Stephen Woodworth

So many good books are being published these days that some inevitably slip through our fingers. Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth (Dell, $6.99, August 31, 2004) sat on my towering “To Be Read” pile ever since it was published, but it took a week off between jobs before I managed to read it. And once I did, I immediately bought – and read back to back – the two later books in the series: With Red Hands (Dell, $6.99, December 28, 2004) and In Golden Blood (Dell, $6.99, October show more 25, 2005), and added the forthcoming From Black Rooms (Dell, $6.99, October 31, 2006) to my lengthy read-next list. These science fiction thrillers are quintessential “what if” stories, taking the world as it presently exists and adding one small twist that changes everything, and then playing out those changes.

Natalie Lindstrom is a Violet, one of a very few humans born with violet eyes, a characteristic that brings with it an ability to speak directly with the dead and to have the dead speak and act directly through them. The existence of Violets, never explained, allows for the painting of Picassos and Monets through the hands of the living (imagine having Picasso in your head, controlling your hands, creating new masterpieces through your fingers); the study of history by receiving the testimony of those who created it; and, most importantly, by allowing murder victims to testify at the trials of their murderers. Despite her preference to work with artists, Natalie has been assigned by the North American Afterlife Communications Corps – the NAACC – to work in law enforcement. As Through Violet Eyes opens, she has been assigned to work with the FBI in tracking down a serial murderer who is targeting Violets themselves. She knows about the assignment before FBI agent Dan Atwater approaches her, because the dead Violets have already been talking to her about the masked individual who killed them.

Through Violet Eyes fascinates with its history of the NAACC, the training of Violets, and the torture of the lives they live, being constantly in touch with – indeed, living through the deaths of – those who have died incredibly ugly, demeaning, tragic deaths. No wonder Natalie seems to be such a prickly character, rude to Dan, who is himself afraid to let her touch him in any way, even so much as a handshake, for fear she will then be able to communicate with those whom he has killed in the line of duty. (Violets need a “touchstone” to initiate contact – something the dead touched, including another human being.) Watching Natalie and Dan progress from a couple who barely tolerate one another to a couple quickly and deeply in love is a treat within a treat, as the mystery deepens and the danger increases. This is a very accomplished first novel.

Woodworth’s sequel, With Red Hands, is even more hair-raising. It begins four years after the events of Through Violet Eyes. Natalie has quit the NAACC to raise Callie, the daughter she and Dan created, who has inherited her Violet eyes from her mother. The NAACC isn’t taking her retirement lying down, however, and neither is it pleased that Natalie refuses to enroll Callie at the NAACC’s school, a place of childhood horrors from which Natalie has never herself recovered. The NAACC has blackballed Natalie from almost any sort of work, including those occupations that would not require her to use her Violet talents at all, to force her back into the fold. But Natalie scrounges a living with private clients who want a final word with a parent or a husband – contacts that rarely work out as well as the clients would like them to – and resists the frequent blandishments of the school and ignores the spies who keep watch on her 24 hours a day.

With Red Hands explores what happens when a Violet goes bad. Even though judges are careful to instruct juries that the testimony of a victim is not to be accorded any greater weight than that of any other witness, what juror can ignore the actual presence in the courtroom of the victim testifying to the circumstances of his or her own death? If a defendant can obtain false testimony from a corrupt Violet cooperating with an evil dead soul so as to fool the SoulScan that testifies to a Violet’s possession, that defendant has a possibility approaching 100% of going free. But how does one uncover such a Violet, and how does one escape the corrupt soul that is possessing him? That is what Natalie must do, and all without allowing the NAACC to figure out what she’s doing. In the meantime, she must figure out how to raise a child who is herself subject to visitations from the dead, and teach her how to keep her mind and body to herself, and not to allow herself to be used as the instrument of others. The mystery is carefully thought out, and the human implications are beautifully explored in this marvelously entertaining novel.

Natalie’s adventures continue four years later in In Golden Blood. Natalie’s estrangement from the NAACC has grown even more bitter, and the NAACC’s attempts to keep Natalie from making a living of any sort has made her desperate. When she gets an extraordinarily lucrative and very secretive offer to delve into the history of Peru to uncover a treasure trove hidden away for the ages by the conquistador Pizarro, she takes it despite her misgivings. Woodworth has obviously researched his subject matter extensively, and Natalie’s trials and tribulations in communing with Pizarro in the far reaches of the Andes Mountains provide the close reader with a history lesson as well as an excellent thriller.

The teaser for From Black Rooms contained at the end of In Golden Blood suggests that it will be at least as enjoyable as the first three books in this entertaining series. I look forward to reading it – and anything else Stephen Woodworth might have to offer up in coming years. show less

Stephen Woodworth has a gimmick, and it is four books old now. His world is like ours in every detail except one: a small number of men and women are born with violet eyes, which gives them the capability of speaking with the dead. Or, perhaps more accurately, of being possessed by the dead. They fulfill a number of functions in society, such as painting “new” Matisses, Picassos and Van Goghs, assisting in archaeological digs, and writing “autobiographies” of long-dead historical show more figures. Their most important work, however, is done in law enforcement. They are able to become possessed by the victims of the most brutal crimes, relive their last moments on earth, and point out the perpetrator of the deed.

This is not a pleasant life for those Violets involved in police work. Reliving the violent deaths of murder victims scars the psyche. And murderers themselves, eager to get revenge on the Violets who sent them to the death chamber, sometimes invade their consciousness or haunt them into insanity. It is something of a mystery, then, why so many non-Violets practically worship the idea of being a Violet, mimic their supposed habits, and inhabit chat rooms where they can pretend to be mysterious creatures of the night, much as some kids in our own world become thoroughly entranced with the idea of being vampires.

It is the story of these Violet wannabes that Woodworth tells in From Black Rooms. Worse than their obsession with the idea, however, is that it is shared by the North American Afterlife Communications Corps, the shadowy, vicious organization that governs how, where, when and why the Violets may use their powers. Natalie Lindstrom, the protagonist of Woodworth’s series, has been battling the NAACC since the first in the series, Through Violet Eyes, and has suffered mightily at its hands through In Golden Blood and With Red Hands>. This time, the NAACC – or at least a renegade doctor from its ranks – has her and her young and gifted daughter in his hands to experiment upon and with, and he knows no mercy. He has already driven many experimental subjects to insanity, and now he is even torturing the dead. It seems as if there is nothing he will not do in order to be able to artificially create new Violets, a gift to the NAACC and to himself.

Black Rooms is an enjoyable addition to the series, but there are indications that Woodworth is tiring of his invention. This book is rather too full of sturm und drang, too much derring-do, too much action and too little exploration of this alternate universe. While Woodworth has no trouble managing the combination of science fiction and mystery plots and devices, he does have trouble making his characters believable this time around -- especially Calvin Criswell, an art forger who comes in a short time to play a large role in Natalie’s life. Cal seems to undergo a complete change of personality far too quickly, making Natalie’s interest in him, and his in Natalie, difficult to believe. But Woodworth’s treatment of art in this book is excellent, and Natalie’s “conversations” with Edvard Munch linger in the imagination.

All four of these books are paperback originals, making them ideal stocking stuffers for mystery lovers who can accept the science fictional premise. They aren’t for youngsters, but adults will gobble them up on snowy or rainy weekends or winter getaways to somewhere warm. show less

So many good books are being published these days that some inevitably slip through our fingers. Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth (Dell, $6.99, August 31, 2004) sat on my towering “To Be Read” pile ever since it was published, but it took a week off between jobs before I managed to read it. And once I did, I immediately bought – and read back to back – the two later books in the series: With Red Hands (Dell, $6.99, December 28, 2004) and In Golden Blood (Dell, $6.99, October show more 25, 2005), and added the forthcoming From Black Rooms (Dell, $6.99, October 31, 2006) to my lengthy read-next list. These science fiction thrillers are quintessential “what if” stories, taking the world as it presently exists and adding one small twist that changes everything, and then playing out those changes.

Natalie Lindstrom is a Violet, one of a very few humans born with violet eyes, a characteristic that brings with it an ability to speak directly with the dead and to have the dead speak and act directly through them. The existence of Violets, never explained, allows for the painting of Picassos and Monets through the hands of the living (imagine having Picasso in your head, controlling your hands, creating new masterpieces through your fingers); the study of history by receiving the testimony of those who created it; and, most importantly, by allowing murder victims to testify at the trials of their murderers. Despite her preference to work with artists, Natalie has been assigned by the North American Afterlife Communications Corps – the NAACC – to work in law enforcement. As Through Violet Eyes opens, she has been assigned to work with the FBI in tracking down a serial murderer who is targeting Violets themselves. She knows about the assignment before FBI agent Dan Atwater approaches her, because the dead Violets have already been talking to her about the masked individual who killed them.

Through Violet Eyes fascinates with its history of the NAACC, the training of Violets, and the torture of the lives they live, being constantly in touch with – indeed, living through the deaths of – those who have died incredibly ugly, demeaning, tragic deaths. No wonder Natalie seems to be such a prickly character, rude to Dan, who is himself afraid to let her touch him in any way, even so much as a handshake, for fear she will then be able to communicate with those whom he has killed in the line of duty. (Violets need a “touchstone” to initiate contact – something the dead touched, including another human being.) Watching Natalie and Dan progress from a couple who barely tolerate one another to a couple quickly and deeply in love is a treat within a treat, as the mystery deepens and the danger increases. This is a very accomplished first novel.

Woodworth’s sequel, With Red Hands, is even more hair-raising. It begins four years after the events of Through Violet Eyes. Natalie has quit the NAACC to raise Callie, the daughter she and Dan created, who has inherited her Violet eyes from her mother. The NAACC isn’t taking her retirement lying down, however, and neither is it pleased that Natalie refuses to enroll Callie at the NAACC’s school, a place of childhood horrors from which Natalie has never herself recovered. The NAACC has blackballed Natalie from almost any sort of work, including those occupations that would not require her to use her Violet talents at all, to force her back into the fold. But Natalie scrounges a living with private clients who want a final word with a parent or a husband – contacts that rarely work out as well as the clients would like them to – and resists the frequent blandishments of the school and ignores the spies who keep watch on her 24 hours a day.

With Red Hands explores what happens when a Violet goes bad. Even though judges are careful to instruct juries that the testimony of a victim is not to be accorded any greater weight than that of any other witness, what juror can ignore the actual presence in the courtroom of the victim testifying to the circumstances of his or her own death? If a defendant can obtain false testimony from a corrupt Violet cooperating with an evil dead soul so as to fool the SoulScan that testifies to a Violet’s possession, that defendant has a possibility approaching 100% of going free. But how does one uncover such a Violet, and how does one escape the corrupt soul that is possessing him? That is what Natalie must do, and all without allowing the NAACC to figure out what she’s doing. In the meantime, she must figure out how to raise a child who is herself subject to visitations from the dead, and teach her how to keep her mind and body to herself, and not to allow herself to be used as the instrument of others. The mystery is carefully thought out, and the human implications are beautifully explored in this marvelously entertaining novel.

Natalie’s adventures continue four years later in In Golden Blood. Natalie’s estrangement from the NAACC has grown even more bitter, and the NAACC’s attempts to keep Natalie from making a living of any sort has made her desperate. When she gets an extraordinarily lucrative and very secretive offer to delve into the history of Peru to uncover a treasure trove hidden away for the ages by the conquistador Pizarro, she takes it despite her misgivings. Woodworth has obviously researched his subject matter extensively, and Natalie’s trials and tribulations in communing with Pizarro in the far reaches of the Andes Mountains provide the close reader with a history lesson as well as an excellent thriller.

The teaser for From Black Rooms contained at the end of In Golden Blood suggests that it will be at least as enjoyable as the first three books in this entertaining series. I look forward to reading it – and anything else Stephen Woodworth might have to offer up in coming years. show less

A sleight-of-hand artist and thief is hired to steal the king's olverung, a rare bird with a beautiful song used to entertain the nobles. This started off like a crime caper but then went to some seriously dark (but very interesting) places.