Seen And Not Seen

The Veil: Seen and Not Seen #1

by William Bowden

Librarian Note: this is an alternate cover edition for ASIN B00S1K1YEW.

Currently FREE on Amazon, iTunes, and Barnes & Noble.

The Veil play all sides, sometimes in our best interests, sometimes not. Now they have secretly deposited something at the United Nations—the victim of a horrifying crime against humanity. But is she a pawn or a terrifying weapon?

A clandestine government agency seeks to find out and fast, unaware that the answer lies at the center of one man's dramatic spiral into an abyss of mania and despair that is already playing out on the world stage.

Seen And Not Seen is a technological thriller set in the near future telling of a world that needs to face up to its stretched resources, a bold endeavor to preserve our way of life and the dark road that some elements of the Human Race would have us take.

This is the first book in the trilogy of the same name, part of the Veil series, a collection of interconnected stories looking at what it means to be human, the folly of Man, and how the two might be related.

You can start the Veil series either here, or with the first book in the Real And Not Real trilogy, Any Now (the earliest story from a chronological perspective).

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller

135 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2015

About the author

William Bowden is a British science fiction author with a predilection for the general weirdness of the Universe, what it means to be human, and how the two might be connected.

He lives in the west of England.

BETA Readers Wanted for plot, structure, and character feedback.

Reviews

[Chole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, not so much. I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story with inadequate information. I liked the premise of the story but not the execution. I prefer less confusion as I make my way through 5 he book not more.

[Alyssia Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I confess to being utterly baffled. Completely and utterly bamboozled from beginning to end. This reads as though you already have a ton of background information that you actually don't. It drops you into the middle of a chaotic chase scene over a subpoena for something unknown that is being dodged for some other unknown reason. I never did work that out. You then get dropped into some kind of genetic alteration place with unknown reasons for existing and there is an unknown virus created by unknown people for an unknown reason. As you can see, there are more unknowns than actual answers.

You get met by characters who are never really explained or given character or motive; even the main bipolar guy as the lead is unfleshed out. And then you have extra people like detectives and FBI and a refuge child and a strange unknown group known as the Veil. As much is made of characters you see once as there is on characters with a far more important role.

All in all, a baffling short story and I am more confused at the end than I was at the beginning...

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I am bewildered by this book. Clearly written as a screenplay in disguise (the present tense, the churning details) and yet focused on ethereal beings that could never survive the scrutiny of modern audiences.

The story is... relatable and yet fanciful enough to allow a distance to have formed between the action and the reader. Too often I found myself scoffing at some arbitrary literary trick used to advance the story.

But I kept reading, right to the end.

Clearly the core of this story found a foothold in my imagination.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book has potential, but it is a bit disjointed and takes a bit to get into as readers follow eccentric billionaire Robert Cantor and learn about what he has been hiding with a project he calls Trinity. Something that can either save mankind or destroy it.I think because this book is part of a series,reading all the parts might make this story go smoother. I like the premise of the story.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rose

While trying for goodness, evil sometimes begins. William Bowden has combined these two factions in this intreging story. His characters are very human but some are not very endearing. Putting them together makes for an amazing series.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seen and Not Seen is the first book The Veil series. This can be read as a standalone though I think to understand what is really going on you need to read the next book. The storyline left me confused as to what is really going on here. I'm not yet sure if I will read more of this series.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be prepared not to have all the answers

A bit of a hard read initially, but an interesting story that didn't give you all the answers up front. Worth the time to read. Good characters. Well developed. Plus some mystery.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story! A good first part to this exciting fantasy/sci fi series! This is the first time I have read this writers work & I was not disappointed! I will look for more of this his stories & will continue reading this series!

[David Blaylock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series. It felt like I was dropped into the middle of a series that I had not read the first book.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange book. The premise if promising, but the execution left me a bit confused. The book is the first in "The Veil" series, yet the Veil is mentioned once or twice. The first half of the book is an extended chase scene as Robert Cantor, a man with bipolar disorder, tries to evade being served a subpoena. He's a billionaire. There's something going on that very few people know about and when Robert figures it out, he says, "Messiah", like he's scared to death, and we're supposed to know what that means.

It turns out it is a virus. People in his own company were experimenting with it without his knowledge. We never find out who developed this virus or for what reason, but it sounds like it is not very pretty. There is a strange explanation about how it infects some people and not others having to do with the immune response.

There are a bunch of characters whose full roles we don't know about yet: a supreme court justice, some people in the military, a psychiatrist, a little girl, the people of "The Veil" whoever or whatever they are, a senator, and some others. Hopefully, their characters will be expanded in the next books.

There were also a lot of proofreading errors: words in the wrong order, missing words, missing punctuation.

I'm going to read the next book because I want to know what is going on. There are so many open questions left at the end of the book that I almost have to. I just hope there are some answers--and better editing.