as well. I was drawn in from the beginning and found the story just kept building and building to the point where I could not put it down.
Very highly recommended. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic copy of this book from Red Adept/Netgalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

What's it about?

A school-hazing incident triggers preternatural prophetic abilities in Michael, a teenager foster-kid with one real friend. Suddenly Michael is a real-life mutant like from one of his favorite comic books. Unfortunately, his super power is seeing the violent ways in which people he touches are going to die. It doesn't take long for Michael to discover the dark secrets Tessa, one of his fellow invisibles at school, is hiding, and soon Michael is over his head. Luckily, his one friend - Detective Sam Reilly - believes in her young friend, and is willing to do anything she can to help keep people safe. Unfortunately, sometimes all the prophetic knowledge in the world is just not enough.

What did I think of it?

Within the first few pages, "Seeing Evil" hooked me. It is a solid, strong story that is easy to follow, and so well-written I actually felt myself tensing up at some of the more dramatic parts. Aside from the obviously preternatural element, nothing about the story was something that I couldn't - in this day and age - believe wouldn't happen. It was chilling in the fact that it was so realistic. Even when reading into the antagonists thoughts, his reactions were not incomprehensible. I mean, who hasn't wanted to fly into a rage at the sound of someone open-mouth smacking their gum??

One of the things that impresses me most is the way Mr. Parent writes teenagers. For pretty much the first time I can remember when reading a book involving teenagers, I didn't find myself doing a mental eye-roll at too mature (or too immature) attitudes of the teens. Instead while Michael was thrust into one crappy situation after another, I stayed immersed in the story because the teen's reactions to his situations were so believable and appropriate. There were only two instances - both near the end of the book - where this wavered a bit, but upon further thought, the maturity demonstrated at that point was understandable.

While not a story that I found myself raving about - such as "Bird Box" or "The Martian" - I would definitely recommend "Seeing Evil" to anyone looking for a good thriller to while away a few hours, and at under 250 pages, it is a fairly quick read.

After a particularly bad bullying episode Michael blacks out. When he comes round he finds that he only has to touch somebody to discover what fate has in store for them. Another misfit is Tessa who has a terrible life with her awful father. Michael uses his "gift" to assist his friend, Detective Samantha Reilly as she searches for a serial killer. This is very descriptive, edge of your seat, biting your nails, can't wait to see what happens book. I hope we will come across Michael and Sam again soon!

I would like to thank Red Adept Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy to review.

When I was half way through Seeing Evil, the book The Dead Zone by Stephen King came to mind. A teenage boy is exhibiting the ability of premonition and he turns to his friend Samantha Reilly, a detective in the Major Crimes Squad. Together, they solve a few crimes and get into major amounts of trouble because Michael's visions. A fast paced thriller with compelling and interesting characters, Seeing Evil is a good and worthwhile read. I would have liked to have seen a little more originality, as the premise behind The Dead Zone is too similar for my taste. The characters are well defined and I particularly like the interactions between Samantha and Michael. It is refreshing to read about a person in authority who supports and believes a young person, with respect that goes both ways. Overall, Seeing Evil is well written and I look forward to reading more by Jason Parent in the future.

Detective Samantha Reilly get called to a homicide, a husband has shot his wife and lover and then turned the gun on himself. At the scene is then toddler Michael Turcotte. Michael ends up in the foster care system but Sam stays close to him over the years and frequently checks in on him and spends time with him.

When a couple of high school bullies attack Michael he has his first vision. He see an upcoming murder and doesn't know how to stop what he is sure is going to really happen so he turns to his longtime friend and mentor Sam. Sam is not sure whether to believe him or even how to go about stopping something that hasn't even happened yet.

Seeing Evil is one of those books that takes off at a fast pace and doesn't slow down for the entire book. There is always something going on in the story to keep the reader hooked. It switches up the POV between several characters which really adds to the depth and getting to know the whole story and characters.

Some parts of the book are quite gruesome which adds to the intensity of the bone chilling situations. Definitely well written thriller that I'd highly recommend picking up.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Seeing Evil is a dark, action-packed story of a young boy and a young girl who learned bravery. Both Michael and Tessa faced tragedy early on in life that forced them to desperately desire to appear invisible in public. Both slipped under the radar until one villain's serial heinous actions forced them to work together, along with the help of Detective Sam, and to find solace in one another. They both also had the help of Michael's supernatural powers to see a morbid future event through physical contact. Personally, this book had me at the edge of my seat, even from the first page. It is gripping, tragic, and certainly not for the faint of heart. I absolutely recommend this book and would give more than 5 stars if I could.

Review featured on www.books-n-kisses.com

I really enjoyed this book. It is a wonderful paranormal suspense book and will keep you interested until the very end.

Michael is a teen who has visions and while most do not believe him Samantha realizes what he can do and uses it to help. Michael has lived his own rough life. He lost his parents at a young age and was in the foster care system for years. Tessa lives a horrible life from the father from hell. His actions are so unbelievable that it is truly sad that there are real people like this in the world. And both are only teenagers. Together their lives are a horror story in itself. Samantha is hard core and what you may see as rude but seeing her the way the teens see her brings a different light to her character.

The author did an incredible job with this story. The characters are well formed and interesting to read about. Parent really has a way of pulling you right in. Highly recommend.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic fast paced book. Quite violent, but I felt it was a different take on the normal crime novel. Thoroughly enjoyed it after I got over the suspension of disbelief at Michael's visions.

This story had everything I love about thriller books wrapped up in one! A crime scene vividly explained, a fast moving but well written story plot, and all of my favorites contain some supernatural influence. This book did not disappoint!

I have not read much by this author but I definitely will be looking for more in the future! I was hooked in the first couple chapters! I’d HIGHLY recommend for someone interested in crime, thriller, and/or horror novels.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very good book. It really held my interest. Recommended. (Amazon reviewed).

I liked the idea of this book and thought it was fast paced and well written full of very intriguing characters. The problem for me was the ridiculous notion that an experienced police officer would take a damaged teenage boy to interview a witness and then even more unbelievably to a mortuary. I was intrigued by the whole paranormal story and the boys visions. I would certainly read more by this author.

Review: SEEING EVIL by Jason Parent

A disturbing noir mystery-horror in which "evil" is not just an appellation but a reality, SEEING EVIL combines an unusual pairing into a sort of potential crime-fighting duo. Detective Samantha Reilly was on scene when a toddler was discovered present at a murder-suicide scene. Eleven years later, adolescent Michael undergoes a violent bullying incident, which awakens latent clairvoyance. He enlists Samantha, but legally her hands are tied--how can she prevent "future" crimes? But another dynamic is ongoing, a dynamic of perversity and evil, and soon it will reach out to Michael, and Samantha.

Even for a reader who counts Edward Lee and Bryan Smith as favorite authors,SEEING EVIL was very disturbing. The implacability of evil, from psychopathic high school bullies to an evil soulless intellect who routinely practices torture and murder as a disciplinary method, creates a plethora of emotionally wrenching, spine chilling, and stomach churning scenes. Faint of heart, beware.

How would you / could you live your life if when you touched someone you saw the potential for evil in their life? A psychic ability that you never asked for but came upon you unannounced with a fainting fit or a nightmare.
Well that is what happens to our young ‘hero’ in this book. He sees the potential for evil occurrences and then he tries to thwart these happenings – when he can – and sometimes he gets lucky – sometimes he doesn’t. Michael feels that if the vision is about his future it might be ‘a virtual reality training area. .. a mulligan’. Which is, acoording the Urban Dictionary of Slang:
A Mulligan, in a game, happens when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action; usually due to lack of skill or bitter luck. A "Do-Over". Like getting an "Extra Play" in pinball due to sinking the ball before obtaining an arbitrary amount of points.
Left an orphan he is a reclusive shy boy with no friends and bullied at school, moving from one foster parent to another with only a remote friend in Sam the cop who found him at the scene of his mother and her lover’s murder by his father aged 3 years old. Sam kept a watching brief over Michael but lacking a maternal instinct it was not at all motherly until he began seeing visions when she realised he needed her help in a more practical manner.
Most people don’t believe in psychic visions and this belief is not helped when looking on our ‘trusty’ Google you can find people who offer to teach how to become psychic. And lots of people claiming to find your soul mate and so on or the lucky lottery ticket or... and yet from time to time there are people who visions that do have value .
Wikipedia has documented a number of cases where the psychics were wrong but also a few where they were right as below:
A body was located in the US by Psychic Annette Martin. Dennis Prado, a retired US paratrooper, had gone missing from his apartment and police had been unable to locate his whereabouts. With no further leads, the chief investigating officer, Fernando Realyvasquez, a sergeant with the Pacifica (California) Police, contacted psychic detective Annette Martin. Prado had lived near a large forest, some 2000 square miles. Martin was given a map, she circled a small spot on the map, about the size of two city blocks. She said that Prado had struggled for breath, had died and his body would be there within the indicated area. She described the path he took, and where the body would be found. Although the area had been searched before and Prado had not been found, a search and rescue officer initiated a new search with the help of a search dog, as Martin suggested "A search dog is going to find him." They found the body covered with dirt at the location, as Martin had indicated. While the body had deteriorated, there was no evidence that he had been attacked and it is thought likely he had died of natural causes, as she also indicated. In 2001, the body of Thomas Braun was located by Perth based Aboriginal clairvoyant Leanna Adams in Western Australia. Police had initially been unable to find the body. The family of Braun had been told to contact Adams, an Aboriginal psychic who lived in Perth. The Braun family had requested police to do a search based on Adams’ directions but they had not assisted. Adams went to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, and took the family members directly to Braun’s remains, a spot high on a ridge west of the town, some 20 kilometres out. The remains were not immediately identifiable. Police later confirmed the remains to be his using DNA testing.
So whether you believe or not is up to you, but it makes a good story and ramps up the tension as Michael attempts to thwart his visions.
Overall a nice read with enough tension and a clean writing style that keeps you hooked.

“Simple reviews from a simple reader…”

Zakk reviews “Seeing Evil” by Jason Parent. 232 pages published by Red Adept Publishing.

Overall score: 5/5

“At once, Samantha knew that not only did Michael comprehend what had happened to his parents, but also that he felt it in the worst sort of way. His wail was ghostly and ghastly, the cry of one seized by agony. Samantha was afraid, both for him and of him, and of what such trauma might cause him to become. Backing away, not knowing how to comfort the lost child, Samantha knew it would not be the last she would see of Michael.”

During an altercation with a group of classmates higher up the food chain than he, 14 year old Michael Turcotte is overcome by a vision of a traumatic and violent future event. Failing to get anyone to understand or believe, and not able to stop things on his own, events unfold as he first saw them.

Now labeled a freak by his classmates, avoided by his foster parents and exploited by his only true friend and guardian angel, Michael must learn to deal with and interpret these glimpses of horrific events crossing paths with himself and those he cares about.

Can Michael, along with his friend Sam, a police detective, connect the dots and stop a murder, or a murderer?

“Tessa covered her face with her hands and cried silently. Praying for mercy or at least a quick recovery, Tessa trembled the whole way home. Maybe he’ll kill me this time. The prospect was scary at first but bittersweet, tinged by a euphoric suggestion of release. The only problem was how much pain she would have to endure before death came.”

First off, I love stories with a youthful protagonist. Horror through the eyes of children, hero’s learning the ways of the world by way of fear is an angle that I have always responded to. Wonder tarnished, innocence lost (or broken), youths having to rise beyond their years to look darkness in the eyes, it lends an added weight to a piece. That is if an author can pull off a genuine feeling of youth (or wonder, or innocence) which Jason Parent does, well.

Having youthful characters that come off of the page feeling like youthful entities requires a little bit of deft that some writers are just not able to handle. So when it happens, fluidly, I find myself connected immediately.

Suffice to say that I was on board with “Seeing Evil” from the beginning. Strapped in, connected to and invested in this story of a young man with a violent past stricken with visions of horrific events.

The book is populated with a handful of youthful entities that ooze of their intended age, personality and social standing. As do the adult entities, especially Christopher, who brings a thick sense of malice to every scene he is in. The cast are not just characters filling a page and propelling a narrative, they’re individuals occupying a space. Which has a lot to do with some solid natural dialogue, which is a pet peeve of mine and the thing most likely to make or break a satisfying read.

The possibility that no one was going to make it out safe, let alone alive, made it’s presence known quickly. I love having to brace myself for the impending doom of a character whom by all accounts should be a survivor or the fear of losing a beloved character.

This impending doom is compounded by some tense and visceral imagery. There are some ugly goings on here, which I’m not going to lie, whet my whistle a bit. Michael’s visions are meaty and satisfying, as is how the story plays out afterward. It’s all handled well, propelling the story along an amping up the stakes quickly.

The other aspect to “Seeing Evil” that really sold it to me was the unexpected turns the story takes. I’m not talking twists or angles that jut out of nowhere. There isn’t any of those. It’s the situations where a character doesn’t make the choices you expect them to. Nor do they make the choices you want them to. They seem to handle thing their own way, which is refreshing.

This book is highly enjoyable and very entertaining. The kind of read that makes you want to shirk your daily responsibilities and call off work. It is definitely worthy of the TMOM stamp of approval and a title that I have no qualms about recommending to others.

“Michael slowly turned to face her. ‘Yes. I caught a glimpse of Heaven, and it was beautiful, so beautiful that I didn’t want to leave.’

‘Seriously?’

Michael burst into laughter. He laughed until he could hardly breathe. He couldn’t believe Sam actually fell for it. When he was finally able to talk again, he said, ‘Of course not. It’s like I told you, this is a waste of time. She’s dead. I didn’t see a thing.’

She scowled. ‘You’re a jerk.'”

Zakk is a big dumb animal!
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