Seeing Evil (Cycle of Evil #1) by Jason Parent

Red Adept Publishing, 2015

ISBN-13 : 978-1940215495

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

Human monsters are the worst, so a father who has been abusing his daughter for years and is also a serial killer responsible for his wife’s death has to be one of the sickest incarnations of evil possible. The amount of sheer, utterly realistic terror in Seeing Evil by Jason Parent quickly builds up an intensity that begins in the first pages of the book and doesn’t end until the final scene.

The main character in this novel of pain, suffering, and derangement is Michaek, a boy who discovers that if he has even the briefest physical contact with a person who is about to encounter evil, he will actually be transported into that very future nightmare scenario and must watch it unfold. Michael’s first supernatural experience occurs as a result of a school bullying incident, but he is forced to continue having these revelations, up close and personal, when he learns the secrets of another student, the serial killer’s daughter, and becomes involved in a race against time to save her from a terrible fate.

The plot and characters are riveting. With just the right details and compelling psychological profiles, the anxiety-filled daily life of traumatized individuals is closely examined. The manner in which the threat of constant danger, the reality of physical and psychological abuse, and the ceaseless sense of impending doom plays out in the victims’ lives is insightfully articulated and seamlessly connected to the dramatic police investigation. That part of the story is also engrossing because it makes clear how evil can go unchecked for far too long when the diabolical power of a killer successfully paralyzes ordinary people with fear. It also calls attention to the role of the “intuitives” who work on real criminal cases and how much it might be possible for these people to “see” as well as how the nature of their work affects them.

Unfortunately, we live in a world in which children are bullied, abused, and murdered.  Seeing Evil is about more than observing that evil; it is about hearing it, feeling it, and, most of all, about getting close enough to touch it. Parent makes this possible with a gripping narrative that provides that most potent of page  turners, the dread of what might come next.  Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Nova Hadley