BLINDS

WESTERN SUSPENSEAdam SternberghThe Blinds: A NovelEccoHardcover, 978-0-0626-6134-0, (also available as an e-book, an audio book, and on audio CD), 400 pgs., $26.99August 1, 20171. NO VISITORS2. NO CONTACT3. NO RETURNThose are the rules in Caesura (rhymes with “Tempura”), Texas (aka The Blinds), population forty-eight, located somewhere outside Amarillo, enclosed by a fourteen-foot fence. A twist on the United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), the population of Caesura are criminals (some are a “coiled trap,” others are “more like a malfunctioning valve, a faulty weld, a crack in a storage tank leaking toxins”). But they don’t know that. A shadowy organization called the Fell Institute has perfected a method to wipe our memories, and made a deal with the U.S. Marshals to conduct a cruel neurological and psychological experiment. All has been peaceful in Caesura for eight years, but now there are two bodies, both shot to death.The Blinds: A Novel is the latest from Edgar-nominated author Adam Sternbergh. This novel is an original fusion of mystery, comedy, procedural, suspense, and western, seasoned with a bit of science fiction — The Sopranos meets The Andy Griffith Show meets The Twilight Zone.Sternbergh has a lot of fun naming his characters: Each new citizen of Caesura is required to choose a new name using two lists; one list is the names of movie stars, the other is names of United States vice presidents. The result is characters named Spiro Mitchum and Doris Agnew, which had me giggling regularly.These characters are numerous and diverse, but because of the lack of backstories due to the memory wipes, they can’t be complex, making identifying with them and caring about them challenging. There are a few exceptions. Sheriff Calvin Cooper, our anti-hero who’s never had to load his sidearm until now, is given to rambling interior monologues. Sidney Dawes is Cooper’s new deputy. She’s officious, ambitious, and insubordinate. Fran Adams, former love interest of Cooper, is the only resident with a child, eight-year-old Isaac, born in Caesura. Fran’s only memento of her previous life, other than Isaac, is a tattoo of a series of numbers encircling her wrist.The Blinds takes place over five days, but Sternbergh takes too long building to the action, and when the action begins the unrelenting violence becomes tedious. But the plot is intricate and creative, the foreshadowing is hair-raising, the twists whiplash-inducing. And you have to appreciate a plot that employs Susan Sontag essays as a major clue.Sternbergh can turn a phrase. During a town meeting, the “crowd pulsates in the heat, murmuring, fluid and combustible.” In the bar, “a defeated ceiling fan begins its exhausted rotation.” When the climactic action begins, “The silences after the shots are the worst part. Then more shots, sharp reports, getting closer,” a resident thinks, “Like the knock of a census-taker, stopping at every door on the block, approaching yours.” Channeling Davy Crockett, Cooper says, “Let me stress that, despite the perimeter fence and the various rules, your residency here is not a punishment. You are not in jail. You are not in hell. You are in Texas.”The Blinds is about community, retribution (“a distant relative of justice”), the possibility of redemption, and the role memory plays in identity. There’s more than meets the eye to The Blinds.Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.

This is my first acquaintance with Sternbergh, but The Blinds makes me want to dig up everything else he's done. My favorite thing was probably how this book subverts your expectations. If you read a lot of crime fiction, even well written crime fiction, you'll think "oh, this characters gonna be the big bad", or "the answer to this riddle is gonna be a pager # followed by 911" etc. In The Blinds, after being wrong in these mental asides enough times in a way that didn't leave me feeling anything but admiration for the storyteller , I shut off the part of my mind looking for memes and cliches and dug the ride.

There is a lot that I wanted to like about this book. It's a wonderfully clever idea for a story. It’s very creative in many areas, great concept, poor execution. I cannot in good faith recommend this book. (Yikes, I don’t say that too often). I made it to page 250 and got bogged down (yet again) in the “telling,” of the backstory. I think that’s the main issue for me, the forward motion of the story was too often stopped dead to give backstory. Which might have been okay had the backstory been in scene instead of a background download. If the backstory can be excised and the forward motion story still stand on it’s own then there is a problem.There are also too many points of view and no hero to cheer for. Who are we supposed to like? Who are we supposed to take this journey with and watch evolve through the emotions of the story. He isn’t there.The concept of having a compound of Witsec is an amazing idea all on its own with wonderful opportunities to display character. Having the memories wiped was a step too far. It made the story a mashup of crime novel mixed with near future fantasy.The characters are all great and creative in substance but the voices are all the same. There are far too many points of view, which means we are not in any character long enough to be endeared to them, to be anchored in the story. The reader floats untethered above the story and is never fully engaged.Packaging. (I admit this is a pet peeve of mine). The book is misrepresented as a longer novel. The only reason to do this is to get more money for the book. There are 382 pages making it an average size for a thriller. If you add up the half and full pages there are 78 blank pages. That's a lot of dead trees to try and fool the consumer.David Putnam

The book was quite good, creative, even thoughtful, but the ending makes no sense in moral terms or practicality given the original premise. You can suspend your disbelief in the science easily enough, but the fact remains that there is still a little boy who is shut off from the world. The cofounder of the institute is morally bankrupt, yet doesn't pay a price for the cruelty and the people have no real leverage over her to assume that she will act in their interest at all or take their advice. There is no clear reason for the people to remain in the community and for the deputy to return. The ending is contrived, and no one gets justice. It is an interesting book and the characters are well written. The love of a mother for her son belies the fact that she is condemning him to loneliness and behavioral problems in a town full of criminals and murderers.

I liked all the characters and plotline. Took a bit to sort out who's who but that's okay.Twists and turns. Not a happy ending per se, but was right for the story.I enjoyed it.

Wonderfully crafted, engrossing book.

This is not a book I would have chosen to read myself, but as one chosen by my book club, I was very quickly hooked. Well written, with surprising turns of the plot, (it totally changed direction midway through as to how I thought it was going to go), I'd thoroughly recommend this.

This is a well-written book and an interesting concept. I couldn't get it out of my head, so I decided I better buy a copy for my son so we could discuss it.Do you really know yourself?Perhaps not.

Really adored this. Finished in 36 hours. Wonder idea for a story. Beautifully crafted. Glorious language and great characters.

Whether or not you find this an enjoyable read probably depends on how quickly you work out the twist, although it's a diverting read in the meantime.Somehow wanted more from this book, but enjoyed it with reservations. 3.5/5 for me