Blindfold

by Lucille Fletcher

Dr. Richard Fenton agrees to fly in a sealed plane to a secret redezvous to treat a patient whose identity and appearance have to remain unkown to him. Security, the General had said. This man had been a major scientist. It was important that he continue to be. He had gone off the rails; he had blown his top.
When he talked rationally, he talked treason. The General said to Dr. Fenton, "You may very well be our final hope."

Fenton was a distinguished and brilliant doctor. He knew it was an impossible assignment-how could you get at a man whom you couldn't even see? about whom you were told nothing but stark statistics? - but he consented. Patriotism? Medical dedication? Or was it that the General had said, "If you take this on, you will be in some personal danger"?

From his first moment on the plane, Dr. Fenton began to assemble clues to where the patient was hidden. He wore a blindfold, but he could count the seconds of the flight. He was led, stumbling, out of the plane, but the scent of honeysuckle was inescapable, and there was an identifiable texture to the ground on which he walked. These observations he made instinctively--he had been trained to observe with all his senses-and they became matters of life and death when, weeks later, seemingly, the case was finished. Successfully finished.

Because Dr. Fenton knew it wasn't finished. He was the only one who did know. It was up to him alone to prevent the fearful consequences. From the opening line of Blindfold, the reader is held, enthralled, in the great tradition of the novel of suspense--knowing everything, helpless to affect the issue, and pinning his hopes on the courage and wit of one resourceful man.

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Lucille Fletcher is best known for her suspense classic Sorry, Wrong Number, originally a radio play, later a novel, TV play and motion picture. She has written extensively for both screen and television, and is the author of several successful mystery novels, including Blindfold, . . . And Presumed Dead, The Strange Blue Yawl and The Girl in Cabin B54. She is the author of the recently successful Broadway play Night Watch, which was also a motion picture starring Elizabeth Taylor. A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Vassar College, Lucille Fletcher lived on the eastern shore of Maryland with her husband, novelist Douglass Wallop, until his death in 1985.

This author bio was adapted from the bio on the dust jacket of an Eighty Dollars to Stamford hardcover.

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loopy Cold War novel about a psychotherapist called in by a shadowy arm of the government to psychoanalyze a nuclear scientist who has gone insane and refuses to take a bag off of his head.
Unfortunately, the only mystery I really wanted solved in the book is never solved. At least Fletcher addresses it at the end with a sort of shrug-I-guess-we'll-never-know.

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absorbing, small scale and well-written Cold War espionage novel by the radio mystery legend. Fletcher constructs some very cinematic sequences throughout the book, especially the mysterious meeting in a hotel lobby. More of those would have made the short novel impressively riveting.

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was slow moving - but I presume that’s the time period/writing style.
The story was good, took a little bit to get hooked, but it did happen.

[Missy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea what happened. Maybe because it was written in the 1960s but man, I struggled to maintain interest.