Inspired by a true story
Jason Royals wouldn’t miss church for love or money. Love and money? That was a different story. Young, smart and ambitious, Jason had big plans. His future was there for the taking. And they took it. Sprinting to beat a traffic light, he caught the attention of a police officer en route to a nearby murder scene. Jason fit the description. Told, in part, from the perspective of veteran homicide detective John Marshall, Seen is the story of two men struggling to define their lives in a world all too eager to write their roles.
Award-winning author Julie G. Delegal explores the often fraught and highly contentious issues of race-based mistaken identity and the roles society tries to write for both those who enforce the law, and those charged with crimes simply by virtue of the color of their skin.
SEEN was awarded the Eric Hoffer Prize for Fiction for Young Adults in 2023, as well as a First Horizon Award for superior work by a debut author.
SEEN earned the 2022 Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) Gold Medal for Fiction in the Southeast Region. SEEN is also a finalist in the Independent Author Network (IAN) Book of the Year Awards (2022.) In a previous, unpublished form, SEEN was named quarterfinalist in the 2019 ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Contest.
Praise for SEEN
“Engaging and compelling. Seen forces one to rethink the traditional lines between cops, robbers, victims, and witnesses.”
~ Damon Jameson, retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer
“Reading the story of Jason’s experience brought tears to my eyes. The story’s sincerity and authenticity compel the reader to be empathetic.”
~ Devin D. Coleman, author of Prisoner to Poet and Turning the Curve
“A successful and beautiful experiment in empathy. . . . While you fear for Jason, suffer with Jason, come to know and love him, it’s hope that pulls you from page to page.”
~ Tim Gilmore, author of Stalking Ottis Toole: A Southern Gothic, and Repossession: Mass Shooting in Baymeadows.
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