Blink of An Eye

by Gregg Luke

Childhood was a happy, carefree time for Joseph Ramirez. At least that's how he used to remember it. But since the near-fatal traffic accident that landed him in the hospital with brain trauma, he's not so sure. Along with physical pain, Joseph now suffers recurring nightmares. Each night the heart-wrenching dreams grow increasingly vivid and graphic—to the point that Joseph's hospital roommate reports that Joseph talks in his sleep, often crying out in anguish and remorse. To complicate matters, a ruthless lawyer is challenging Joseph's innocence in the traffic accident. When defense attorney Michelle Haas comes to his aid, they discover they knew each other as children, and soon another forgotten experience comes into play—one that goes deeper than simple friendship. Are Joseph's night terrors actually repressed memories? Does he speak the truth during his unconscious midnight hours? And if so, what will that mean when Joseph's hospital roommate claims he confessed to murder? Soon Joseph realizes there's only one way to uncover the truth about his family and himself—involving reliving a past he has unknowingly worked all his life to forget. Unabridged ISBN 978-1-60861-027-3

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Lds, Mystery Thriller

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Gregg Luke is a practicing pharmacist. He received his medical training at the University of Utah. He has been writing since he could put pen to paper. He enjoys medical thrillers and is one of the first to work this genre into the LDS market.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Childhood was a happy, carefree time for Joseph Ramirez. At least that's how he used to remember it. But since the near-fatal traffic accident that landed him in the hospital with brain trauma, he's not so sure. Along with physical pain, Joseph now suffers recurring nightmares. Each night the heart-wrenching dreams grow increasingly vivid and graphic—to the point that Joseph's hospital roommate reports that Joseph talks in his sleep, often crying out in anguish and remorse. To complicate matters, a ruthless lawyer is challenging Joseph's innocence in the traffic accident. When defense attorney Michelle Haas comes to his aid, they discover they knew each other as children, and soon another forgotten experience comes into play—one that goes deeper than simple friendship. Are Joseph's night terrors actually repressed memories? Does he speak the truth during his unconscious midnight hours? And if so, what will that mean when Joseph's hospital roommate claims he confessed to murder? Soon Joseph realizes there's only one way to uncover the truth about his family and himself—involving reliving a past he has unknowingly worked all his life to forget.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow moving, tells of the worst of humanity, and the resilience of the human spirit.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Joseph Ramirez, a middle school science teacher and a good man. After being the victim of a terrible car accident that leaves him with a serious head injury, Joseph suddenly starts remembering bits and pieces of a horrendous childhood he previously couldn't recall.
Through a series of events including meeting a gifted psychiatrist , a good attorney and experiencing debilitating nightmares, Joseph is finally able to unravel the mysteries of his forgotten childhood and get the answers he's been searching for.
The novel is interesting and engaging, but not my favorite of Luke's.

[Ranee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the happy ending of a traumatic childhood & accident. Makes you pray for every child in an abusive home!

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay story. Some was predictable, which made it leas interesting.

[E Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping tale that you won't want to put down until you finish it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was difficult to read about the child abuse Joseph endured--he's also a medical miracle. So, it was great to have a "happy ending."

[David Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most uplifting book, but I like that Gregg Luke's books are not super predictable. He brings fresh ideas to his books.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first novel I have ever read by Gregg Luke and I have to admit I was impressed. Blink of an Eye is a medical/ psychological thriller that looks at the impact of traumatic brain injury on one man's life. Joseph Ramirez leads an ordinary quiet life as a school teacher when he is involved in a car accident that alters his memory forever. Soon bits and pieces of his childhood begin into come back dreams and he learns that it was anything but ideal.
Gregg Luke unravels the page turning plot little by little in short well written chapters that leave you wanting to know more. The detail is incredible and I found the methods used by the psychologist sound and accurate. A lot of research and hard work went into describing the process of hypnotherapy and regression used by the psychiatrist working on Joseph's case. Blink of An Eye is not for the faint of heart as it describes the abuse Joseph and his family were forced to endure. It tells a gripping story that could very well be many people's reality who deal with domestic violence and child abuse daily in their homes. This is a hard one to put down once you have started. You'll want to know exactly what did or did not happen to Joseph and what secrets lay in his past.
It's one I likely will never forget since it brings to light many of the issues I worked with as a child protective service worker and domestic violence victim's advocate. It's a book that leaves an impression. To learn more about the author visit his website at http://greggluke.com/2201.html

visit our site at http://fireandicephoto.blogspot.com for achance to win an Autographed copy

[LuAnn]

I had such hopes for this book. I had heard it was fabulous, and I'll admit that the first four chapters had me convinced those readers were right, but by chapter five the book began to slow down and get off track from the real story, and that was very disappointing. (Spoiler alert) However, that is not the only reason I gave the book only 2 stars. I was shocked and offended by the cliched use of dialect for both the Hispanic and German/Scandinavian characters. I've known lots of people from both these cultures, and none of them have ever spoken like this--only poorly acted TV or movies depict these people in this manner. I had a great deal of trouble believing most of the story. No one--under hypnosis or not--remembers repressed dreams in such detail, especially not enough to write them down in the way this character does. A school lawyer would not be handling a case such as this, especially if she has a romantic interest in her client. The police seem to be totally inept at handling anything that might potentially go to court, and the hospital roommate was an unreliable plant by the author to add suspense. A good lawyer would NEVER have spoken to her client about these types of things in front of him. A psychiatrist would not make the value judgments he does. An the main character would not go running off at the end to investigate, thinking only I can buy my way out of the 25 years in prison. I always admire those who have books accepted for publication, but I hate it when I feel cheated by the unbelievable manner in which what could have been a great story ended up being told.

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for the book club I'm a member of, otherwise I would probably have never picked this up.

The book is about a man named Joseph who is severely injured in a horrible car accident in the first chapter and is in a coma for 3 weeks. Up until then he thought he had had a fairly good life, but could not remember his early childhood. With the accident, Joseph dreams horrific nightmares about his early childhood that set him on a journey to find out the truth about his early years.

Part psychological thriller, and part medical drama, this book is about family secrets. I say this a lot as a social worker, but have found it to be true: you're only as sick as your secrets. Joseph's inner secrets have made him very sick and they manifest in scary ways.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. This book is from an LDS author and every time Joseph's religion was mentioned, it took me completely out of the story. I was also annoyed that the protagonist was too perfect. No one is that perfect. The author makes it seem like Joseph has never made a single mistake in his life. The breeches in client confidentiality between Joseph and his lawyer was something that also rang incredibly untrue to me.

Overall, if you want a quick read that's not to taxing on the brain, consider picking it up.

[Jesse Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blink of an Eye is a medical thriller about Joseph Ramirez, a teacher in a small town in California, who suffers traumatic brain injury in a major car accident. Physically he recovers pretty quickly but he is plagued with nightmares about a childhood that he doesn’t remember.

The rest of the book is Joseph trying to find a way to discover what the terrible family secret is that his dreams are making him remember.

There’s a great deal of build up to the ending and it’s a pretty satisfying ending as it neatly explains the trauma that made him forget as well the reason that nobody else seems to know what happened either.

The book is also surprisingly accurate in its use of medical and psychological procedures to tell a story. The author has done his research — or has a background in the medical field.

This is, also a piece of LDS fiction — not a book by an LDS author but one that also has LDS characters and is published by an LDS publisher. This is one of the rare cases where the story is good, the writing is well done and there are no long drawn out moments of religious navel gazing as is common in many of these books.

It was an enjoyable mystery story with some very real and scary personal situations.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book but it moved rather slowly at the beginning. Great plot but really technical at places. Jose or Joseph Ramirez was in a serious car accident and miraculously survived. Through his recovery at the hospital he starts having dreams. These dreams could easily be called nightmares as he wakes up in cold sweats and trouble breathing. His hospital roommate is awakened too and since Joseph doesn't remember the happening is enlightlened to know that he calls out names...his siblings.
Through therapy he finds that the dreams are closed off memories of his childhood that he has blocked out because of their horridness. His father Estefan was a drunk and abusive husband and father. He would "punish" his children and wife for not being or doing things to his liking. Joseph's repressed memories reveal his father's disappearance as a death that happened when his father was trying to leave him on a bird island and then slipped onto a sharp branch that he's used to hit Joseph with.
Through all his healing and recollections, he finds that his lawyer and later old friend Michelle Haas is with him to the end.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The plot is intriguing, has plenty of twists and is obviously well researched. The details and descriptions are vivid and real, but the scenes of violence are largely sounds heard in the background and emotions the child-Joseph felt, so they shouldn't be at all difficult for any but the very most sensitive readers. My only issue is that he has Joseph's Hispanic mother speaking to him in accented English instead of in Spanish (as she almost certainly would have been when they held private conversations), but the light dialect Gregg gives her makes it easy to keep this woman's background and history in mind with every sentence and makes her more real too, so that's just a tiny quibble. I love that she's constantly trying to push him toward a relationship--as long as the woman is "e'Spanish" like he is--and that she thinks his LDS conversion nine months earlier is just a phase he'll grow out of.

If you haven't read any of Gregg's books, go check them out on his website, or pick one up at a store--you can't go wrong. I expect he's got another serious contender for this year's Whitney finalists!

[Sheila (sheilasbookreviewer) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Gregg Luke's books. The thing I like the most, is that they all
are very different. Blink of an Eye starts off with a bang! The first page
has one of the most wonderful hooks that I have ever read! The first line says,
"It happened in a blink of an eye". From there you find out how the main character, Joseph Ramirez, is in an almost fatal car wreck. Gregg is so wonderful at "showing" what happens, that you can almost feel the pain Joseph is going through right after the wreck. He has mastered the art of showing not telling.

To read more of my review of Blink of An Eye, please go to my blog at
http://www.whynotbecauseisaidso.blogs...

[E.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mother-in-law lent me this book to read. I am a fan of these types of books because I can get through them quickly and they leave me feeling happy. I hadn't ever read anything by Gregg Luke before and I wasn't sure what to expect. The book fascinated me. It deals with Joseph who is in a car accident. As he is recovering he starts experiencing these nightmares that deal with his past. It is interesting because even as the audience is learning about his past, Joseph wakes up with few recollections about it. I thought this was a great book that covers human psychology.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joseph Ramirez had head trama as well as other injures in a car accident. While healing after surgery he suffers terrible nightmares and needs to know if they are just dreams or real events that happened in his past before the time his father disappeared when Joseph was 10. More a psychological story about abuse and how the mind works than much real action. Very slight love story thrown in to appease his female readers, I think. A bit different but I enjoyed it.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book much more than the last Gregg Luke novel I read. This one has very compelling characters and storyline. I feel that when the author is able to make me actually feel an emotion towards the characters then they have done their job well. I felt very angry towards a few different characters in this one. A well-depicted novel of what many children in this world have to endure privately.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like all of Gregg Luke's books, because he puts plenty of legitimate science in the story to make it interesting, but explains it well enough that it can be understood. This book was no exception. It also had enough psychology to really draw me in (I work in behavioral health). The story was very engaging, and I had a hard time putting it down! I think that this is my favorite of Gregg Luke's books.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story--and a great way to tell it! Joseph is literally hit (in his car) by a cement truck and lives. His rehabilitation takes months and while he starts to heal, he starts dreaming of a life he doesn't remember. Incidently, he is a recent convert to the church while his family is still staunch Catholic. Quite a page turner. I loved that the chapters were so short so I could justify reading one more chapter before I turned out the lights.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really slow to start. So far, there have been a lot of descriptions of pain and medical procedures with some dreams sprinkled in. I am about a quarter of the way in.

UPDATE: Wow, this got really good! I am thinking it is because I stopped listening to to audio book- the reader on it does some really really annoying female voices! Anyway, the book has drive and everything! Almost done...

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different approach to presenting the mystery. The first chapter had me eager to follow Joseph and his progress. The action was in dreams he was having about his forgotten past. Along the way he was helped by some good doctors and his lawyer. Both Joseph and the lawyer were characters I would like to be friends with. It took place in Solvang, CA, one of my favorite towns. The book brought back good memories of our trip there. I could taste the yummy Danish pastry again.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book. To say that there was no LDS link isn't right. In fact it's pretty heavy when he gets a blessing. However beyond that it really isn't. It's an interesting psychological adventure for this poor kid. I didn't really hold that the lawyer who seemed good and ethical would really break the law for no real reason beyond wanting to. Outside of that it seemed all just as believable.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down! While recovering from a car accident Joseph starts having dreams of a childhood he doesn't remember having, a violent, often drunk father who takes out his anger on Joseph. Joseph wonders if the dreams are really what happened and if they are real why he has repressed them and why did the accident trigger the dreams to begin with.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and I thought it was well written. I guess it was just hard to read so much of the cruelties and severe abuse(physically, emotionally and mentally)inflicted on a child. It went into great detail and it made me so sad and sick. I know these types of things really do happen and it's just horrible.

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story starts out quickly--with a serious traffic accident. Joseph is in a coma for 3 weeks and then starts his recovery. He has very disturbing dreams that almost seem like flashbacks to his past--a past that he can't remember (before the age of 10).

There were some twists and turns and it was entertaining, but it was hard to hear about the serious abuse that happened to a child.

[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Genre:LDS fiction/suspense) When Joseph Ramirez awakens from a 3 week coma following a car accident, he begins having disturbing dreams of his childhood. With the help of his psychiatrist he begins to explore repressed memories from a painful childhood, always wondering what was the tragic event that pushed him to 'forget' his life before age 11.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story, about a man with rediscovered memories of awful events in his childhood. It moved along well, but I really wasn't comfortable with the level of description of the abuse. Also, some of the characters seemed a little too stereotyped by their language. The romance was nice, but under-developed, almost like an afterthought

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very intense, and full of surprises. The characters were very likeable,at least the lead characters.I found the psychology of the lead character Joseph to be very interesting. Very good book !!

[Spring Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book, but had a hard time with the blatant physical and verbal abuse the main character had to suffer. Plus, his mother just put up with it. What kind of woman would allow anyone to hurt their children? I just don't get that mentality. No one will ever hurt my children!