Violet Eyes

by John Everson

Their bites are "more" than deadly...

The small town near the Everglades was supposed to offer Rachel and her son a fresh start. Instead it offered the start of a nightmare, when an unknown breed of flies migrated through the area, leaving painful bites in their wake. The media warned people to stay inside until the swarm passed. But the flies didn't leave. And then the radios and TVs went silent.

That's when the spiders came. Spiders that could spin a deadly web large enough to engulf an entire house overnight. Spiders that left stripped bones behind as they multiplied. Spiders that, like the flies, sought hungrily for tender flesh...through Violet Eyes.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2013

About the author

John Everson is a former newspaper reporter who writes thrillers filled with erotic horror and supernatural suspense. He is the author of the Bram Stoker Award winner Covenant, and finalist NightWhere, which reviewers called "50 Shades Meets Hellraiser!" He is also the creator of the characters Danika and Mila Dubov, seen in the Netflix series V-Wars, based on the books created by Jonathan Maberry. Booklist said his recent New Orleans novel, Voodoo Heart, "is a solid blend of supernatural horror and hard-boiled detective fiction, and should appeal to horror devotees as well as mystery buffs” while Living Dead Magazine called him "the master of dark and sexy."

Follow John on the BookBub: John Everson page for information on book sales and new releases as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For information on his fiction, art and music, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at www.johneverson.com.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was a creepy crawly and bloody, icky mess!

A little backstory:

Rachel and her son, Eric are trying to start over in the small town of Passanatte which is located not far from the Everglades in Florida. Things get real strange with the bug population in Passanatte as spiders start weaving webs along with flies buzzing all over the town to the point where it seems there are more bugs than humans.



Rachel begins to wonder if the spiders and flies have anything to do with her neighbor, Billy who lives across the street as he just survived spider attacks on an island he had visited recently, but though she wonders about it, Rachel just shrugs it off as she just thinks it is a coincidence.

Rachel ends up meeting a forest ranger (Terry) who eventually becomes her boyfriend and when the town seems to become overrun with the spider invasion is when Terry, Rachel and her son, Eric learn they have to fight for what they want even against nature gone wild as when the spiders are hungry they are going to find whatever food source they can latch onto!

Where did the spiders and flies come from? Why have they taken over the town? Does the town survive the bug invasion? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the book!

This was a fast paced bug crawling action story that just kept me on my toes as there was so much creepy bug eating going on that this book literally kept me awake nights reading it! Loved the characters as well as I became attached to them and could feel what they were feeling as they were enduring the bug invasion!

The author, John Everson, not only brought the characters to life on the pages he also brought to life the bugs as the visual aspects of the story was like watching a movie unfold before my eyes! Giving this book five "creepy crawling" stars!

[❤Ninja Bunneh❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every Saturday evening, the Bunneh household sits down to celebrate Cheesy SyFy Saturday. The cheers of utter joy heard around the world when Sharknado 2 came out?





That was us.

Utterly ridiculous creatures, unrealistic plots complete with actors who should be on that show "Where Are They Now?" - give me more. Hell, when you have 3 kids under the age of 12 4 if you count the hubs, mama needs some brain free entertaining. It helps make up for the brain cell loss I suffer during the week.

Violet Eyes is one of these movies in book delicious form. You have your flies that hatch from spiders. Those same spiders like to invade humans and basically eat them from the inside-out. If they can't munch their way through your eyeball, they don't mind! Excavation through skull matter is perfectly doable. Add to this government fuck up then cover up, characters that are so shallow you don't care if they die, completely predictable beginning, middle, and end, and there you have this book. Pure, mindless, entertaining, fun.

I promise it's not as unrealistic as this ginormous house eating spider.



Well, maybe.

3 Buzzing Ninja Bunnehs

[Luvtoread (Trying to catch up) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good horror! Starts off nice and easy then Bam! Lots of creepy critters and gore, maybe compare to some of the 80's creature feature films. I really enjoyed this book and found it fun in a sick way!!

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel and her son Eric are starting a new life near the Everglades, but they don't have much time to settle in before an infestation of flies are reported, people start getting bit, communications go out, and the spiders begin to take over, multiplying, and killing everything they touch.

John Everson's Violet Eyes spun a web around me and I couldn't, nay, I didn't, want to free myself from it. Spiders are no friend of mine and I can stomp on them when needed, but the spiders in Violet Eyes are unnaturally aware, they can scent you, for you are their prey. There was almost an Alien (the movie) vibe to the way these spiders used a human's body.
From the beginning beach scene until the ending, Everson's outstanding descriptive skills allowed a movie-like screening of the spiders and their counterparts to play in my mind which kept me brushing away invisible creepy-crawlies. I was enraptured by these life-stealing things.
I love the way John gave us full exposure of the
lives these critters were taking, and the creative scenarios their demise took place in. There was one scene with two young brothers out playing catch that was hard to read because it was written so well and you knew, you just knew. Everson made me feel for the characters, whether they were in it for a few paragraphs or a few pages.
I wondered how the author was going to carry the story with such a terrifying and all-consuming enemy, but I needn't have worried. At first I felt a sense of hopelessness for everyone, but Rachel and friends were not to be counted out.
The ending. It was...just perfect.
I really feel that this is the best story I have read by Mr. Everson and I highly recommend you give this read a try.

[Kenneth McKinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creature features are all the rage right now in the horror market. Now many of them focus on crytozoology and that's cool and all, but, for me, I find creatures that already exist a more plausible horror. Throw in the fact that these creatures are creepy, crawly bugs that are genetically engineered? Well, now I'm totally on board.

Violet Eyes had been on my TBR pile for a while now. I've read a few things from Bram Stoker Award winning author, John Everson, before. The man has talent. No doubt. But could he suspend my disbelief and take me on a wild ride with spiders from hell? For the most part, yes.

A government hired firm was doing some crazy genetic experiments on a small, uninhabited island in the Florida keys. That experiment went haywire and they had to pull the plug. Enter Billy, the former hard-partying, drug-running college kid that has been trying to clean up his act. Billy takes some friends to this island that he used to hide drugs on. You guessed it. The very same island. Billy's friends are chewed to pieces by these crazy-ass damn spiders and flies, all have eyes that glow violet. Billy escapes with his life, but unfortunately he brings back some stowaways his small litttle hometown on the Everglades. Living next door is Rachel and her son Eric. Rachel has recently moved in after a messy divorce with her abusive and mainly psychotic ex-husband (Don't we all have a psycho ex in our closets?). She thought her life was a nightmare before, just wait to see what awaits Rachel when Mother Nature is unleashed in a genetically modified fury.

Violet Eyes is a fun romp through a 1980's-like government conspiratorial creature feature. Everson' characters are likable enough that you invest in them. Usually, when an author hits the gas on the action and pacing, many times character development suffers. There's some of that here, but no enough to turn you off. I've read some reviews where they complain about Everson periodically introducing characters throughout the story only to kill them off a page or two later. I'm actually okay with that. For me, it showed how ruthless these little arachnids could be. There were definitely places where I thought the plot could be tightened up or an idea expanded upon. Oddly enough, the constant obesession with sex by pretty much every adult character was the part that was hard for me to get over and actually dropped my rating by a half. Don't get me wrong. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm an absolute horn dog, but if my friends and girlfriend had been eaten by a crazy swarm of killer spiders a week ago, and it appears that the little bastards hitched a ride back with me, I think the last thing I'd think about doing is banging the cute neighbor that just moved in next door. I could see maybe one character with an overactive libido, but all of them? I can't believe I'm complaining about sex, but that's my bitch about the story. All in all, a fast-paced thriller if you don't think about it too much.

A solid 3 1/2 Spider Spewing Skulls out of 5


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[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, lots of creepy, crawly fun in this book. Filled with lots and lots of spiders, and nonstop action, this one will definitely creep you out! Recommended for creature feature lovers.

[Kaisersoze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed Everson's extended prologue to this novel, Violet Lagoon, I found this one to be somewhat less compelling. Gone was the sense of urgency inherent in a 40-odd page short, and in its place were scenes of random characters being introduced, only in most cases to be killed off in the span of a single chapter.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Spiders make me wee just a little when I come across them. I live in a part of the world where they can grow almost to the size of an iPad, and though I now live too close to the city to run into fuckers of that ilk, I had my fair share of interactions with them when I was younger. So I should be an easy mark for Everson's Violet Eyes. This is the sort of horror novel which should have me waking in a cold sweat, swiping away at the darkness to fend off the spiders that it turned out I was dreaming were falling toward my poor, defenceless face (yes, this used to happen).

Instead, I never once felt anything except appreciation for the pseudo-science he wove into his tale of a part of southern Florida set upon by a plague of these spiders and their symbiotic fly relations. Everson sets up his main characters of recently divorced Rachel, her son Eric, her bad guy ex Anders, and new love interest Terry, well enough, but every other member of the town the events take place in has "fodder" figuratively tattooed across their forehead, or as stated above, does not see out one of Everson's trademark short chapters.

As such, the book ends up feeling bloated around the middle, as too much time is spent dispatching any number of randoms in virtually the same way, rather than building an array of credible supporting characters and having the reader become invested in their survival.

For Everson purists there is still time for plenty of ill-advised sex, so don't worry, your go-to erotic-horror author has you covered, but otherwise, this is all fairly standard for a humans-messing-with-nature-and-look-what-happens story.

Though far from bad - and indeed much better than most killer spider novels I've read in the last few years - Violet Eyes remains just a decent way to pass a few hours, rather than a terrifying one.

3 Nasty Migraines of a Different Kind for Violet Eyes.

[Frank Errington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me say this before we go any further. Spiders. I hate spiders. However, as long as they remain on the page I should be OK.

It's doesn't take long before John Everson has my skin crawling...

"at that moment, the spiders began to jump. They landed in her hair and on her back and shoulders. They skittered down her waist and leapt up from the ground to cover her ankles and shins. They were everywhere. Like a swarm of ants over a spot of grease on a summer sidewalk. They fell from the darkness onto her mouth and crawled around her neck to tickle the lobes of her ears. They covered her body like a deep violet skin, and they didn’t care when she maniacally batted and slapped and crushed dozens of them with her alarm. There were hundreds more to take their place."

Billy McAllister was the only survivor of an incident at Sheila Key which took the lives of three of his friends, unfortunately, when he returned home to Passanattee, Florida he brought some unwanted guests with him.

Rachel Riordan and her young son, Eric are new to Passanattee. Recently divorced from her abusive husband, Anders, they are hoping to start a new life. Enter state forestry ranger, Terry Brackson, and you have the makings of an interesting side story.

Cringe-worthy images of horror with terrific characters, both likable and unlikable. Violet Eyes is guaranteed to make your skin crawl. Everson' ability to mix the real with the supernatural is nothing shy of a gift.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I already had a fear of spiders, Thanks to this book, I'm now afraid of flies, as well.

Totally recommended.

Published by Dark Arts Books, Violet Eyes is available in paperback, for the Kindle, and Audible formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

From the author's bio - John Everson is a staunch advocate for the culinary joys of the jalapeno and an unabashed fan of 1970s European horror cinema. He is also the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant and eight other novels, including the erotic horror tour de force and Bram Stoker Award finalist NightWhere and the seductive backwoods tale of The Family Tree. Over the past 25 years, his short fiction has appeared in more than 75 magazines and anthologies and received a number of critical accolades, including frequent Honorable Mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror anthology series.

John shares a deep purple den in Naperville, Illinois with a cockatoo and cockatiel, a disparate collection of fake skulls, twisted skeletal fairies, Alan Clark illustrations, and a large stuffed Eeyore.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a group of college students stumbles onto an abandoned military test lab on a small island in the Keys, all of them are killed except one, attacked by swarms of flesh-eating spiders and flies with strange violet eyes.

Rachel and her son, Eric, relocate to Panassattee on the edge of the Everglades, after an abusive marriage to start over. Little do they know of the horror that's about to consume their new home.

Everson has long been one of the most consistently solid horror writers around for years, and while this wasn't my favorite by him , it's still a good time and worthy of a read. The twist ending a nice and nasty shock.

[WendyB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some creepy scenes but had too much unnecessary filler that distracted from the story.
Just ok.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiders!! Damn! Alligators, rapid squirrels, venomous snakes, Sasquatch…bring it on…but, a teeny spider and I’m dancin’ on the dining room table trying to suck ‘em up with the vacuum cleaner. (Got to keep it on for at least 5 minutes too, because otherwise they crawl out and are super pissed.)

A new start for Rachel and her son Eric doesn’t go exactly as planned when strange things start happening in the small town of Passanattee, Florida. Pets are disappearing and entire blocks are covered with cobwebs and dark swarms of biting flies have taken to the air and are hungry for warm human flesh to make their own personal incubators. The government is going to have to get creative in hushing this one up and it will be a race to see if anyone can get out of town alive.

John Everson delivers the creepy crawlies with this one. I haven’t itched so bad reading a book since Alan Rykers “The Hoard”. John’s characters are vivid and his action flows without a hitch. A fast, flyin’ fanged good ole time! Excellent. 4.5 Stars easy! Highly Recommended!

[11811 (Eleven) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a four star read up until about 75%. There was too much repetition that it could have done without. Everson likes a high body count and the more bodies there are, the less I care about each individual one. It also had some points where characters were behaving abnormally given the situation - Think about all those 80's movies where the chick runs up the stairs instead of out the front door - There was way too much of that kind of stuff.

"Let's run TOWARD the danger." Shit like that. It bothered me.

Still a fun read though. It was campy and spiderlicious but I can't quite go four stars. Maybe 3.5. He's on my might-read-him-again list.

[Scott Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for a good environmental horror novel, and this one did not disappoint. Genetically altered spiders have invaded a small town in southern Florida and begin devouring anything and everything in their path, will anyone survive? Maybe. Rachel Riordan and her young son have just moved in town after escaping from an abusive husband and father, as they adjust to a new life they now have to face a new kind of horror.

This is exactly my kind of horror novel, nature gone amok. John Everson really brings the goods and this book is worth every minute of your time.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come. :)

[Phrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

I signed up for killer spiders, I got killer spiders. They threw some transforming flies in there too, which was…confusing? But I’m no entomologist, I just wanted to torture myself because I hate creepy-crawlies & feeling phantom spiders crawling on me constantly felt like a great time. If you are going to read this, go into it thinking it’s a 2000’s era B horror, creature feature because that’s exactly what it is. Like arachnophobia on genetically-mutated crack with mind-numbing dialogue & some REALLY forced sex scenes that will haunt me into my final days. Half of the book is fluff, so there’s no getting around that. Genuinely cringey, I had fun reading those parts to anyone within earshot of me & screenshot many to share the misery. It’s B horror, so it’s very trope-heavy, I’m hoping a little on purpose?

The other half is sex and gore, which is what you weirdos are here for, right? The author really tried to spice up this book with lots of bumping uglies in the out of doors, but in the Florida Everglades? Among news spreading of bodies being found with their bones picked clean, cocooned in spider webs? I mean, maybe there’s something in the water, it is Florida so…y’know. So yeah those mental images will be etched into my poor brain forever. The crowning glory is the blood & gore, the intense body horror, and the ways bodies/animals were found. My dear LORDT, the RETIREMENT HOME. The silent retirement home that no one has checked on for days…*shudders* Anyhoo, that ending was totally predictable but done in such a fucked up way, I had to give it to Everson. It almost made up for the fluff…almost. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a flamethrower to purchase. 🔥

[Elke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a perfect creepy-crawly story to read. The author did not just play around with some simple spiders gone astray, but invented a very deadly, almost unstoppable species hybrid. With that, he created an apocalypse scenario where millions of bugs invade a community, whole houses are being cocooned in spiderwebs and the residents serve as hatching grounds. Also, he did not shy away from sacrificing even pets and children, which was especially gruesome and hard to digest. The main characters were easy to relate to, so their fate hit even harder, and even the ending did not cut some slack but delivered a really nasty gut-puncher. Needless to say, this book is not suited for agoraphobic or squeamish readers: creature-feature at its finest!

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a terrible story, but full of undeveloped characters that you don’t care about.
Rachel, the main character is a shallow bitch who judges people on how they make her look.
Her ex is a caricature.
Her son is completely unbelievable as a 10 year old.

[DJMikeG · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book read like a moldy ball of fused together cliches. I really did not enjoy this book. The characters were either completely wooden and 2 dimensional or they were fleshed out in ways that made them unlikable. The sexual content is so over the top, it kind of read like Everson had a couple windows of porn open on his screen while he was writing it. The unlikable and or 2D characters also had completely unrealistic reactions to what was going on around them. Everson can turn out a good passage here and there, so it wasn't a total waste of time, but overall I couldn't recommend this book to anyone.

[Varian Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

I became a John Everson fan when I read NightWhere and was excited about his new book, though I wondered how scary it would be.

Thanks to Violet Eyes I'm going to have nightmares, along with freaking out if I feel a bug brush my skin.

This book was awesome and I want to hand it to all the horror fans I know, saying "you have to read this." Because the reason behind the spiders and flies actually makes sense, and that makes it all the more terrifying. Plus there's a good, solid story going on as well.

This was so creepy and worth the read.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't a lot of books that creep me out, but this had shivers running down my arms by page 19 and didn't stop.

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the most disturbing horror comes from writers able to weave an amazing, riveting and terrifying story - that could just happen. Here we have an insight into what happens when you mess around with Mother Nature. She bites back. And in this story, she REALLY bites back, leaving something wretchedly alive,painful and deadly in her victims. But there are many layers to this tale. There is the story of Rachel who has escaped her abusive husband and taken her son as far away as she can. She believes that this out of the way community of Passanattee will be a safe haven to raise her boy. the trouble is, her ex-husband still believes she belongs to him. He is going to come after her and take her and his boy back with him.

Meanwhile, out on the tiny deserted island of Sheila Key, a group of friends are looking forward to a weekend away, reliving 'Blue Lagoon', until they make an alarming discovery - and then the spiders come...and the flies. Swarms of them. The creatures were supposed to be contained on that island. But once they leave, no one is safe and the town of Passanattee lies right in their path.

Oh, those spiders. Yes, I am an arachnophobe and John Everson's powerful descriptive writing did nothing to lessen my fear of the creatures but, at least, the ones I come across don't have vivid violet markings. This was a superbly crafted story, strong on personalities and plot and drew heavily on this reader's emotional responses on a number of occasions. My flesh crawled, itched and burned. This was a brilliant read.

[Andrea Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, deserves to become a movie and will be 100x better than Arachnophobia or any other about spiders out there. The characters are interesting, the scary and distressing scenes are present in the right dose. There are some things that bothered me, some very unlikely reactions, attitudes and decisions, but nothing that greatly diminishes the quality of the story.

[Kittykorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, I'm not scared of spiders and things but this book managed to creep me out, Deffo worth a re-read

[T. Giachetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spiders & Flies

Oh my! The most terrifying tales are those that have a chance of coming true! Fast paced horror with a scientific twist. This book will give you the crawling creeps for sure!!!

[Lorrie Wolf vanblarcom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome creepyness

Wow, that's what I say. This story was great. It kept me hooked every waking hour. Characters were great. Very creepy, especially if you hate spiders. Would make a great movie.

[Nathan Violet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would be 2 stars for a decent B movie scifi horror, but minus 1 star for pervy misogynist fantasy scenes.

[Red Lace Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fresh start was the plan, but for Rachel and her son, Eric, the quiet town near the Everglades proves to be anything but suitable. The news reports of an unknown breed of fly, migrating through the area, but when said species of fly begins to attack people in swarms, things only seem to get progressively worse from there. Black spiders with violet slashes across their backs, appear from seemingly nowhere, making their presence known as they start to take over.

(WARNING: This review contains MAJOR spoilers.)

Who isn't afraid of spiders? Well, me actually, but the way in which arachnids were presented here was no doubt alarming. Instead of the eight-legged critters that want nothing more than to live human-free lives, were abominations hungry for the warmth of living (and dead) flesh. And flesh they got, copious amounts of it, from animals to humans of all ages; everything that breathed appeared to be fair game. The very life cycle of these unnatural creatures made my skin crawl; a bizarre rotation of fly and spider, with bites that could implant eggs, as well as paralysing venom. The greatest and worst biological weapon, their only instinct to wipe out life. Whilst Everson did a good job in capturing the nastiness of their sudden invasion, I found myself wishing the focus back upon Rachel and Eric, as I felt more committed to them in the long run. Most of the other characters introduced had only one sole purpose, and that was to die in the most horrific ways possible, each instance trying to outdo the last. This served as brief entertainment, but as I said, I'd would've preferred more time with the main protagonists.

Let's get into the little irksome details throughout that I just couldn't ignore. For starters, it struck me as unrealistic that almost everyone talked to themselves. This may seem like a nit-picky, largely irrelevant complaint, but it actually affected my immersion. I've no issue whatsoever with inner dialogue; it's something we all do, but to outright speak, out loud, in conversation to ourselves? No, not everyone does that, and it gives the impression that it's for the benefit of the reader - that they're not talking to themselves, but to us. It's a highly personal opinion, of course, and one I had to mention, for my own peace of mind.

The next thing's story related and it involves what you might consider a spoiler, so heed the warning at the beginning. Whilst the incursion spread throughout town, with reports of hostile swarms of flies biting people and houses covered from roof to ground in webbing, Rachel didn't think to leave town? I didn't understand, that for the safety of her child, why it didn't occur to her that it just might not be safe. Again, it brought distraction through its impracticality. I prefer rational thinking that brings the person on the page to life - I very much dislike questionable events that only seem plausible to serve the plot.

Obvious issues aside, I did like the primary characters. I found Rachel's determination to live independently, free from her abusive ex, to be respectful. It was nice that she found romance in someone far better than Anders, of whom was composed in a way that did him absolutely no favours. I couldn't much care for his death - it appeared to be an attempt at redemption, which failed as far as I was concerned. I have to say, I was expecting the ending, but when it came I felt a twinge of sadness. I do appreciate when what I read induces emotion, so I was pleasantly surprised in that regard.

In conclusion: I'm sticking with three stars, however I very nearly settled on two. The spider aspect I enjoyed, but some things (other than the spiders) got under my skin. I just couldn't overlook them.

Notable Quote:

The best things in life were usually killed by ignorance, ambivalence, age, wisdom and sometimes, outright malevolence. Whatever the reasons, the things you loved most always seemed to die long before you were ready to let them go.

© Red Lace 2018

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[Matthew Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a fondness for horror pertaining to insects that probably stems from my rural Southern upbringing. My childhood home sat on the edge of a large wooded area, so my little brother and I spent countless hours traipsing through the brush and trees. As a result, we found a wide variety of bugs and spiders, some of which looked absolutely terrifying. I’m sure you can see where, as a kid, a little imagination could take you to some wild places from here.

It is this childhood love of spiders and all-things-crawly that kindles a spark within me for John Everson’s latest book, VIOLET EYES. This tale is a bone-chilling venture into primal terror with a horrifying premise that touches every one of us at some basic level. Everson is a true master of horror literature, and this book will have your skin crawling as you read it. If you don’t squirm at some of the grisly scenes in this book, then you are more than likely not human!

I absolutely loved this book and am proud to boast that it has moved into my Top 5 Horror Novels of 2013. Everson has created something here that every horror novelists strive for but few achieve: a believable but literally horrific situation that will give you plenty of reasons to lose sleep at night.

VIOLET EYES is well written and flows nicely at a brisk pace. The characters are nicely developed and believable; all are damaged in some way but still give us plenty of reasons to connect with them. I particularly like how Everson subtly tackles the issue of domestic abuse. It is interesting to see a horror writer incorporate such a brutal topic into the story, but make it a minor aspect of it instead of the focal point.

Probably the most pivotal characteristic of this book for me is that it is intelligent horror. This is not just some half-speed ‘nature-gone-amok’ plotline; this is carefully thought-out and well-conceived science that works much better than its creators had intended. Too good, in fact…which is part of what makes this concept so scary.

VIOLET EYES is a huge win for me, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good scare or wanting a reason to stay awake at night. I can’t tell you how many times I jumped or slapped at the comforter because it felt like something was crawling on me. This book will scare the crap out of you and keep you begging for more! Give this one a look for sure.

[Horror Bookworm Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Violet Eyes by John Everson

On a remote island it seems Mother Nature has lost her sanity. A combination of deadly flies and an unfamiliar species of spider that wear a violet mark upon its back have united and committed to breed and prey upon the living. This creepy crawly tale introduces the reader to Rachel Riordan, a single mother, and her ten year old son Eric. Residing in the sleepy town of Passanattee, the two are devoted to begin a new life following an abusive relationship with Anders, the father. Rachel soon meets Terry, a Forest Ranger and begins a hopeful bond along with finally succeeding at a stable and happy life for herself and her son. However Anders has a mission of his own, which is to travel to his ex wife and son and force them into his warped idea of a relationship. Soon the town begins experiencing odd circumstances involving the flies and spiders inconceivable gestation ability, where eggs are laid and hatched inside a living host. The outcome of this evolution will be one human kind will never forget, if they survive.

Just in time for Halloween, the release of Violet Eyes by John Everson brings a menacing sensation to the reader that is bound to leave a mark on the fear gland. Harkening back to human kinds common fear of spiders, John uses his familiar creativity and writing talent that won him a Bram Stoker Award to weave this web of terror. Beginning with bone jarring moments of horror, the story quickly unfolds into a "fear of insects" worst nightmare. Continuing with many squeamish moments of gruesome fear, the plot steamrolls to a nonstop page turning conclusion. So, when settling in at night with this skin tingling read, be sure to look under your comfy chair for tiny violet eyes glowing in the darkness that are attached to a small hairy legged spider. Avoid the scurrying beast at all cost, but most of all...Beware The Bite!

[Ziggy Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It saw all this with emotionless eyes. Hungry eyes. Violet eyes.

3.45 stars. I had pretty mixed feelings about John Everson's "Violet Eyes". It certainly wasn't a bad read and it moved at a decent pace for the majority of the book. Plus it was moderately well-edited with some slip-ups but nothing too drastic. But it definitely didn't live up to my expectations, especially with the star-studded "Praise" section (incl. from folks like Jonathan Mayberry and several well-known Horror 'Zines) that got us started as well as noting Everson's pedigree including a Bram Stoker Award win. The execution in terms of writing style was certainly passable although I will never be a fan of the American-style of using quick chapterlets, many of which were well below the average of less than 5 pages a pop, to push things along. Very importantly as well, I would hesitate to call this overall book "horror" as we're basically spoon-fed all the surprises and secrets involved before anything bordering on suspense really occurs. Then it's essentially too late, both for the book and the main players.

The buzz of flies filled the air with excitement and anger and death.

One thing that I thought worked very well is that the characters that we "meet" - and most of these are only for a few short pages or even paragraphs under the circumstances - are well-rounded and believable. 4 horny college kids heading off to a remote Key not far from the Florida coast? What could possibly go wrong! And especially, Rachel and Eric's story about their big changes in life elicited more than a wee bit of sympathy, as did the "ain't karma a bitch" adventures of poor Billy. Heck, even good 'ol boy Anders was about as accurate as I could imagine someone of his fine upstanding nature could be, even though I can't say I regretted his ultimate fate despite all he did to redeem himself. So again, in terms of sympathy (or lack thereof) as well as feeling for the cast, that I won't bring into question. I will give away one spoiler, namely, if you don't like it when the dog dies, well…

The thing began to dismantle his flesh right before his eyes.

Where things kind of went off the rails for me was - as an avowed arachnophobe - I really expected more… urgency? during this entire adventure. From the delayed response of our mysterious government organizations - or even their own hired research partners - to even how folks did or did not react to their own illnesses, I was left shaking my head. I mean, if I got stung by several dozen unknown flying insects or even one freaky 8-legged, (un)identifiable arachnid, I would be standing in a hospital within the next quarter of an hour screaming my head off! Trust me, when you grow up in an area like I did that specializes in large and very poisonous spiders (and snakes and more), you don't mess around with stuff like that. I mean it's not Australia, but you definitely need to check your hiking boots and shake out your sleeping bag when you're out in the wild! And yet, there was always this sense of "Oh Edith hasn't moved for 2 days, I guess I should maybe see if she's okay!" or even "gosh our children have been outside now for 19 hours in the Florida heat, I wonder what's up?" from far too many of the minor players. And this is before the random outages of phone service and cable, which didn't work, then it did, then it didn't etc.

She was suspended in a gigantic spider web…puking spiders.

While we're on the subject of the walking - or still sitting in a recliner - dead, the book had a distinct lull around the middle section that really, really dragged things almost to a lurching stop. I mean, we spend so much time seeing a multitude of these almost random characters we meet being dispatched in absolutely the same way (see references to eyes, ears, nose, brains… rinse and repeat). It got so repetitive as to be outright boring for several of these short sections. I definitely thought that Everson could have instead built more of a cast of legitimate supporting characters - like Susan wound up being - who could have at least then been ickified in unique settings, rather than just showing us again and again how the flies did this, then the spiders did that, ad nauseum (literally). I know I would have been then much more invested in their survival rather than what I eventually felt, which was a whole heck of a lot of indifference. Plus again, after a while, if you stab all your victims the exact same way, it's just not gonna keep the folks in the peanut gallery screaming for more … or just plain screaming!

Her eyes were open sockets, churning with a tumbling horde of spider legs.

And of course during all this we have the full knowledge that - surprise!- it is our own loving government who is behind all this. No, I don't blame the companies hired to create tiny but ultimately really really gross and icky weapons of mass destruction - even though the science behind all this winds up being pretty cool in a weird, "I can't stop staring at this horrible accident" kind of way. But we all know that if you stick the promise of profit under the noses of any late stage capitalist and back that up with government-issued carte blanche, he'll have his own dog and probably his family, too, carved up and reassembled as a walking monster ready to go to war in no time flat! All in the name of freedom and democracy which we insist y'all accept or die!

They are the creature that mankind feared to find. And we made it.

But hey, at the end of the day, I'll repeat (great, now I'm doing it too) that this was a good, readable book that fit fantastically into my current "Creepy Crawlers Read-A-Thon". If nothing else, the ending was a good gut-punch and, lest I forget (I won't), I have to tip my cap to Everson for writing the absolutely grossest sex scene I have ever laid eyes upon, either in written form or via other media! Anyway kids, just remember: when that same loving government that is responsible for your deaths (and if you didn't die, they'll fix that in a way that no one will ever suspect) tells you to lock your doors and windows, well, the heck with that! You really think that'll work? Pffft, as if! My advice? GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN AND DON'T LOOK BACK!!!