Blind Fear

by Hilary Norman

In a dark room in a house in the middle of New York State, a young woman lies drugged, bound and at the mercy of of a sinister killer who regards each captive not as flesh and blood, but as mere raw material.

Genres: Thriller

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Born and raised in London, loved reading but deeply lazy about writing at school, preferring drama. A brief acting career, then moved into the production side at the BBC's radio drama department - later at London's Capital Radio, by which time the writing "switch" had been flicked on. Spent as much time as possible travelling in the US, working and writing. First novel, IN LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP published in 1986 after five years of writing. Wrote sagas with big dramatic finishes in the early days, and then, as the body count rose, made the move into psychological suspense and thrillers. Last book LAST RUN soon out in trade paperback, and the latest (and 20th) -RALPH'S CHILDREN - out soon in hardcover.
Living in London with husband Jonathan, and dog Poppy.

Reviews

[Artur Łęczycki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ta książka ma bardzo nie wykorzystany potencjał :( Autor chyba nie umiał się zdecydować czy chce pisać romans czy kryminał i wyszło mu coś pomiędzy, czyli nic. Akcji na 15 minut, romansu na 10. Wiele rzeczy, które są nie realne - nikt nie zauważył narkomanki (sic!), pies ma inteligencję człowieka, człowiek po wielogodzinnej hipotermii i wycieńczenia może żyć, etc. Sorry, ale ja jej nie polecę - mordowałem się z nią przez 4 miesiące i to jest czas kompletnie stracony.

[Luella · Rating 2 out of 5]

reading in German, more bad romance than thriller. didn't like Joanna much. acceptable ending.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blind Fear by Hilary Norman is a thriller about a woman who trains service dogs and who is enticed to go to America to provide a dog for a blind sculptor. Little does she know, there's a serial killer on the loose in the area...

The writing isn't the best - a lot of the exposition is pretty clunky and some of the dialogue feels stilted. But I got totally into the completely mundane story of Joanna and her journey. So much so that the intermittent bits about the serial killer actually annoyed me! I would have been very happy for the whole book to be a fascinating exploration of disability and art, relationships with dogs, and a slow-burn romance. Of course, 100 pages from the end, everything got very silly and very tense and very over-the-top, though I did feel like the climax was too dragged out. I also had some issues with some of the author's choices regarding racial and cultural presentation of certain characters. But overall, I was engaged throughout and a lot of it (outside of the thriller aspects) was very involving.

[Olna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Thriller-Part nimmt einen erschreckend kurzen Teil des Buchs ein. Der Rest ist im Grunde eine Liebesgeschichte, die mal mehr und mal weniger Substanz hat und für den Leser eher frustrierend ist. Das Ende wirkte auf mich dann sehr grob zusammengefasst, lieblos.
Was mich allerdings die ganze Zeit bei Laune gehalten hat, war der Schreibstil. Was das angeht ist das Buch ein kleines Gemälde. Sehr schöne, zeitweise sogar zarte Wortwahl.
Aber wenn man ein Thriller-Fan ist, liefert das Buch absolut nicht ab.

[Geraldine Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story. I want to read all her books.