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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Unseen" must be saw!?!, October 19, 2008
This review is from: The Unseen (Hardcover)
Do you ever have the feeling someone is watching you? In T.L. Hines latest thriller that is just the case. The Unseen is the newest release from the self-proclaimed "Noir Bizarre" writer. This time the creepy and eerie setting is one that may be in the closet or ceiling panel closest to you.
Lucas Freund has a secret life as an urban explorer, someone who stalks in hidden crevasses above office spaces and institutions located in the metro D.C. area. Although this is Lucas's livelihood, he never does harm or destruction. Instead he plays out imaginary lives of his strangers, the odd hobby serves as comfort for his tortured childhood soul and not only has Lucas surveyed the entire surrounding area, he's good at what he does. These innocent skills are noticed by a secret club, only they take their voyeur pastime to the extreme. Events start to turn deadly as members of the club begin to die. Not only this, but Lucas is fingered as the culprit. Will he be strong enough to solve the mystery before he becomes the next victim?
The Unseen is a character driven expose on the way we look at the lives around us, the thoughts and feelings of our inner life, and the reasoning between right and wrong.
Hines has the ability to draw in the reader and insert them into Lucas's uncanny life. The intricate descriptions of places, people, and actions make you believe as if you are spying on bystanders yourself. Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series comes to mind in comparison and contrast. Gripping and intense, the author takes us on an inside look into love and relationships using the guts of industrial buildings and underground tunnels. At times the plot and pace seems to slow, but Hines is quick to throw in a twist or dilemma to keep our attention.
The Unseen is a unique book on a growing subject of urban exploration and those who traverse it. A topic I was eager to find out more about and those involved in its secret world. Hines has crafted a complete and original story deep with characters and settings that help us explore our personal relationships and daily struggles, something that is rare just as it is unseen.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not My Favorite, December 22, 2008
This review is from: The Unseen (Hardcover)
I'm going to state my honest opinion about this book - I didn't particularly like it, and I certainly didn't understand the point of this story. I could reach far into my imagination and my literary background and surmise that the author thinks that what is seen by others is the "insatiable hunger to seek out other people - an uncontrollable need to feed the Dark Vibration." And what is beneath this very unnatural desire is the unseen - "they watched while other people suffered." Society's bizarre fascination with reality shows is reflected in this book...secretly watching others and doing - nothing.
Basically, you live the entire 383 pages of this story in the mind of a man who has no memory, who doesn't know who he is and who lives is life secretly spying on people. Lucas has a brilliant mind stuffed with bizarre information. He meets a whole group of people just like him - people who sneak around spying on others. This group is the Creep Club, and they thrive on watching people harm each other. Lucas, the main character, is sort of freaked out by the Creep Club because all he does is spy on people in public places and create imaginary histories for them. These other folks like to secretly film other people hurting each other. Kind of sick.
As the story unfolds you are introduced to a host of people and the weirdness deepens. Lucas tries to warn these Creep Club victims...only to be wrongly accused of the crime himself by one guy and then be thanked and helped by another. There are some so-called government agents - "Dark Suits" that are trying to bust up the Creep Club. There are the "Dark Years" that Lucas is haunted by and that really distracts him the more the story unfolds. One group chases the other until the reader is totally bamboozled.
This book has a lot of tedious detailed descriptions loosely tying together a lot of disconnected story lines that never come together to form anything meaningful. Unless you are a criminal clairvoyant with a deep longing to work for a secret government agency, you're going to reach the end of this too long story and not have a clue what you just read. At least that was my experience. I could use my own imagination and paste some symbolism to all of this, but it would be a waste of time. I'm going to move on to other things. You can make up your own mind about this one. Check it out here.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Better left on the Shelf, December 19, 2008
This review is from: The Unseen (Hardcover)
Most of us have had the opportunity to "people watch" at the mall, the beach, in school, even as we drive from one place to another. It is a harmless pastime that can help to pass a few minutes or hours of inactivity and keep boredom at bay. In T.L. Hines' novel, The Unseen, the harmless pastime is a way of life that the author's hero, Lucas.
Lucas is a young man raised to be separate. When he is not washing dishes to add money to his getaway stashes, Lucas spends his days and nights living in abandoned buildings, eating leftovers and forgotten lunches from office break rooms and watching strangers. His code of ethics is simple. He watches until he feels a connection with someone, some hint that the person is aware of him. Once a connection is felt, he creates a history, a present and sometimes a future for his subject. He doesn't interact and he never goes into their private homes to watch them behind closed doors. An orphan in more ways than one, a chance encounter changes the game and moves Lucas from life on the periphery to connections he never imagined or wanted.
As the basis for a novel, the story of Lucas as he discovers a way a group of people with a similar compulsion to watch, the story would have been more than enough to create a compelling story. Unfortunately, T.L. Hines doesn't have enough confidence in his original premise and before the end of the novel has thrown in so many unbelievable coincidences and random plot twists as to leave me feeling as if I had read not one book but at least three and none of them very good.
The biggest problem with The Unseen is that T.L. Hines doesn't know what he wants to write. After setting up a fairly intriguing character in the loner Lucas, Hines introduces Donavan as the conduit for Lucas to learn of the Creep Club. The club is a group of people driven like Lucas to watch the lives of others but unlike him they also need to record and share what they see. Within days of his first encounter with Donavan, Lucas has broken his cardinal rule and is watching people in their homes. Unfortunately what he sees is a couple planning a murder and unlike the rest of the Creep Club members, Lucas wants to get involved and save the intended victim. Again, the novel could have been saved at this point if Hines had followed this story thread to a somewhat logical conclusion. Unfortunately he decides to add a government conspiracy, genetic engineering, mind control and the kitchen sink to the story instead. The result a great big muddled mess.
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