Blinded (Alan Gregory)

I have consistently loved all of Steven White's novels. I knew this was going to be a great read and it was. Now I'm about to read Missing Persons.

I've read about everything he has written. This one is just as good as his other works. Fast paced and really keeps you interested. Just wish he'd write more...

Not many titles in the mystery/thriller genre find a permanent place on my shelves. Face it: once the riddle is solved, the thrill is gone. Stephen White's books, which have improved with almost every new title, are a notable exception. Even as I was rushing to turn pages, I knew I would read this again.Why? At every turn, the book provokes, inspires, and prickles the reader's sensibilities about big questions. White is not afraid to show his protagonist's boredom with the banality of problems that can drive wealthy (or at least insured) patients to the psychologist's office. He writes knowingly, but not cynically, of the shoals and undertows in marriage. Good people and all the world's goodwill may not withstand the fates, and this reality infuses the hopeful, but not Pollyanna-ish worldview of the story. White shows the tripwires of personal history, body image, and inattention operating to maddening perfection.These books first came to my attention because they are excellent, subversive guides to life in the Kingdom of Boulder, near where we relocated several years ago. What distinguishes this novel from its predecessors is that the story's geographic scope broadens considerably. White writes convincingly of the rural South and of the midwest; his ability to weave a throwaway detail into the rich fabric of story-telling is another factor that makes this book a keeper.What of the story itself? I am fairly good at pulling apart any reasonably constructed mystery (one that does not require total suspension of disbelief), but this one had me guessing until the last page. Almost every character -- major, minor, stalwart of the series, or brand new -- attracts at least a cloud, if not a storm, of suspicion. Some of the characters endangered by caricature in earlier books emerge here in a few masterful lines as people fully capable of wreaking the havoc engendered by evil. It's a good story and the rare thriller that can handle re-reading. So go ahead and splurge on the hardcover: it's a keeper.

Award winning voice performer Dick Hill gives an eloquent, transfixing reading of this riveting thriller. Psychological suspense is Stephen White's long suit and with "Blinded" he leaves no doubt that he's a master of that genre. Returning to his popular protagonist, psychologist Alan Gregory, author White presents a multi-layered story of death and deception. What would you do if you were a psychologist seeing a patient who mentions in a rather cavalier manner that she believes her husband has committed murder? The victim is a woman with whom she thinks her husband, Sterling, has had an affair. As if that weren't enough of a shocker - she suspects that he has murdered many other women as well. What Gregory does is check with his buddy, Sam Purdey, a Colorado police detective. The two embark on what is essentially an investigation of their own. While suspense mounts White examines at length various ethics issues involved in this conundrum, ie, doctor/patient confidentiality; can a wife be called to testify against her husband? White, a master of surprises, provides a trunk full in "Blinded." - Gail Cooke

When a new Stephen White book comes out, readers tend to celebrate. His 12-book series features Dr. Alan Gregory, Ph.D.; his wife Lauren, a prosecutor; his baby daughter Grace; his cop buddy Sam Purdy; his partner, the irascible Diane Estevez; and his dogs, Emily and Anvil. These familiar characters have evolved into a believable "family" with whom fans can identify. Each of his books offers a well thought-out plot, fully limned characters, finely wrought dialogue, and enough twists to challenge any reader's taste for thrillers.With BLINDED, the latest addition to his oeuvre, he moves away from his usual "formula" to focus on the personal lives of the Gregory's and the Purdy's --- and offers a challenging mystery the leads must solve in order to stop another victim from dying.White's fans already know that Lauren has MS and how she and her psychologist husband deal with it. While Lauren is still able to manage her life and live within her limits, the threat of "exacerbation" in MS is horrific: "Multiple Sclerosis roughly translates as many scars ... we both knew that an exacerbation --- a fresh wound on a previously unaffected nerve" could lead to eventual total disability. While addressed peripherally in his earlier books, this is the first time that White really delves into the issue.To further bring readers into the lives of his team, Sam Purdy, a wonderful supporting character, sees his marriage unraveling. Purdy has a serious heart attack, and before he is released from the hospital his wife takes their son and leaves him. To frame his story with so much personal information about his regular characters is risky business for a writer of suspense novels. After all, s/he depends upon some kind of mystery surrounded by red herrings and other clues to be the aggregate of ideas at the center of the book's architectural schematic. But in the more than capable hands of Stephen White, these challenges become the stuff of life with which readers can empathize. We see them function with their families and we travel with them through their professional commitments, warts, illnesses and hardships. They struggle with "everyman's" problems and each in her/his own way copes with the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." BLINDED is more than a character study. In an interview White said of his latest novel, "It's a tale of friendship, marriage, and serial murder. BLINDED is a series book, written in alternating first person narrations, one by Alan Gregory, and one by his police detective friend, Sam Purdy."The psychological suspense rests with Gibbs Storey, one of Dr. Gregory's former patients, who re-enters his life after a ten-year absence. She claims to have a secret with horrifying ramifications. When she is seated comfortably in his office, she "raised her fingertips to her lips and leaned forward as though she were whispering a profanity ..." and says she knows that her husband is a serial killer who has murdered at least four women.Alan keeps hi