I have started and stopped writing this review at least four times in the last 48 hours. It isn't because I had a problem, or didn't like the book, it was because I didn't know what to say, and when I figured out what to say, I wasn't sure how to say it. I was one of the lucky people who were able to read an ARC of this book.
Second Sight was far more than I expected, and delivered, by far, more emotion than I could handle. This is the first of Patricia Eddy's books to make me cry. I don't mean get teary eyed, I mean the "I have to stop reading and find a tissue" sort of stuff that never happens to me. It seems to be my month for reading tear-jerkers disguised as very well written romance novels. And I didn't even tear up in the places everyone would guess that I did. But I'll talk about that shortly.
When I picked up Second Sight, I expected to read about Dax, only the second of two people to ever survive Hell, a series of underground caves in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. I knew, from the previous book, On His Six (which featured a character I'm still in love with, Ryker), that Dax had been blinded after Ryker escaped. He was eventually rescued and returned to his hometown of Boston. I knew he ran a private investigation service (and I know that calling it that is the understatement of the year, but I don't want to put spoilers here, so I'm forced into it). That's all readers of this book knew going into it. He and Ryker had been close, and now were struggling because of the scars, both physical and mental, from their time in Hell.
What I didn't expect this book to do was pull the rug out from under me, and make me realize that calling this a romance is a bit of an overstatement. Yes, there's romance here, but I truly do not believe that is the story Patricia Eddy wrote. The romance between Evianna and Dax is secondary to the real meat of the story - the convergence of Ryker and Dax. When I say convergence, I mean two very powerful characters, each with their own depth, coming together with a lot of force. It wasn't explosive, but it WAS incredibly intoxicating to read their exchanges. I hung on each of their words and wondered how the author had created this, since all of their conversations are on the phone. There is not one physical meeting of the two in this book, yet when I finished, their encounters were what I remembered of the book. So I did what anyone would do, I read it again, all the way through.
The second read-through didn't change a thing for me. If you are looking for emotion, look no further. This book is about the emotion borne between two men who experienced ruthless, unending torture; who kept themselves sane by tapping messages to each other in code that they had to change every week or so; who carried the emotional scars with them like shields, held up to protect them from ever having to feel again; and most of all the emotion of two men who survived anything but didn't know how to put their friendship back together. That's what you'll get when you read this book. And then, once they finally accept that their friendship survived Hell, you will be able to see into the love affair between Evianna and Dax, and understand why he thinks she was made for him.
As always, Ms. Eddy puts all the parts of a novel together effortlessly. I am a technical reader - I want to know that the author is controlling the plot, pace, characters, arc of the story, all the way through. She does this in every book I've read. But this book was different. This book may lose readers along the way because it is a slow boil. Anyone looking for explosive and hot steamy scenes between Evianna and Dax will have to wait through half of the book at least. And anyone looking for the bad guys to physically attack will be waiting a while also. What you won't be waiting for is a dramatic book that builds from the first page until the last. I usually am satisfied with an HEA, but in this case, I'm not. I wanted this book to go on, to tell more of the story that I know is there. That means that Ms. Eddy needs to get herself in gear and start writing the next story in the Away From The Keyboard series. I'll be waiting.