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A review by lauriereadslohf
Seeing Evil by Jason Parent
4.0
This review and the rest of the crap I write can be seen @ my blog Bark's Book Nonsense . Stop by and say hey.
Seeing Evil is a book about the evil human beings inflict on one another. It’s more thriller than horror but has a few disturbing scenes that fall more into the horror realm.
Michael was tragically orphaned as a young boy. Now he’s a teen living with foster parents and dealing with the typical cruelties and horrors of high school. He’s quiet, keeps his head down and minds his own business but one day he finds himself the target of one of the biggest bullies in the school. This scene is horrifying and too well written, if you ask me. I felt like I was in that bathroom stall with unfortunate Michael and, eww, I did not want to be there! Later Michael has a dark and dire vision that eventually comes true. He confides in his police detective friend, Samantha, and she later uses this information to guide her in an investigation.
And this is where I had a problem. The writing is good and the teen characters are amazingly well drawn. You really feel for them. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that Samantha using Michael, pretty much without his ok, to help her catch a killer bothered the hell out of me. This poor kid had already lived through hell and here she was forcing him to see things he should never have to see. Once? Okay, I get it. But again and again, after he tells her he doesn’t want to do it? Well, that is completely awful no matter her motives.
I listened to this book as an unabridged audio but I’d suggest you read it as a paperback. I felt the female narrator gave a flat performance and didn’t do justice to the material and it took me way too long to warm up to her voice.
Those two things aside, the book was a creepy and disturbing read with characters you will care about. The story gets a four, the narration a three so I guess I’m ending with a 3 ½.
Seeing Evil is a book about the evil human beings inflict on one another. It’s more thriller than horror but has a few disturbing scenes that fall more into the horror realm.
Michael was tragically orphaned as a young boy. Now he’s a teen living with foster parents and dealing with the typical cruelties and horrors of high school. He’s quiet, keeps his head down and minds his own business but one day he finds himself the target of one of the biggest bullies in the school. This scene is horrifying and too well written, if you ask me. I felt like I was in that bathroom stall with unfortunate Michael and, eww, I did not want to be there! Later Michael has a dark and dire vision that eventually comes true. He confides in his police detective friend, Samantha, and she later uses this information to guide her in an investigation.
And this is where I had a problem. The writing is good and the teen characters are amazingly well drawn. You really feel for them. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that Samantha using Michael, pretty much without his ok, to help her catch a killer bothered the hell out of me. This poor kid had already lived through hell and here she was forcing him to see things he should never have to see. Once? Okay, I get it. But again and again, after he tells her he doesn’t want to do it? Well, that is completely awful no matter her motives.
I listened to this book as an unabridged audio but I’d suggest you read it as a paperback. I felt the female narrator gave a flat performance and didn’t do justice to the material and it took me way too long to warm up to her voice.
Those two things aside, the book was a creepy and disturbing read with characters you will care about. The story gets a four, the narration a three so I guess I’m ending with a 3 ½.