Natalie Lindstrom is a Violet, a person who is born with violet eyes who can call up and become a conduit for the dead. Dan Atwater is the FBI agent assigned to protect her from a faceless killer seemingly intent on murdering every Violet out there. With the help of the dead Violets, Natalie and Dan must catch the killer who is somehow murdering everyone he wants without leaving a trace.

Through Violet Eyes is the first book in author Stephen Woodworth’s Violet series. Mr. Woodworth sent me the new, fourth book to review plus this one. Well I’m going to suck it up somehow and review the fourth book (out of order! Eeek!) but just as soon as I can I’ll be picking up books two and three. This series is one of the best I’ve read in a while.

The story takes place in an alternate universe where special people talking to the dead are the norm. It’s so normal in fact that the Violets are government regulated. They have special schools to teach them to the best of their abilities and are then parceled out to different branches like catching killers at Quantico or channeling great artists to paint or compose music. Any Violet who may disagree with the way their life is being led is given “reminders’ on why that’s not such a good idea. Your family could lose their home or business for example. Truly the Violets are at the mercy of the living and the endless dead, the latter always knocking to be let in. It’s a pretty lonely existence without ever being alone.

I really liked the character of Natalie; she was both strong and vulnerable. I didn’t like Dan as much. He was too insecure and hesitant for my taste. The weakest points of the book were when the characters got personal; I wasn’t buying everyone’s feelings and reactions. The rest of the time spent chasing a killer, everyone was in top form. The secondary characters were written well, even those who only show up for a page or two.

I’ve read a hundred books with the “agent/cop teams up with the beautiful woman to catch a killer before she’s killed” angle but was very pleasantly surprised by the originality of this story. I can’t wait to read the rest. If you like thrillers with a supernatural bent then you should definitely pick this series up.