Leir Williford

Voice of the Eyes Leir Williford

After the unsolved murder of his father, Michael Goodman, an African-American teenager, struggles into manhood while harvesting the grief of death. Living in a poverty stricken neighborhood, he surrenders his childhood to help Erah, his emotionally dependent mother. Michael's life spiraled downward when his mother marries Lucifen Satain, a coldhearted, wealthy businessman-who preaches a soul can be purchased with a hot meal or a cool million. Satain hates and plots against Michael from the beginning. When Erah secretly leaves in the night, Michael searches for the truth leading him down a path of lies and deception. Michael meets Gabriel, his estranged older brother, only to learn he works for the man trying to kill him. Devilin, the aloof genius stepbrother, gambles with Michael's life for his own agenda making a deal that could change the teenager's life forever. In a deserted playground, Michael witnesses a beam of light projecting from the eyes of Angel, an inscrutable beauty and falls in love with her. Later, he's told the gift from her eyes is a trick to entice him to join a cult. Voice of the Eyes is family drama about ownership of money and power clashing with the relationship of love. It follows a youth's low points of living in a ghetto on the Westside of Chicago-through his struggles of becoming a "normal" teenager-to the lowest point when he gets involved with a street thug for money. After attempting murder on his brother, reality compels him to see the ones he trusted are frauds. And, he unites with the ones labeled as deceivers. The novel stabs with mystery, touches on romance, jolts with reality, and will have you believing in the unexplainable and trusting in the illogical.