James Byron Huggins

Dark Visions
By: James Byron Huggins
Narrated by: Tom Lennon
This was a good serial killer, occult mystery book I received from freeaudiblecodes and it was quite thrilling. A blind ex cop, a rookie cop, and an archeologist work together to figure out who is killing people and why, especially after the last victim is the ex-cop's grandson. Lots of clues, twists, action, and a great Raven named Poe! He was my favorite character.
I found it odd that the ex-cop never mourned his four year old grand son's death and sat in the cop's meeting as they discuss how brutalized the boy was found and nothing was said about his feelings then either.
The narration was fairly good.… (mais)

I usually do not write reviews, especially I never write negative reviews. This is because perceptions vary and I do not want my perceptions to cloud the efforts of a good author, but this book is an exception. Mr. Huggins is (or rather used to be after this book) one of my favorite authors. I loved Hunter and Leviathan was OK. The beauty of the prose and the characterization of protagonists in his books are some of the best I know, but this book is beyond bad. It is terrible.

I do not know what some authors (**cough** Dan Simmons - Song of Kali **cough**) have against Hinduism. I am an atheist but I hate it when people abuse the belief system of other people and get it wrong at that. Shiva is the male God of destruction, not a crazy-bi*** as Mr. Huggins describes in his book. Shiva is worshiped by billions all over the world and the casual way the author draws comparison to Satan is truly disgusting. I mean, get your facts right before writing a novel and even if you get the facts wrong, do not make up theories that go against the facts. Shiva is a benevolent God who confers liberation (through destruction of the ego, not the world and is therefore called the destroyer) according to Hindu beliefs. There are many evil figures who could have been used but just for convenience (as a statue of Shiva was installed in CERN) making up your own theories is vile and not deserving of a good author.

I was very excited about this book, but right from the beginning it felt off the mark. Basic mistakes like calling electrons (at least in the universe we occupy and as of the moment I am writing this review) positively charged, added to the vague descriptions and explanations about neutrinos, conspiracy theories about CERN and the racism led me to not finishing this book. I made it up to 22%. The science is stupidly wrong and the racism is disgusting. Do not twist facts to suit your narrative. If you are a good author make the facts work for you. I do not recommend this book.… (mais)