Eyes to See (Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle) [Hardcover]

Joseph Nassise (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011 | Series: Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle (Book 1)

Would you sacrifice your sight to see the unknown? What if it meant saving the life of your only child?

In EYES TO SEE Joseph Nassise, internationally bestselling author of the Templar Chronicles and Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Riverwatch, takes readers on a nightmarish trip through the streets of Boston as a man desperate to find his daughter turns to the paranormal for help--for the dead are everywhere...
 
Jeremiah Hunt's life has fallen apart in the months since his daughter's disappearance. Once a happily married and respected Harvard classics professor, Hunt's obsessive search for his daughter Elizabeth has cost him his job, wife and reputation. In a last desperate attempt to discover Elizabeth's fate, Hunt performs an arcane ritual that robs him of his eyesight in order to see "that which is unseen". Now, he can see what others cannot: ghosts and other pernicious creatures of the night. Using his new gift, Hunt embarks on a strange new career and begins to earn a meager living by chasing away the wayward spirits that torment the living.
 
With the help of his ghostly companions, Whisper and Scream, he searches for clues to Elizabeth's fate... until he falls into a trap laid for him by a particularly cunning foe and winds up accused of committing a series of brutal murders. What begins as a quest to save his daughter turns into a desperate search for truth. But his search will lead him to an all-consuming battle against an ageless, malevolent force that would use a father's love for his daughter to set itself free. If Hunt can't stop it, his adversary's terrible revenge will destroy him, Elizabeth, and countless other innocents.
 
A rich tale full of terrifying moments, engaging fantasy and deep emotion EYES TO SEE is ground-breaking urban fantasy that charts daring new territory in the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I couldn't stop reading -- will have you leaving the lights on when you go to sleep." --USA Today bestselling author Carrie Vaughn

“Brings urban fantasy to a new level. Heartbreaking, deeply insightful, powerful, and genuinely thrilling. Joe Nassise has just raised the bar for the whole genre.” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestseller of The Dragon Factory

“A great read and unlike almost anything else I’ve read in urban fantasy: It’s hard-boiled and dark, definitely its own beast. Damn, this man can write! I’ll be standing in line for book two.” —Kat Richardson, bestselling author of the Greywalker series

"Gritty, grim, yet surprisingly personal and poetic, Eyes to See is like nothing else in its field.  Make time for this one." —Seanan McGuire, NY Times bestselling author of October Days

“At last—something new under the urban fantasy moon. Nassise's visceral prose and dark, gritty settings propel the blind Hunt and his unique ghostly companions, Whisper and Scream, through an urban nightmare where nothing is what it seems.” —F. Paul Wilson, NY Times beselling author

“Joe Nassise's driven, sardonic hero Jeremiah Hunt sees a whole lot more than dead people in Eyes to See.  Vividly set in Boston, the novel follows Hunt through a labyrinth of undead dangers and unexpected emotion as he seeks his missing daughter and finds an unearthly serial killer. The climax, both thrilling and moving, will stick with you.” —Alex Bledsoe, author of The Girls with Games of Blood and Burn Me Deadly

From the Inside Flap

"Nassise's clean, lean writing style heightens the brisk pace of the novel, keeping events clearly focused even as they barrel along towards the novel's conclusion...sure to delight and intrigue his growing number of fans." -- Cemetery Dance Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076532718X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765327185
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,558,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph Nassise is the author of more than twenty novels, including the internationally bestselling TEMPLAR CHRONICLES series, the JEREMIAH HUNT trilogy, and the GREAT UNDEAD WAR series. He has also written several books in the popular Rogue Angel action-adventure series.

His work has been nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Guild Award and has been translated into half a dozen languages to date. He has written for both the comic and role-playing game industries and also served two terms as president of the Horror Writers Association, the world's largest organization of professional horror and dark fantasy writers.

For more information about Joe's work, visit him on the web at josephnassise.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Convenient climax spoils great beginnings December 4, 2011

By Megan @ Book Brats

Format:Hardcover

The back of EYES TO SEE promises a lot. A scary, thrilling, dark urban fantasy novel that will leave you wanting the lights on while you sleep. For me, it didn't quite reach that level. With 275 pages of buildup to a climax that was extremely convenient, EYES TO SEE doesn't live up to the aspirations I had for it when going in. It's a decent beginning to a new urban fantasy series for adults, particularly fans of THE DRESDEN FILES and CSI, but it could have been so much better.

EYES TO SEE is the story of a former Harvard classics professor named Jeremiah Hunt whose daughter is kidnapped without a trace. His wife leaves him, he loses himself in the process, and he finally performs a ritual that allows him to gain the ability to see ghosts, among other supernatural beings that inhabit Boston. The goal is simple - he wants to find his daughter. Five years have passed since she went missing, and a string of murders has given him the break he needs to find the killer. Except now he needs help.

The biggest asset of this novel is great world-building. From ghosts to witches to Norse legends, everything is covered, and it's covered well. Nassise's imagination is given a chance to flourish here, combining together myths, legends, and real stories well to create a

For the first 275 pages, the story is fine. It moves along at a nice rate, there is plenty of interesting world-building to keep you enticed, and there is nothing particularly wrong about this. Yes, the narrator can be hard to connect with (his daughter's disappearance made him almost insane), and the POV changes did throw me off a bit. The story switches between first person past in the now and in the past, in addition to third person POVs from the villain and two other characters. If the story had stayed with Hunt, I think the narrative would have been tighter and less spastic. The way it was, I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.

I think one of the problems I had with it was the fact that the beginning was great, but the story went downhill from there. By the time we reached the climax and the big reveals and the conclusion, it felt too contrived, too convenient. When mixed together with plodding pacing during action scenes, where Hunt stopped in the middle of the narrative to suddenly piece together clues in long monologues, it slowed things down and squandered what could have been an amazing ending. Nassise clearly has the ability to craft a great urban fantasy novel, but somehow EYES TO SEE ended up being nowhere near as amazing as it could have been. Yes, it was a good novel. Yes, I would recommend it to fans of Jim Butcher and procedural urban fantasy novels. But I think it could have been a lot better.

VERDICT: Amazing world-building and the author's burgeoning imagination are letdown by little emotional connection and a flat climax that seemed too convenient to be plausible. Still, if you like urban fantasy with a male protagonist, it's worth a look.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Your Eyes Must See this Book November 2, 2011

By Darren

Format:Hardcover

I've never read any of Nasisse' previous work and am not normally one to write reviews, but I loved both this book and its unusual group of characters that he has created. I am only too happy to recommend it to any lovers of gothic, horror or paranormal fiction. It has a dark, gritty quality to it that traverses between a fantasy and real world, and reminds me reminds me somewhat of the style of Neil Gaiman.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Whisper and Scream With This Book October 24, 2011

By W. Bentrim VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Eyes to See by Joseph Nassise

Urban fantasy at it's best, this book will make you pause the next time you hear a bump in the night.

Nassise has created a bold new protagonist in Jeremiah Hunt. Hunt is on an emotional quest which forces him to interact with Whisper and Scream. Whisper and Scream are ghosts. In addition his crusty emotional shell is attacked by Denise a witch.

Hunt's quest is impacted by that actions of a supernatural serial killer and a time capsule of occult nature. The action is outstanding as are the characterizations. You can feel Jeremiah's pain and frustration, Nassise does that good of a job.

I hesitate to mention Jim Butcher because the premise is just vaguely similar but the addictive quality of the story is far more so. I am pleased to see that this book is quantified as number one in a series. I, for one, am a new committed fan and will hopefully be reading and reviewing more of this prolific urban fantasy author's work.

I really enjoyed this book.

I highly recommend the book.