Armand's Reviews > Eye Spy

Review contains minor spoilers. But! I tried to mitigate them.
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Kevin Hallock's “Eye Spy” is a dark, edgy and blood-saturated thriller that escorts us through a world of traveling spirits, clairvoyance and possession. The novels itself follows a young brother and sister (CJ and Steph) who live in relative isolation on Apple Island, a semi-rural island town in Lake Michigan. After a horrible attack on their family that left them orphans, CJ and Steph discover that they have a psychic gift of sorts. He can hide his mind (or possibly his soul) inside other people's bodies and experience his host's sensory input (like: if his host smells coffee, then he smells coffee). And she has the power to telepathically communicate with her brother's disembodied spirit.

Driven by the anguish of what happened to their own family, the brother and sister start using their powers to fight crime and soon find themselves enmeshed in a hunt to find a murderous cult leader while they themselves are hunted by a murderous threat from the psychic world. A third, less supernatural, storyline follows their ongoing battle with a very wealthy casino owner who is determined to take over their farm home.

Hallock does a solid job of building suspense in all three plotlines and his writing is strong and clear, delivering deft plot twists and believable characters. It certainly kept me turning pages. He is good at creating deep and believable characters. The good guys, bad guys and funny guys all have depth. In particular, I enjoyed Apple Island’s cranky but loyal Sheriff, and the mysterious Father Rodney.

The stakes are well-defined and we do worry about our heroes, and I give him extra credit for letting us know that no one is totally safe as he moves towards a high energy climax.

Having said all that, I do feel that the middle of the novel could have used a solid trim. In particular, there were a number of passages that involved minor characters reporting to major characters (for example, a lawyer reporting to the very wealthy casino owner or a secret agent who monitors psychic powers reporting back to his handler). These reporting scenes often reiterate or only slightly clarify information that we, the readers, are already keenly aware of. Hopefully the sequel (the last few chapters of Eye Spy seem to suggest a sequel) will be a slightly slimmer tome.

Additionally, I have to admit that the romantic interplay between CJ, who is housebound and terribly out of shape, and a pretty young woman friend just seemed off-kilter. It felt a little forced, as though a romance was somehow required in the book, but it doesn't quite come together in a way that seems organic.

These are minor quibbles however. Overall, I feel that “Eye Spy” is a solid debut novel from a smart and promising fiction writer and look forward to more work from Mr. Hallock.