REVIEW by Jena: Eyes To See (Jeremiah Hunt #1) by Joseph Nassise (@jnassise)

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.

I was approached by Tor Books to review Joseph Nassise’s most recent title King of the Dead, from the Jeremiah Hunt series.  Since I hadn’t read the series, they were also super cool enough to send me a copy of Eyes to See.

I will admit, right out of the gate I was excited to read Eyes to See because I think that this book has a seriously bad ass cover.  In my reading experience, no book full of bad writing has a cover THAT bad ass.  So I got started!

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!

I went into Eyes to See not really sure what to expect.  The best I can come up with for what type of book Eyes to See is would be….take urban fantasy, mix with a some classic suspense/thriller, combine with a serious dose of the supernatural/paranormal and then add just a pinch of humor and a dash of testosterone.  That’s Eyes to See.  As funny as this may sound, fans of the show Supernatural would TOTALLY dig this book.  Also, I don’t know many guys that read urban fantasy.  The genre as a whole tends to be more aimed at females.  However, I strongly feel that Jeremiah Hunt would appeal to a lot of guys and I highly recommend it for men as well as women.

Jeremiah is a fun character.  He’s been stricken by grief over the disappearance of his daughter and then his wife giving up hope and turns to an act borne of pure desperation.  It has left him cold and cynical and jaded but still soft enough that he experiences fear.  He’s not so hardened that he will go into any situation, guns a blazin’.  Take all that darkness and picture it with a nice sarcastic sense of humor.  Ah!!  My kind of character to follow.  I fell in love with this guy right away.  He’s not your typical urban fantasy hero with the bulging muscles and perfect hair but he’s feels very real.

This book takes you on a wild ride, introducing you to Hunt and the rest of the supporting cast.  We learn a LOT about Hunt and how he got to where he is now, who he used to be, why he does what he does.  We also meet some great characters, not just Hunt.

Oh!  And the Big Bad of this book – oooooh, he’s a CRUEL bastard.  I love it!

A note in regards to the series as a whole – it is a good thing that I read Eyes to See before I picked up King of the Dead (Jeremiah Hunt #2).  This series is most certainly NOT a series you can read as standalone novels.  However, after reading Eyes to See, I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to miss out on this book anyway!

I am giving Eyes to See 5 stars!  A fantastic start to a really promising series!  I will definitely be following this series to the end!

TWO SIDE NOTES:  Stay tuned for my review of King of the Dead (Jeremiah Hunt #2)!!  Also!!!  We will be interviewing the author, Joseph Nassise VERY soon here on Pure Textuality so keep an eye out for that as well!!!

EYES TO SEE – Jeremiah Hunt #1

Amazon  |  Click here to see Jena’s Review

KING OF THE DEAD – Jeremiah Hunt #2

Amazon  |  Click here to see Jena’s Review

WATCHER OF THE DARK – Jeremiah Hunt #3

Amazon  |  Click here to see Jena’s Review