The Darkest Eyes is a mind-bending, genre-blurring thrill ride that mixes science fiction, metaphysical mystery, and emotional drama with a bold, fearless voice. At its core is Will Roan—a brilliant but tightly wound scientist who’s spent her life running from what she can’t explain: terrifying alien visions, a family history steeped in secrets, and the creeping suspicion that her carefully constructed worldview is starting to crack.

Will is a fascinating protagonist—sharp, skeptical, and deeply vulnerable. Her struggle with reality, mental health, and a strained relationship with her mother creates a compelling internal battle that grounds the novel’s wild speculative elements. And when the story takes a hard turn into the fantastical complete with crystal skulls, alien harassment, and a portal to Atlantis, it does so with a strangely seamless grace, daring readers to keep up and believe alongside her.

The novel’s greatest strength is its ability to weave heady sci-fi concepts with raw human emotion. Will’s disbelief is our disbelief, and her slow unraveling paired with her fierce love for her niece becomes the emotional engine that powers the story forward. The pacing is strong, with a sense of ever-looming dread and wonder, and the mystery deepens with each chapter as Will is forced to question everything from her career in science to her very grip on sanity.

This is a blend of futuristic sci-fi with parallel worlds, including portal transportation to Atlantis, to solve a mystery, fantasy quest. You might think this is a bit too much to pull together in one story, but fair do’s to Brady, she’s pulled this off very well. It is a very vivid, intriguing story that despite its mammoth length remains pacey and thoroughly intriguing throughout.
It features Will, a tall, strong, feisty woman that doesn’t feel like she quite fits in. Unable to find a fulfilling relationship, nor able to shake off the grey martians she has seen since a child, she is almost resigned to a solitary existence. Family relationships are odd, but she does have a close connection with her niece, so when she goes missing, Will is resolute that she will find her.
Who could imagine that to do this would involve finding a portal at the bottom of a lake that takes her to her home world of Atlantis. There are lots of links and plays to Area 51, the city of Atlantis and similar stories with a crystal skull, but it is enchantingly interwoven in a fresh and compelling way. The characters are bold and memorable, growing realistically as the story progresses.
The book almost has 2 denouements that I found curious and not sure if one would have sufficed. It’s not hard to determine the final outcome, but getting there is an immersive and fantastical journey that is a pleasure to be carried along on.

The Darkest Eyes by Mick Brady can be best described as a cross-genre novel. It involves aliens, puzzle-solving, supernatural threats, and imaginary worlds, thus making it a science fiction, mystery, horror, and fantasy book all at the same time.

The prose is vivid. Despite its length, the intriguing story kept the reader in me hooked to itself. There is not much in terms of suspense since most (if not all) of the turns the plot took were fairly predictable.

The main characters are relatable as far as their human emotions are concerned. They are also well-crafted, giving a sense of fulfilment.

There are a lot of typos in the book. Another round of proof-reading should fix them.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: One time read.

I liked this book. The character were well written and the action kept coming. A different plot line than so many others.

Well, I had some issues with formatting, because my e-reader doesn't play pdf and changit to epub didn't go well, so I had to read on my laptop and I don't really like it.

Despite this I still really liked the book. it has some itneresting ideas and shows us the interesting story about monsters and different dimension with main character that stays strong despite constantly questioning her sanity.