Dark Eyes [Hardcover]

William Richter (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 15, 2012 | Series: Dark Eyes

Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.

Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she's just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She'll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko - her darkeyed father - finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally's mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally's had her own killer training, and she's hungry for justice.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Harlan Richter is a Hollywood screenwriter. He was nominated for an Emmy Award as producer of "We Stand Alone Together," the documentary episode of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. William was born and raised in California.

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Razorbill; 1 edition (March 15, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595144579
• ISBN-13: 978-1595144577
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Different Breed of Teen Novel March 15, 2012

By Amanda TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I wasn't sure what to expect from Dark Eyes. The blurb was interesting, but it labels the book as a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens? It's nearly impossible to scrub that book so that it's teen friendly -just too much adult content. Then, there's the unexpected author. According to his bio, he's a screenwriter whose best known for writing the documentary episode of HBO's Band of Brothers -kind of interesting transition from that to teen literature. Despite all this obscurity, I decided to give Dark Eyes a whirl.

Wally was adopted into an affluent New York family at a young age from a Russian orphanage. She has virtually no memory of her life in Russia, or of who she really was before. When she turned fifteen, Wally took to life on the streets away from her comfortable New York home. A year later, she stumbles across the opportunity to find out who she really is. Having discovered the identity of her birth moth, she sets out to find her -with her father, a Russian mob boss, close on her heels. He doesn't want Wally to know the truth, even if it means killing her.

Honestly, I'm not really sure why they even tried to call Dark Eyes the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens. There's virtually no connection other than the fact that they are mystery/thrillers and Wally is a harder female lead (though, certainly, no Lisbeth Salander). Wally, though, is still a fascinating main character with plenty of great wit and intelligence to keep readers fascinated with her. Author William Richter does an excellent job of weaving a fascinating tale of intrigue, action, secrets and unexpected twists. Most importantly, Dark Eyes is one of the most well-written and pulse-pounding teen thrillers I've ever read.

A different breed of teen novel, but in a good way.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Review from Esther's Ever After March 15, 2012

By Brenna

Format:Hardcover

Dark Eyes has been called the new Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens; that instantly drew my attention because it's the first time I've heard that claim being made, and I wanted to find out how accurate it was.

After reading it, I can see why Dark Eyes has been tagged to Dragon Tattoo, and I was so pleased to see that it captured many of the elements I loved about Dragon Tattoo, but ended up being a book I enjoyed far more than the latter (I was one of those few people who didn't really enjoy TGwtDT all that much)! And throw in a little bit of Bourne Identity in there too maybe ;)

Reasons to Read:

Widespread appeal:
One of the things I really think is great about Dark Eyes is that it's going to be a great read for so many groups that are typically missing out when it comes to YA; even though it features a female protaganist I think this is definitely a book that guys are going to like reading as well since it features so much action and excitement, but still plays with your mind a bit. And for the same reasons I think Dark Eyes could really be enjoyed by people who don't read as much or are kind of disillusioned with many of the YA trends out there because this one isn't a cookie cutter book at all.

A real detective mystery:
I loved that this was a book with a real mystery; not only is Wally trying to find out more about her actual past, but there's a detective character who's trying to solve a murder as well. There are so many deeply buried secrets and everyone is just racing to find out first what's going on. But it's dangerous- really dangerous.

Thriller just bursting with twists:
I ended up calling out of the plot twists really early on and I was right about it, but at the same time there ended up being a few surprises at the end that I didn't see coming at all. It's a huge plus for me if a book isn't overly predictable, but I'm still able to follow along with the storyline easily. And I loved that this book was very clearly a thriller; I want to see more of these in YA!

For those of you who may not know, William Richter is actually a screenwriter/producer and I have to say that Dark Eyes really came across with its writing at times as a book that was written in hopes of possibly becoming a movie- it definitely had that movie feel to it, and I'm not sure how well that translated into book form becuase the two are such different forms of media.

I also found some of the characters to be stereotyped a bit much, especially Klesko and Tigr, but I thought Wally and many of the other secondary characters were very well done and I loved discovering the various layers to Wally's character.

ARC received from Penguin Canada for review; no other compensation was received.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars DARK EYES by William Richter May 2, 2012

By SaMills

Format:Hardcover

I don't think I have ever read a YA novel quite like this one, but that is going to change. A lot of the books I read are contemporary or paranormal romance. They have other stuff going on, too, but a lot is focused around the love story. Which, I like, I wouldn't read them otherwise. However, it turns out that I also really like a story thats really different. This one was crazy intense. It has action, intrigue, violence, and yes there is a little dash of romance thrown in. This book didn't shy away from the bad stuff. It's like when you are watching a movie or tv show, you know something bad is about to happen and you want to cover your eyes, but you also don't want to miss what goes down. There were some moments while reading DARK EYES that I wished I could cover my eyes, but I kept reading because I had to know what was going to happen, even if it didn't end up being a good thing.

There was some serious emotional stuff going on in this book, too. I actually teared up more than once, which I never would have expected, but I think it made the story that much better for me. The relationships between Wally and the various people in her life were so well drawn. I could feel the connections, or lack thereof, between the characters and it made me that much more invested in the outcome. If I don't believe relationships in books, or feel like I can connect with a character, I don't really care what happens to them and often put down the book. I don't relate to Wally in any way, but by the end of the book I felt like I knew her. I was sad with her and I was angry with her, I even shared what little happiness she had.

This ended up being an excellent action/mystery wrapped up in a satisfying package. I don't feel like we are really left hanging on anything and you can see where things may go in the future, for everyone involved. Still, I would absolutely read another book about Wally and her life. As of right now I think this is a standalone, but if William Richter ever decides to write a book two, I'm on board! The description on this one didn't really seem like my normal read, and it wasn't, but I'm glad I picked it up and I hope everyone will give it that same chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed :0)

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