Blind Spot by Terri Persons
| Blind Spot by Terri Persons | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Kerry King
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| Summary: A supernatural Silence of the Lambs - a promising start and a nail-biting finale with a middle that was decidedly mediocre. Persons might be one to watch for the future, but Bookbag doesn't recommend you buy this debut. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Maybe |
| Pages: 352 | Date: March 2007 |
| Publisher: Century | |
| ISBN: 978-1846051319 | |
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I had really, really high hopes for this book as it's so far up my alley it might as well be called Up Kerry's Alley by Terri Persons. I am entirely fond of a supernatural thriller and found the first 66 pages to be as brilliant as I had hoped and expected. The protagonist of the tale, Bernadette Saint Claire or Cat as she is called for she has odd eyes, just like the Catahoula Leopard dogs that share the same trait, is a tiny, Mia Farrow-esque hardnut-FBI-agent with a twist. She can see through the eyes of the killers she hunts.
As you can imagine, this gives her both an advantage and a disadvantage. It makes her a "dangerous maverick" in her field and she is shunned by her dubious, disbelieving, alienated colleagues. Whilst Cat's "gift" helps her stalk her criminal prey, it leaves her hollowed; harrowed and exhausted by the visions she is exposed to.
So far so great, actually. I like teeny, feisty female characters that have more to them than meet the eye, (odd or otherwise) and however unlikely they appear to be. I mean, we're reading fiction here, people!
However, page 67 through to about page 160 was not the same fast-paced, intrigue-loaded touchstone as its beginning. The tale got off to a fantastic, surging start and made promises of an equally slick, velocitous ending but the mid-section of the story seemed at times to be irrelevant or if relevant in part, dull. Thus I found it difficult to tie the two excellent start/finish components together to make it work the way it should. I was actually bored in the middle and I hate that.
As far as the characters are concerned I liked Cat. She was dynamic and yet feminine at the same time. I was not terribly sure of the point of August Murrick as his presence seemed to merely validate the possibility of a sequel and in my view, sequels should come naturally. The character of the killer is an inevitable collage of every single FBI serial killer movie character you have ever seen. Yawnola!
I really started to enjoy this book again when it got to the final chase. Like the start, this was well written and also had the sort of nail-biting climax you expect from this genre. Overall, though, whilst a tremendously good effort for a first novel, Blind Spot left me feeling a bit cold and almost betrayed by its midsection.
Thank you to Random House for sending Blind Spot to us at The Bookbag.
This book will probably give you a taste for other supernatural-style thrillers. You may also enjoy some of Dean Koontz's better offerings, including the Brother Odd books and more genre-specifically, Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, a spine-tingling novel that resurrects the character of Jack Sawyer from their previous collaboration on The Talisman, which has also been compared to Thomas Harris's quartet of Hannibal Lecter novels.
However, if you prefer your thrillers to be a little more gritty and British than mystic and mysterious, you may want to try Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Blind Spot by Terri Persons at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Blind Spot by Terri Persons at Amazon.com.
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