Stephen Woodworth, Through Violet Eyes

Stephen Woodworth, Through Violet Eyes - The good news is this is a page turner. All through I kept thinking that this novel has got to end with a big payoff about life in the afterlife -- but it never happens. In fact, the afterlife is so vague, lacking in details, that I thought the author must be have felt intimidated by the prospect of trying to imagine it. The author mistakes brevity for mystery in nearly every scene, and the result is a jerky and awkward narrative that tumbles like broken concrete. I really looked forward to reading this book; sad to say it does not live up to all the hype.

Through Violet Eyes

Stephen Woodworth

Dell, Sept 2004, $6.99

ISBN: 0553803379

The Violets are people who can communicate with the dead and let their spirits inhabit their bodies. They are allowed to testify in court with the dead spirit inside them accusing the perpetrator of murder. A SoulScan is an instrument that shows the Violet being possessed by the spirit that the Violet called using a touchstone. Not many Violets are born in each generation so the government of each country puts them under their "protection". In the United States, the North American Afterlife Communication Corps is the umbrella organization of the Violets and those people who don't choose to join them are harassed, their lives are made miserable by a bureaucracy that wants to keep a tight reign on them.

Someone is killing the Violets and the government officials have no clue who is doing it as they leave no evidence behind. FBI agent Dan Atwater is assigned to protect Violet Natalie Lindstrom who attended the same school as the victims. Dan is afraid of what Natalie can do because she can contact a ghost from his past, one he wants to avoid at all costs. Gradually the barriers between them are breached and the unlikely duo fall in love, but there is no guarantee that they will live long enough to celebrate their deep feelings.

THROUGH VIOLET EYES is not a religious thriller because the premise of the Violets is based on scientific fact. This work reads like a fabulous urban fantasy in which spirits inhabit the bodies of the Violets as a last way to hang onto life. The fantasy element is very strong and Stephen Woodworth's work is nothing short of remarkable.

Harriet Klausner