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FBI Thriller #8
Blindside
FBI agents Savich and Sherlock face two baffling cases in Catherine Coulter's electrifying new thriller. Catherine Coulter's fast-paced FBI novels featuring married FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich have rocketed up the New York Times bestseller lists and garnered millions of fans. Coulter's heady blend of action and intrigue grows more intoxicating with each book-and reaches new heights in Blindside. A riveting novel of knife-edge suspense, Blindside is Catherine Coulter at the top of her game. For more about Catherine Coulter and information on events, personal appearances and to sign up for Catherine's e-mail newsletter, visit www.catherinecoulter.com
512 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 467 reviews
June 9, 2022
A great Catherine Coulter FBI thriller, this one featuring the hunt for a serial killer targeting math teachers (of all things) and the mystery behind kidnappers who targeted a 6-year-old boy. It’s always fun watching married agents Savich and Sherlock in action, and I love the pacing in these. A lot of the action takes place in rural eastern Tennessee and the descriptions of the Smoky Mountains in the fall were just beautiful, like taking a vacation. I love the way there’s always a secondary couple who find romance, and the sheriff and the defense contractor were cute together.
May 15, 2011
I thought I would try another Catherine Coulter book as I did not like the 1st one I read (The Cove) and gave her another chance. Alas, I did not like this one either. There were too many plot inconsistencies; and I did not like the writer's style, especially the corny dialogue - people do not realistically talk to each other the way she portrays them, especially small children. The plot twists were unbelievable. There was also a series of endings and not one big one which tied everything together.
The plot is this: Sam Kettering, a six year old boy, is kidnapped - he escapes - he is found running across a road with his kidnappers in pursuit by Katie Benedict, Sheriff of Jessboro, Tennessee and her five year old daughter Keeley. Sam's father, Miles Kettering, arrives in Jessboro with married FBI agents, Dillon and Sherlock Savich. The children bond. The kidnappers try again. Why do the kidnappers want this little boy so badly? The investigation leads everyone to a charismatic, intense evangelist, Reverend Sooner McCamy, and his totally loyal wife, Elsbeth. Katie falls in love with Miles. Someone burns down her house in a third kidnapping attempt. There is a subplot with the Savich team searching for a math teacher serial killer and a really minor subplot of a woman stalking Dillon in a health club. I would not recommend this book.
The plot is this: Sam Kettering, a six year old boy, is kidnapped - he escapes - he is found running across a road with his kidnappers in pursuit by Katie Benedict, Sheriff of Jessboro, Tennessee and her five year old daughter Keeley. Sam's father, Miles Kettering, arrives in Jessboro with married FBI agents, Dillon and Sherlock Savich. The children bond. The kidnappers try again. Why do the kidnappers want this little boy so badly? The investigation leads everyone to a charismatic, intense evangelist, Reverend Sooner McCamy, and his totally loyal wife, Elsbeth. Katie falls in love with Miles. Someone burns down her house in a third kidnapping attempt. There is a subplot with the Savich team searching for a math teacher serial killer and a really minor subplot of a woman stalking Dillon in a health club. I would not recommend this book.
February 17, 2021
In this book Sheriff Katie Benedict and a couple of FBI agents are on the trail of bad guys determined to snatch a 6-year old boy for unknown reasons; also a mad serial killer is targeting math teachers. I didn't like the book too much. It had a series of mini- climaxes instead of building up to one gripping ending...and some of the occurrences in the book were plain unbelievable.
June 9, 2011
I think Catherine Coulter is just not my style. The story is good enough, but she adds in other stuff I'm not interested in - like a weird sex room. Somehow this was a NYT Bestseller, so I guess other people like reading about it?
Plus, it's the same old mystery-writer's formula: obscure the real reason for the murder, add in a side story, a romance, an odd background story, a suspenseful reveal, and done. How can enough people read these mysteries again and again and not realize they're enjoying a checklist?
Plus, it's the same old mystery-writer's formula: obscure the real reason for the murder, add in a side story, a romance, an odd background story, a suspenseful reveal, and done. How can enough people read these mysteries again and again and not realize they're enjoying a checklist?
September 26, 2008
I used to read Coulter waaay long ago when she wrote historical romances, but I stopped reading her because I had pretty much grow out of that style of book and her writing was very much "old school" romance novel. But after she went into writing contemporary thrillers like this I picked her up again. I liked generally but for some reason my overall interest in her petered out.
So I saw this one as an audiobook and decided, what the heck. I needed something to listen to on a long commute and got this out.
First the plot: In this 8th book of Coulter's FBI thiller series, a young boy, Sam Kettering is kidnapped from his home and taken to a small cabin in the Tennessee mountains. During a storm he manages to escape and run into (fortuitously) the sheriff of the small town of Jessboro, Katie Benedict. Katie and her daughter, Keeley, had been driving along when they see Sam running out of the woods with his kidnappers in mad pursuit. Katie manages to pick up Sam, wound one of the kidnappers and get Sam away.
Sam's father is Miles Kettering a friend of series regulars Dillon Savith & Lacey Sherlock, two top FBI agents. Soon, Katie notifies them that Sam is safe and the FBI descend on the town. Soon is becomes clear that Sam was kidnapped for reasons other than money as the kidnappers continue to try to get at Sam even while he is surrounded by the sheriff, a slew of deputies and a bunch of FBI agents.
There is a B-plot surrounding a math teacher serial killer case that Savith and Sherlock are pursuing as well as a very, very (extremely superfluous) minor D-plot of a va-va-voomy gym-fly who keeps putting the moves on Savitch.
Also, since Coulter has her roots in romance, Miles and Katie end up getting together.
Second, the reading performance: The audiobook was read ably by Sandra Burr. Ms. Burr has a beautiful voice, rich and nicely inflected. She does a pretty good job in trying to distinguish the various players through altering her voice. There are only two really off-putting "voices" for me. 1) the kids, when she does the high piping thing to signify Sam or Kelley speaking --- just sounds awkward and 2) Katie. Burr's voice is almost too feminine, too soft for my vision of Katie. In the book, Katie comes off as a steely eyed, bad-ass. The voice for Katie seems to sweet, imo.
Third, my analysis: I gave this three stars which I think it might be a teensy bit generous. For the most part it is engaging and I did enjoy listening to it. However, I had some real plotting problems. For instance, the adults insisted on keeping Sam in the area where they knew the kidnappers and the danger still was because he had "bonded with Keeley" and they didn't want to separate the kids. Why not relocate him to a safe house far away from the threat? Take Keeley along if the bond was so deep (after just two days). Also, the ultimate motive for the kidnapping was just....lame. Okay, so we get why the person who wanted Sam orchestrated the kidnapping in the first place. What doesn't really wash is why the hired kidnappers insisted on continually going after Sam even while he was surrounded by so much law enforcement. The relentlessness of the kidnappers was seemingly all out of proportion to what they could expect as a reward for doing the dirty work. As hardened criminals, in the face of so much law, they should have cut and run. But they kept coming. And why? Well, my imaginings as the reader for why they were so determined to get Sam for the person who hired them were so much more dire and dangerous than the book eventually lays out. And finally, the bad guys were like the terminators...no matter how beat up, no matter how bashed up, no matter how incapacitated... they just manage to keep coming and keep escaping. One second they've been beaten into oblivion and then the next they are running spryly away. Or they've been knocked out by a car wreck but manage to wiggle out just before the car blows up (unseen by scads of watching law enforcement). Really, why not just let them dematerialize in front of everyone it would be just about as credible?
So I saw this one as an audiobook and decided, what the heck. I needed something to listen to on a long commute and got this out.
First the plot: In this 8th book of Coulter's FBI thiller series, a young boy, Sam Kettering is kidnapped from his home and taken to a small cabin in the Tennessee mountains. During a storm he manages to escape and run into (fortuitously) the sheriff of the small town of Jessboro, Katie Benedict. Katie and her daughter, Keeley, had been driving along when they see Sam running out of the woods with his kidnappers in mad pursuit. Katie manages to pick up Sam, wound one of the kidnappers and get Sam away.
Sam's father is Miles Kettering a friend of series regulars Dillon Savith & Lacey Sherlock, two top FBI agents. Soon, Katie notifies them that Sam is safe and the FBI descend on the town. Soon is becomes clear that Sam was kidnapped for reasons other than money as the kidnappers continue to try to get at Sam even while he is surrounded by the sheriff, a slew of deputies and a bunch of FBI agents.
There is a B-plot surrounding a math teacher serial killer case that Savith and Sherlock are pursuing as well as a very, very (extremely superfluous) minor D-plot of a va-va-voomy gym-fly who keeps putting the moves on Savitch.
Also, since Coulter has her roots in romance, Miles and Katie end up getting together.
Second, the reading performance: The audiobook was read ably by Sandra Burr. Ms. Burr has a beautiful voice, rich and nicely inflected. She does a pretty good job in trying to distinguish the various players through altering her voice. There are only two really off-putting "voices" for me. 1) the kids, when she does the high piping thing to signify Sam or Kelley speaking --- just sounds awkward and 2) Katie. Burr's voice is almost too feminine, too soft for my vision of Katie. In the book, Katie comes off as a steely eyed, bad-ass. The voice for Katie seems to sweet, imo.
Third, my analysis: I gave this three stars which I think it might be a teensy bit generous. For the most part it is engaging and I did enjoy listening to it. However, I had some real plotting problems. For instance, the adults insisted on keeping Sam in the area where they knew the kidnappers and the danger still was because he had "bonded with Keeley" and they didn't want to separate the kids. Why not relocate him to a safe house far away from the threat? Take Keeley along if the bond was so deep (after just two days). Also, the ultimate motive for the kidnapping was just....lame. Okay, so we get why the person who wanted Sam orchestrated the kidnapping in the first place. What doesn't really wash is why the hired kidnappers insisted on continually going after Sam even while he was surrounded by so much law enforcement. The relentlessness of the kidnappers was seemingly all out of proportion to what they could expect as a reward for doing the dirty work. As hardened criminals, in the face of so much law, they should have cut and run. But they kept coming. And why? Well, my imaginings as the reader for why they were so determined to get Sam for the person who hired them were so much more dire and dangerous than the book eventually lays out. And finally, the bad guys were like the terminators...no matter how beat up, no matter how bashed up, no matter how incapacitated... they just manage to keep coming and keep escaping. One second they've been beaten into oblivion and then the next they are running spryly away. Or they've been knocked out by a car wreck but manage to wiggle out just before the car blows up (unseen by scads of watching law enforcement). Really, why not just let them dematerialize in front of everyone it would be just about as credible?
October 2, 2013
yeah, yeah, yeah - it's not great literature. it requires you to suspend reality and it's predictable. but i was entertained and sometimes that's enough. my main critique? it's EAST tennessee not EASTERN tennessee.
August 27, 2022
Re-read. ;)
October 27, 2021
The romances in this series are beyond absurd.
August 26, 2014
This book was so bad I may never read her again.
March 15, 2008
Ninth book in the series, and it was no way as good as the first four.
Truly, I was not impressed. The characters, except for Sam, were really unoriginal. I didn't like the plot at all - it still made no sense. The only thing I liked was the setting. Seems it's a really beautiful spot to see.
I felt absolutely nothing between Katie and Miles except comfortability. Sure, they were attracted to each other, but I felt no sparks whatsoever. Like ending up together was inevitable.
Not impressed. Back in May when I stopped reading, if figured I'd give it some time before getting back to the series after a few disappointments. Now I wonder if I should read them to get them over with, or if I should way until I'm running out of things to read.
Sure, the action was great, but that about about the only good thing about the whole situation. That and the setting... but I think I mentioned that already.
Truly, I was not impressed. The characters, except for Sam, were really unoriginal. I didn't like the plot at all - it still made no sense. The only thing I liked was the setting. Seems it's a really beautiful spot to see.
I felt absolutely nothing between Katie and Miles except comfortability. Sure, they were attracted to each other, but I felt no sparks whatsoever. Like ending up together was inevitable.
Not impressed. Back in May when I stopped reading, if figured I'd give it some time before getting back to the series after a few disappointments. Now I wonder if I should read them to get them over with, or if I should way until I'm running out of things to read.
Sure, the action was great, but that about about the only good thing about the whole situation. That and the setting... but I think I mentioned that already.
January 19, 2018
Seemingly, I'm in the mood for a re-read of this series. They are fast-paced, so I don't get bored; weird enough that I can't always remember or guess what's going to happen; and the romance elements are low-key enough to be relatively un-annoying. Yeah, we've got the cookie cutter supporting characters, but I like Dillon & Sherlock--they continue to charm.
Re happy ending, my common sense has to point out that, I'm very sure
Re happy ending, my common sense has to point out that, I'm very sure
April 14, 2021
Statement below isn't a spoiler.
Right at the end of the book a character is revealed as being gay. 3 sentences later he's said to be a pedophile.
Being gay DOES NOT equal pedophile.
I had hoped we advanced beyond this.
Then again, I had hoped we, as a society, had advanced beyond a lot of stupidity. Guess not.
If the author had written this at the beginning of the book I would have discarded it at that point.
Right at the end of the book a character is revealed as being gay. 3 sentences later he's said to be a pedophile.
Being gay DOES NOT equal pedophile.
I had hoped we advanced beyond this.
Then again, I had hoped we, as a society, had advanced beyond a lot of stupidity. Guess not.
If the author had written this at the beginning of the book I would have discarded it at that point.
April 17, 2018
I don't like writing reviews, especially when the book wasn't good. However, it was less than not good, and if I could spare one person from the nonsense of it, I accomplished something.
I love mysteries/thrillers. This read more like a Scooby Doo episode. Ridiculous dialogue was abundant. The last 54 pages were completely unnecessary. I'm not sure why I didn't put it down long before then.
I love mysteries/thrillers. This read more like a Scooby Doo episode. Ridiculous dialogue was abundant. The last 54 pages were completely unnecessary. I'm not sure why I didn't put it down long before then.
January 9, 2017
This was a very good book with wonderful characters - the Sheriff and the children were my favorites- and a very exciting story line. My criticism is that the ending was just too perfect. The book would have been so much better with a more ambiguous ending.
September 1, 2011
The plot had some good twists, but her writing of the interactions between characters comes off as really forced.
November 6, 2012
Not one of her better efforts, good but she is usually excellent.
August 27, 2011
This is the 8th book in the FBI series. It wasn't a bad book, but wasn't my favorite either. Just kind of a book that's there, in the series. I was a bit incredulous about the ending, not the ending of the mystery, but the ending in the characters personal lives. it was way too unrealistic. If you're gonna read this as a stand-alone book, i'm not sure if you'd want to, but if you're reading the whole series, then it's a pleasant enough read.
Read
September 5, 2020I'm in an agreement with other 2 and 3 star ratings. This was my first Catherine Coulter book. It was a struggle to get through. Big plot A develops only to be minimized in later chapters. 2 kidnappers assumed killed but escape-- 1 under the eye of the FBI. Come on....this is fantasy land not a crime thriller. Then stigmata...you kidding me. Good thing I picked it up for free at a Little Library walking the neighborhood. I'd recommend it-- for fire kindling.
Read
October 24, 2019DNF. I used to read these a long time ago and I really liked them. I'm not sure why I stopped. So, I saw that we had the next one where I left off, so I picked it up, along with the next two. Guys. The writing here is just awful and cringy! Were they always like this and it's just me that's changed? Ug. I lasted about 50 pages before I gave up.
May 5, 2021
This started off good, with an interesting plot line. But it just ended up feeling like several people decided to throw in elements of other unrelated, unbelievable crap into it. The ridiculous FBI buffoons fumbling around like Barney File, the trashy tart at the gym, married in a week all combined to make it a big unpolished mess.
Read
June 5, 2016A long book, but worth reading. I did guess one of the surprises in the story, but that just made me proud of myself and didn't take away from the story at all. Would like to read more of Catherine Coulter.
July 8, 2019
Another great story that includes Savich and Sherlock. This time they are after a kidnapper who had taken the son of a family friend as well as a killer targeting math teachers. Plenty of drama and a lirtle bit of romance.
September 18, 2011
This book had too many things going on! Kidnapping, serial killer, love story, revenge. Author could have written 3 seperate books.
January 28, 2018
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I felt like it ended 4 different times. Some of the characters were odd and disconnected with the plot/main characters.
February 1, 2021
One of the worst books. Poor story line. Amateurish writing. Immature dialogue.
February 11, 2024
Blind Side, is a fast-paced (hold onto your hat) FBI Thriller, by Catherine Coulter. While high school math teachers are targeted (for no apparent reason) in Washington DC, in Virginia a precious six-year-old boy is kidnapped and transported across state lines to Tennessee. Miraculously, right in the middle of a violent storm, little shivering Sam escapes these scary thugs. When Sheriff Katie Benedict contacts Sam's frantic father, ex-FBI agent Miles Kettering, he's so overwhelmed with fear, initially, Miles mistrusts her identity. Nothing's interconnected, and nothing makes any sense. Yet, all too soon, it becomes apparent the kidnappers are not giving up; they're determined to have Sam. Could there be any possible connection to the charismatic fire and brimstone preacher, Reverend Sooner McCamy? Lock your doors, pull up the snuggly blankets, and try to quiet your nerves while you find a solution to this grizzly puzzle. Ms. Coulter doesn't disappoint. Enjoy! Gwendolyn Broadmore, author, Life Came to a Standstill.
January 20, 2022
I am reading the Catherine Coulter "FBI Thriller Series" in order, and this is the 8th one. I have read, by some of her other reviewers, that she is a romance writer that decided to switch genre. I don't agree with that. She is still writing romance novels, but cloaking them around adventures from the FBI. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy them, because I do. To me, they are a simple way to lose my mind in simple stories and just be entertained. It had got to the point, that TV was not doing that for me any more; but books are doing that. I am going to read two more of her books, and then break for a while -- and read someone else. BUT, I will come back and finish the series.
June 14, 2025
Captivating plot and excellent character development!! I felt like I was a part of the story not just reading about it.
May 10, 2018
I agree with some of the negative comments,there was inconsistency with the theme at times and humorous comments that came out of nowhere. She, like most writers, are a little too wordy in descriptions.
However, overall, I gave it a three because the action was consistent with their job/background. Although I never figured out the connection with the little boy and girl and the minister with the blood. And I would have had Cracker mixed up with the minister's cult in trying to kidnap the child. I knew right away that the minister's wife was not dead. Cracker, to me, would have been the culprit. However, it still was a good, not great read.
However, overall, I gave it a three because the action was consistent with their job/background. Although I never figured out the connection with the little boy and girl and the minister with the blood. And I would have had Cracker mixed up with the minister's cult in trying to kidnap the child. I knew right away that the minister's wife was not dead. Cracker, to me, would have been the culprit. However, it still was a good, not great read.
February 15, 2020
Some of the story was engaging. Sam and Keeley are great kids. But the entire tale is told in a disjointed way. The editing is sloppy.
Such as when our Katie Benedict, the sheriff, is talking to an FBI agent on the phone.. but yelling at her deputy, Wade. I had to reread that section over and over again.. then realized it's just as nonsensical as my first impression.
Easy to figure out why Sam is kidnapped once you introduce the whacky reverend
Such as when our Katie Benedict, the sheriff, is talking to an FBI agent on the phone.. but yelling at her deputy, Wade. I had to reread that section over and over again.. then realized it's just as nonsensical as my first impression.
Easy to figure out why Sam is kidnapped once you introduce the whacky reverend
Displaying 1 - 30 of 467 reviews