In this episodic novel, readers follow Adam Richardson as he deals with Shimmers (demonic visions only he can see) and shadow folk, political espionage, a physician obsessed with redefining and recreating life, murderous witch PJ Harlow, the mysterious Mr. MITS (Man in the Suit), aliens, ghosts, a physicist who sees alternate realties, a witch doctor and zombies, nanotech used to create super soldiers, and a cannibalistic family. Joined by his former FBI partner, Marion Case, his brother, Chris, his psychiatrist, Dr. Samantha Blake, and the ghost of a murdered Chicago police officer, Detective Leo Knight, Adam -- who has been diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic -- must determine if the things he is seeing are real or imagined, and if real, what he can do to stop them.
If Adam is merely delusional, then the offices of the clandestine government group the PRI (Paranormal Response Initiative) wouldn't exist, wouldn't be tasked with chasing down the supernatural and keeping its threats hidden from the public at large. If Adam is merely delusional, then his friends and loved ones wouldn't be in danger, the ghost he sees wouldn't have a widow still in mourning, and the ghost wouldn't be asking Adam to help him solve his own murder. If Adam is merely delusional, then the secretive man in the suit wouldn't act so suspicious around him, and a powerful witch wouldn't be after him.
Structured as a TV show in book form, this first novel in the EYES ONLY trilogy follows Adam and his friends across eighteen episodes as they are dragged deeper into the mysteries that have found them. From the back jacket:
"A young boy, kidnapped, only to be returned, talking of aliens. A witch destroys a cult and a coven in a quest for ultimate power. A witchdoctor unleashes zombies on a planned neighborhood in Miami. A mysterious unnamed man in a suit may be more than he seems. A murdered Chicago detective needs help discovering who killed him.
In A Mind Full of Scorpions, book one of the Eyes-Only trilogy, former FBI agent Adam Richardson has had his mind broken after a violent end to a haunting case. Diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, Adam moves back home to Northwest Arkansas under the care of his younger brother. As Adam settles in, he begins to suspect that some of the things he sees are real. Like the Shimmers, the princes of Hell who embody the seven deadly sins. When Adam's former partner comes asking for assistance hunting down the paranormal, a new danger rears its head. Now Adam must find a way to stop the forces aligning against him and his friends as he struggles to quiet the voices in his head once and for all."
A Mind Full of Scorpions by J R Billingsley is the first novel published by Sley House Publishing, a new book publisher focusing on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, and Thrillers.
