Rating: 
Summary: Look at a map...please!
Review: The book was good and kept me reading until the very end, but I was disappointed by an obvious error. When going from Georgia to Indiana via Louisville, Sam wouldn't be anywhere near Columbus,Ohio and Route 65 doesn't even go through Ohio!
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Page Turner!
Review: This is the 12th in the series featuring psychologist Alan Gregory. Gregory first meets Gibbs Storey and her husband Sterling in couples therapy. Years after last seeing her, Gibbs Storey she once again contacts Alan Gregory for help. She thinks her husband may be a serial killer and wants Alan to help report him to the police. Alan's good friend, police detective Sam Purdy suffers from a mild heart attack early in the story and is not an official factor in the case. This tends to keep Alan more on the sidelines of the investigation than in earlier stories in the series. Sam does take an interest in Gibbs and starts to investigate when it is reported that Sterling may have drowned. His investigation leads to some startling revelations.While this is not the best book in series, it is still an engaging novel. This can be read as a stand alone novel, but one of the strengths of this series is the ongoing development in the personal stories of all the major characters. The plot itself was a bit simplistic and somewhat contrived. The surprise ending was not really a surprise to me so that was disappointing. The story did draw me in and it was a fairly quick read. I would recommend first time Stephen White readers to start with one of his earlier works since this is not the best of a very good series.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best of the series, but still worth the read
Review: This is the 12th in the series featuring psychologist Alan Gregory. Gregory first meets Gibbs Storey and her husband Sterling in couples therapy. Years after last seeing her, Gibbs Storey she once again contacts Alan Gregory for help. She thinks her husband may be a serial killer and wants Alan to help report him to the police. Alan's good friend, police detective Sam Purdy suffers from a mild heart attack early in the story and is not an official factor in the case. This tends to keep Alan more on the sidelines of the investigation than in earlier stories in the series. Sam does take an interest in Gibbs and starts to investigate when it is reported that Sterling may have drowned. His investigation leads to some startling revelations. While this is not the best book in series, it is still an engaging novel. This can be read as a stand alone novel, but one of the strengths of this series is the ongoing development in the personal stories of all the major characters. The plot itself was a bit simplistic and somewhat contrived. The surprise ending was not really a surprise to me so that was disappointing. The story did draw me in and it was a fairly quick read. I would recommend first time Stephen White readers to start with one of his earlier works since this is not the best of a very good series.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Page Turner!
Review: This is the first Stephen White novel I've read, and it didn't disappoint! There are some great suspenseful moments in this book, and the ending surprised me. I'm definitely going to check out his other books!
Rating:
Summary: Regarding previous review
Review: To the reviewer who began with 'Look at a map...please!' there is a Columbus in Indiana, which is south of Indianapolis and thus makes perfect sense.
As for the book itself, it was okay. I'm a psychologist and so like reading books with psychologists as characters. He does a decent job of describing a somewhat psychodynamic oriented therapist, but the story itself is not that compelling, and I predicted the ending halfway through. Myself, I prefer Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels.
Rating:
Summary: This latest thriller from Stephen White will rivet readers
Review: 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 his professional cool as he probes Gibbs for information that will give him a clue as to what is really going on: "My mind raced ahead of her, but I tried to keep my focus. I decided not to say what was on my mind. Things that are unimportant to the progression of therapy may be crucial to the prosecution of a murder." Was she telling the truth? Was she delusional? Was she attempting to get revenge for all the cheating her husband did? Dr. Gregory and Sam Purdy are immediately drawn into the vortex created by the chaotic aftershocks of Gibbs's bombshell news. While Gibbs plays a coy game in her therapy sessions with Gregory, she is more of a seductress with Sam, who decides to use his medical leave to investigate this strange, often surreal-sounding accusation against Sterling Storey. Two points of view is the novelistic devise White uses to tell his story. Said White to an interviewer, "BLINDED is actually written in alternating first-person narrations, with half the story told from the point-of-view of a character, Sam Purdy, whose voice I've never used before. [The alternating voice is Alan Gregory's.] The structural flexibility permits [me to] inject freshness into each new series book. In each new book I try to allow the story I want to tell to dictate the narration and the point-of-view." In the same interview he said, "I write books to entertain, pure and simple. People don't pick up thrillers to be preached to, they pick up thrillers hoping to feel the imperative to turn pages long after their bedtime has come and gone." Stephen White has gone far beyond this goal in all of his books, but BLINDED is fresh and the new approach to his ensemble is sure to rivet fans and garner new readers to his work. One note: the notion of a series often intimidates readers new to an author, but have no fear about this writer's collection --- you can jump right in at book twelve with no problem. --- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
Rating:
Summary: Page-turning thriller!
Review: When Gibbs and Sterling Storey quit marriage counseling ten years ago and moved to California, psychologist Alan Gregory thought he would never hear from them again. Then Gibbs shows up with an announcement that knocks Alan for a loop--she believes her husband has murdered a friend of theirs in California. After some serious maneuvering, Alan notifies the police with the information, and tries to get Gibbs to a safe place in case Sterling is angered to the point of hurting her. Gibbs blows him off and says she doesn't believe Sterling would harm her, although she does think he has killed more than one woman. Alan gets permission to share the information with his friend Sam, a detective with the Boulder police department. Sam also befriends Gibbs, and works to protect her from danger. The more Alan and Sam dig into Sterling's past, the more intrigued they become. Did Sterling really commit murder? Will Alan be able to help Gibbs, or will her bravery get her into trouble? Blinded is a thrilling ride from start to finish. It's refreshing to read a novel where both a psychologist and a police officer are intelligent, rational people. They act just as I would hope real people from those particular professions should act. They want to help Gibbs, but they remain professional and don't go off on unbelievable tangents. I found myself respecting and believing the characters even more because of this. Alan's relationship with his wife Lauren and their daughter Grace is beautiful to read. Lauren's MS is an added dimension that is obviously well-researched. The many plot twists will keep the reader intrigued. It kept me turning pages late into the night as I wanted to unravel the motives behind the killings. I did figure out the final twist before it was revealed, but that didn't take away from the excitement of this thrilling book. I haven't read anything by Stephen White before, but will definitely be reading the eleven previous novels featuring Alan Gregory. In no way did I feel shortchanged, like I was coming into the middle of a series, the author writes as if this is a completely stand alone novel. Blinded is a psychological thriller with many facets. Nothing is as it seems, yet the reader can feel confident that Alan and Sam will make everything all right in the end. -Melissa Parcel
Rating:
Summary: Engaging, well written
Review: White's style is engaging and enjoyable. The characters made me care amout them and the action kept me fully committed and my disbelief suspended.
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