Richard Laymon Same Vein
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RATING:  |
Date of Release: Aug '99 |
Publisher: Leisure Books |
Review Source:  |
EYES OF PREY by Barry Hoffman
Barry Hoffman returns with a sequel to the fantastic Hungry Eyes. Eyes of Prey once again proves Hoffman is an up-and-coming author who knows how to write truly unique psychological thrillers.
Lysette Ormandy has had a tough life. She was only a child when she watched as her family were slaughtered in front of her. She was lucky to survive herself, due to the massive head injuries she received from a marble cigarette lighter.
But, she grew up and moved on with her life. She works as a stripper; living in a fantasy world where she is able to weave a spell over those men who pay her every night. Her stage persona is "Cassandra" the rough and ready goddess of the night who allows Lysette to come out of her shell.
But one night, on the way home from the strip club, she happens to walk onto the wrong carriage in the subway. She witnesses a black youth try to rob an elderly black man, and she watches as everyone else on the train looks the other way.
Still in her Cassandra clothing and persona, she decides to stop the attack - something Lysette would never do. Her intervention saves the old man from possible death, but also causes the youth's death. She shoots him with his own gun. And then she flees the scene.
So starts the reign of the person the media call "The Nightwatcher".
Lysette, feeling more like Cassandra every day, decides that it's time to show these street thugs that it's not their city - that the city belongs to the people. Wearing her Cassandra outfit once more, she decides to take back the night.
And she will kill anyone who tries to attack her.
From here the reader catches up with Deidre Caffrey from the first novel, Hungry Eyes. She's no longer working for the Mayor and is back as a reporter. She feels that with her experience in catching Shara Farris (from the first book) she can catch The Nightwatcher as well. Lamar Briggs also makes a re-appearance as the cop picked by unknown people from above to work on the Nightwatcher case. Can he hunt down The Nightwatcher? Does he want to? His own daughter, Alexis, was attacked and raped just a few months before and is suffering from brain damage. Does Briggs really want to catch someone who is cleaning the streets of the scum that attacked his daughter?
Add to this, Sara Farris, also from the first novel, who is able to witness every time Cassandra kills - she sees it all in her mind. Sara thinks she can track down the Nightwatcher - she's a murderer too, after all. Throw in the sudden rise of citizen action groups like the "Take Back The Night" campaign and the mysterious group called, The Fist - who want to see The Nightwatcher caught - and pronto - and you have a captivating character study that's a damn good psychological thriller.
Hoffman builds his characters perfectly and by the end of the novel you really feel for each one of them. The plot is full of moral dilemmas, plot twists and enough people who will trade honor for money to keep the reader riveted.
This is book two of a proposed four book series and we can't wait to read the next two.
Do yourself a favor - buy Hungry Eyes and Eyes of Prey today!
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