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Blue Hole
An off-beat, darkly humorous novel of the South in the 1960s follows two teenagers as they search for a missing boy believed to be living on a hippy commune. 35,000 first printing. Tour.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 10, 1999
2 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
G.D. Gearino
7 books7 followersG.D. (Dan) Gearino, a thirty-year veteran of the newspaper and magazine industry, has worked as a reporter, columnist and editor for publications in Florida, Colorado, Wyoming, Michigan, Montana and Alberta, Canada. He joined the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. as business editor in 1993, and later spent ten years writing a well-regarded and award-winning column.
Gearino was born in Atlanta and is a 1975 graduate of the University of Georgia, where he earned a degree in film studies.
In the early 1990s, Gearino embarked on a second career as a novelist. His first book, “What the Deaf-Mute Heard,” was published by Simon & Schuster in January 1996, and was the winner of the 1996 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, North Carolina’s top fiction prize.
A Hallmark Hall of Fame production of the novel was broadcast on CBS in November 1997, and was the highest-rated TV movie of the decade. It also was the top movie in Hallmark’s history, in terms of total numbers of viewers, and received three Emmy nominations. His second book, “Counting Coup,” was published in July 1997 and a third novel, “Blue Hole,” was published in August 1999. His most recent novel, “Wrong Guy,” was published in October 2005. Work on a fifth book has commenced.
Gearino also is the winner of Chowan College’s Hobson Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters, and the Grady Award from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism, given for career achievement.
Gearino was born in Atlanta and is a 1975 graduate of the University of Georgia, where he earned a degree in film studies.
In the early 1990s, Gearino embarked on a second career as a novelist. His first book, “What the Deaf-Mute Heard,” was published by Simon & Schuster in January 1996, and was the winner of the 1996 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, North Carolina’s top fiction prize.
A Hallmark Hall of Fame production of the novel was broadcast on CBS in November 1997, and was the highest-rated TV movie of the decade. It also was the top movie in Hallmark’s history, in terms of total numbers of viewers, and received three Emmy nominations. His second book, “Counting Coup,” was published in July 1997 and a third novel, “Blue Hole,” was published in August 1999. His most recent novel, “Wrong Guy,” was published in October 2005. Work on a fifth book has commenced.
Gearino also is the winner of Chowan College’s Hobson Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters, and the Grady Award from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism, given for career achievement.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 25, 2025
4 stars mainly because I couldn’t get into the book at first but in the end it’s a great book!
December 21, 2021
…police stations and sheriff's offices make everyone in them feel like trailer park-living, side meat-eating, underwear-tugging, polyester-wearing members of the underclass. How can you not see, hear or even smell that? G.D. Gearino's books create a true parallel universe for you as you read them. I can taste the chicken fried steak in the café and my elbows are sticky as if they had actually been on that table. This is his third novel and it's marvelous. Treat yourself to this one or one of his other two. And tell your friends.
December 16, 2016
When i started to read the book i wasn’t as interested as i thought i would be, but once i got into it i had to finish it ASAP. I love how the author gets into extreme details throughout the whole story, and when he gives the characters backstories. I especially enjoyed the backstory of Lucas, it was so intriguing. But there were times where it just seemed like the author was jumping off topic, but i suppose that’s what happens. I would recommend this book to any young adult that enjoys mystery books with a twist, and the book it pretty relatable to that age group.
April 16, 2020
Re-read this after many years, and enjoyed it once again. I think this is a better book than Counting Coup, with the foreshadowing integrated better into the story. If you enjoyed Deaf Mute, check this one out.
January 14, 2024
A good read but I found the twisty plot a little too tedious. It might have benefitted from a more
straightforward approach. Overall, clever and nicely done.
straightforward approach. Overall, clever and nicely done.
January 24, 2008
G. D. Gearino, Blue Hole (Simon and Schuster, 1999)
Gearino returns with his third novel about small-town life in Georgia, this one a mystery about a missing teenager, a Utopian commune, and a well-meaning high school boy who tries to connect the dots.
Charley Selkirk finds himself kicked out of high school and girlfriendless after defending a black football player with his own brand of off-the-cuff justice. Faced with a lifetime of nothing to do ahead of him, he hires on as temporary help for town photographer (and Gearino regular character) Tallassee Tynan. The two of them, while visiting one of Tynan's subjects, are told the woman's grandson is missing. Tynan wants to drop it; Selkirk (probably still staring that lifetime of nothing to do in the face) wants to investigate. He wins; complications ensue.
The plot gets stretched pretty thin in places in this book (having not read Gearino's previous work, I'm not sure exactly how thin it is; some things that look like major coincidences here may have popped up in his two previous novels), but the plot should be taking second seat to the characters and descriptions in this one. Blue Hole is peopled with the kinds of characters one always hopes to find in real life, but never quite does-- they look like stereotypes on the surface, but there's a level beneath that makes them anything but. The good-ole-boy sherriff has a collection of oddities he's come across during his time in office; the paranoid vet may have very good reasons to be paranoid. Etc. When the book slips in place A, it's always made up for in place B. That leads to inconsistency, but doesn't make the book any less worth reading. *** 1/2
Gearino returns with his third novel about small-town life in Georgia, this one a mystery about a missing teenager, a Utopian commune, and a well-meaning high school boy who tries to connect the dots.
Charley Selkirk finds himself kicked out of high school and girlfriendless after defending a black football player with his own brand of off-the-cuff justice. Faced with a lifetime of nothing to do ahead of him, he hires on as temporary help for town photographer (and Gearino regular character) Tallassee Tynan. The two of them, while visiting one of Tynan's subjects, are told the woman's grandson is missing. Tynan wants to drop it; Selkirk (probably still staring that lifetime of nothing to do in the face) wants to investigate. He wins; complications ensue.
The plot gets stretched pretty thin in places in this book (having not read Gearino's previous work, I'm not sure exactly how thin it is; some things that look like major coincidences here may have popped up in his two previous novels), but the plot should be taking second seat to the characters and descriptions in this one. Blue Hole is peopled with the kinds of characters one always hopes to find in real life, but never quite does-- they look like stereotypes on the surface, but there's a level beneath that makes them anything but. The good-ole-boy sherriff has a collection of oddities he's come across during his time in office; the paranoid vet may have very good reasons to be paranoid. Etc. When the book slips in place A, it's always made up for in place B. That leads to inconsistency, but doesn't make the book any less worth reading. *** 1/2
August 23, 2009
This mystery is absorbing and has some quirky well-drawn characters. It is set in the early 1960's, a small southern town dealing with Vietnam and integration. Gearino talks about tough experiences but has an overall optimism and belief in the goodness of most people that is refreshing. Gearino's other book, What the Deaf-Mute Heard, was made into an excellent Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. I'm going to read it when I can find it.
September 16, 2015
This book is beautifully written Gearino paints lovely settings with words. I loved his description of Southern heat in chapter 5. The characters were unique, well developed, and a great plot with several subplots made putting down the novel difficult.
December 6, 2009
A young man's coming of age in the south with the draft, hippies, drugs, corruption, and a mother's secret all in play.
October 3, 2014
J D Gearino has such a way with words, character and plot developments and twists! This was a good, good read...!
July 3, 2015
I read this in high school. Exciting, and interesting. Not normally something I would pick up but definitely one of my new favorites.
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December 18, 2015I read this for school in Texas when I lived there in 2005/06. I gave it a 4 back then.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews