Book Reviews

Book Blurb

A mystery. A romance. An ocular adventure.

Tom's a data analyst. It's not a passionate affair. Neither is his relationship with Mario, although Mario thinks it is. That's Tom's way. He makes things work, whether they work for him or not. With anyone else it would be called low expectations. Not Tom. His passion lies elsewhere. He's a secret writer.

The commitment is unusual and he keeps it to himself. Life has already dealt a few blows and he's reluctant to test its limits. Undemanding relationships. Unpublished books. A job that requires little thought. A bad attitude. These are the markers that keep him in place.

But when an accident leads him to discover he's losing his sight, life screeches to a halt. His writing, his career, his very independence are at stake. Time, once the future, is turning into the past.

Then a man appears. Beautiful yet damaged, Hanif brings light to Tom's darkness. The irony isn't lost on him, if it's irony at all. Just when he's about to give up on life, he finds a new reason to live. But things may not be as they seem. Lies can be told. Accidents can be arranged. Identities can be assumed.

Tom's story is a trip down a nebulous road. From an easy life to an erotic adventure, from a modest employee to a man on the run, he must see the truth while he still can. Ophthalmologists. Optometrists. Lovers. Friends. Some wish him well. Some don't.

Played out against a backdrop of political intrigue and haunted by ghosts from the past, is this story of love at first sight no more than a game of blind man's bluff?

 

Book Review

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “dense” as - 1a. Having relatively high density (which seems circuitous); 1b. Crowded closely together, compact; 2. Thick or impenetrable; 3. Requiring effort to understand because of complexity in structure or content (i.e., a dense novel); 4. Slow in understanding or perceiving, stupid; 5. Opaque. 'Finding Hanif's Eye' is a wonderful, artfully crafted book. When we are done, let's see how many of these definitions will apply.

 

Tom and Hanif meet at Tom's next pre-surgical ocular appointment, and they go for coffee, ultimately exchanging their life stories. All this disturbs Mario. True to the genre of this story, the reader is regularly presented with idiosyncratic facts, designed to seed the tale with anomalies.

 

Common to such situations, Tom realizes he is presented with a possible “dark life's” choice of blindness or no life at all. So, he has been “sentenced to live.” In this world of mixed hope and confused medical procedures, all becomes unfathomable for Tom. As a reflection of this life, he realizes he has fallen for Mario in bed, and Hanif on the bus.

 

The mystery style of the novel is reenforced when two well-suited cops, strangers, approached Tom making inquiry about Hanif. All this challenges Tom's upbringing, with its training to believe in that which is presented!.

 

Tom meets Hanif in the park, the latter having sought him out. They go to Tom's, for breakfast, as Hanif explains his own father, wanting Hanif back home, is looking for him. And now, dear reader, the sexual side of this relationship grows, and Tom invites Hanif, who is on the run, to stay with him and they lie in bed, eye to eye (!), kissing each other: “Light kisses. Tentative kisses. Kisses just for the taste.”

 

And this section of the tale starts drawing to a close – the heroes become involved, Hanif assures Tom he is not losing his sight, and some small revelation of Tom's obtuse background and employment. Quite a witches' brew. Cohabiting together, the heroes “construct and deconstruct a book. What one of them didn't have the other did.” With Hanif's reveal (patently ridiculous which, strangely enough, made it sound all the more plausible), he and Tom are off and away, and the novel's next, distinct section narrates their “escape”. The book follows the heroes to an abandoned town and a secret rural cabin built by Tom's late father - with details of the trip there and their establishment. (And Tom's discontinuation of prescribed drugs reinforces Hanif's assurance that the entire glaucoma fright was but a rouse.) The tone of the trip and eventual interference by their enemies, is of a new, exciting texture. Yet their sharp dialog and exciting action continue. On the bus, Hanif, slips his hand up between Tom's flexing thighs: “So, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place?” Tom, squirmed in his seat. “Well, it looks like you found the hard place.” Even a reference to old novels found in the cabin is a further revelation of our author's appreciation of fey, literary personalities – i.e., “Harper Lee and James Baldwin to Oscar Wilde and Thomas Mann.”

 

To preclude the length of this review exceeding that of the fictional subject, we will start to conclude. The succeeding sections are given more to action – expected surprising, yet full of wonderful description. The relationship of Tom and Hanif is repeatedly tested and provocative. The mysteries which surround them become, well, more mysterious. They are emotionally and sexually engaged – yet consistently find themselves conflicted. Tom's dead father enters the narrative through discovered revelatory messages, which affect current events – and a coded attachment. Through presentation, Tom's father seems to become a “real” character for us. The work of Tom's father seems quite abstract, almost fitting into a philosophy of evil – functioning without moral justification, just doing one's job without a compass – which may be a sub rosa warning to us, modern readers. Ultimately, Tom's father seems to proffer the concept that “…there are no sides. They're all the same.”

 

Aside: We should note that repeated sex between Tom and Hanif is presented with sufficient detail to generate heat but not to the point of overwhelming them or displacing the plot. It seems merely a healthy respite. I.e., “And Hanif met him and rode him until Tom's needs were gone.”

 

The novel changes its tone again, filled with heightened action, and questions concerning the characters' genuine leanings. Author Doyle employs doubt as a literary weapon to further engage us, the readers. And he does it well! In this mystery, ultimately, who is Hanif? Their relationship becomes a late but commanding thread to the tale. Yet, even amidst tension and plotting, sex and humor persist - i.e., Hanif may “have wrapped Tom around his little finger. Well, not his little finger, Tom had to admit, as his gaze sought the treasure between his legs.”

 

Basta! as someone in an opera is likely to sing, before the direction and tone change. The current novel moves towards identifying mysteries and their solutions. Who is good? Who is to succeed? (Are there sufficient loose threads for a follow-up tale? The main characters finally need to be well-parsed, to our satisfaction. But – if not, please contact the author directly, as he may be the only one making an honorable profit!

 

Spies? Double agents? Triple agents? Mario, whom Tom thought of as a puppy, now makes him think of a wolf. Tom acknowledges “I've been such a jerk. Seeing everything in black and white. Good guys. Bad guys. Good data. Bad data.” Dear reader, if you get confused, you won't have been alone. And there are sufficient hints for a next volume.

 

This reviewer is torn, heartily wanting to provide further evidence of author Doyle’s expert skill and witticism, yet needing to merely whet (but not satisfy) your appetite for the work at hand. Consider my review a RAVE, and read the book as soon as you can. In lieu of too many details, as I have before, enjoy a selection of bon mots, as a further inducement.

 

End Notes 

No. 1 Author Doyle, speaking for himself (or his character, Tom), states with revelation: “Every time he wrote something, he gave something away. That was his quandary. How to breathe life into a character while keeping some for himself.”

No. 2 Irony abounds. “…a brilliant red sweater that hugged him down to a slim waist below, where a pair of jeans kept no secrets.” Even the review of Tom's meds or the hidden parts of his affected eye, adds further irony to his situation.

No. 3 “Seeking medical information online always ended in tears, as Google happily provided the worst-case scenario in under two seconds flat. Google was sure of itself. Why weren't Tom's doctors?”

No. 4 Tom's ardor for Mario starts to fade. and he realizes that, if nothing else developed, fantasies have an expiration date and love becomes routine.

 

Platitudes

No. 1 “Hope. In a situation such as Tom's, people feed on it. But hope is never served alone. Dread is always on the menu.”

No. 2 “Now we're alone!' … “Alone together isn't alone.”

No. 3 Tom, writing with Hanif as his subject “…wanted to show that imperfection didn't negate the beauty that a loving eye could see.”

No. 4 “You've got to get over yourself before you can get into anyone else.”

 

Tone

“Naked and warm, he was overcome by desire. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to suck him. He wanted to spread him out face-down and bury his face between those two meaty cheeks.”

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 268 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	31-October-2025
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Catching-Hanifs-Eye-Patrick-Doyle-ebook/dp/B0F89K9NCS