Blind Alley

Book Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Firestorm, Iris Johansen, returns with a psychological thriller so terrifying, so relentlessly paced, it won’t leave you time to catch your breath before the next shock comes. A forensic sculptor is locked in a deadly duel with a serial killer determined to destroy her—one life at a time.

Eve Duncan’s job is to put a face on the faceless victims of violent crimes. Her work not only comforts their survivors—but helps catch their killers. But there is another, more personal reason that Eve Duncan is driven to do the kind of work she does—a dark nightmare from a past she can never bury. And as she works on the skull of a newly discovered victim, that past is about to return all over again.

The victim is a Jane Doe found murdered, her face erased beyond recognition. But whoever killed her wasn’t just trying to hide her identity. The plan was far more horrifying. For as the face forms under Eve’s skilled hands, she is about to get the shock of her life. The victim is someone she knows all too well. Someone who isn’t dead. Yet.

Instantly Eve’s peaceful life is shattered. The sanctuary of the lakeside cottage she shares with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and their adopted daughter Jane has been invaded by a killer who’s sent the grimmest of threats: the face of his next victim. To stop him, Eve must put her own life in the balance and question everything and everyone she trusts. Not even Quinn can go where Eve must go this time.

As the trail of faceless bodies leads to a chilling revelation, Eve finds herself trying to catch a master murderer whose grisly work is a testament to a mind warped by perversion and revenge. Now she must pit her skills against his in a showdown where the stakes are life itself—and where the unbearable cost of failure will make Eve’s own murder seem like a mercy killing.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Firestorm, Iris Johansen, returns with a psychological thriller so terrifying, so relentlessly paced, it won¿t leave you time to catch your breath before the next shock comes. A forensic sculptor is locked in a deadly duel with a serial killer determined to destroy her¿one life at a time.

Eve Duncan¿s job is to put a face on the faceless victims of violent crimes. Her work not only comforts their survivors¿but helps catch their killers. But there is another, more personal reason that Eve Duncan is driven to do the kind of work she does¿a dark nightmare from a past she can never bury. And as she works on the skull of a newly discovered victim, that past is about to return all over again.

The victim is a Jane Doe found murdered, her face erased beyond recognition. But whoever killed her wasn¿t just trying to hide her identity. The plan was far more horrifying. For as the face forms under Eve¿s skilled hands, she is about to get the shock of her life. The victim is someone she knows all too well. Someone who isn¿t dead. Yet.

Instantly Eve¿s peaceful life is shattered. The sanctuary of the lakeside cottage she shares with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and their adopted daughter Jane has been invaded by a killer who¿s sent the grimmest of threats: the face of his next victim. To stop him, Eve must put her own life in the balance and question everything and everyone she trusts. Not even Quinn can go where Eve must go this time.

As the trail of faceless bodies leads to a chilling revelation, Eve finds herself trying to catch a master murderer whose grisly work is a testament to a mind warped by perversion and revenge. Now she must pit her skills against his in a showdown where the stakes are life itself¿and where the unbearable cost of failure will make Eve¿s own murder seem like a mercy killing.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

did not like as well as the rest.......2007-09-05

I did not like this one as well as the rest in the series. It just did not seem to flow as well.

Enjoyed the Ride!.......2007-09-03

I got the audio version of this book to listen to during my long daily commute. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps because this was my first Iris Johansen book, I wasn't comparing it to her earlier works. It was well read and kept me looking forward to getting in my car each morning and evening! I am glad I didn't read the negative reviews since they may have colored my opinion. Frankly, I enjoyed the characters and look forward to more books with Eve, Joe, Jane and Mark Trevor. If you enjoy forensic mysteries, give this book a try.

LOVE IT.......2007-03-09

I LOVE IRIS JOHANSEN!!!! ALL OF THE BOOKS I HAVE READ OF HERS ARE GREAT!!!!! READ THEM, YOU WON'T BE DISAPOINTED!

What a farce.......2006-12-07

This story went nowhere fast. Very unbelievable on so many levels. Jane/Chrira really bothered me and the way she grew into this pig-headed brat made the book hard to finish. I'll give her another try... but I hope Iris doesn't let me down again.

It's Not My Cup Of Tea; It Seems I'm Not Alone........2006-11-29

I found two paperbacks at work, which were both thriller series, both written by women, both having two word titles with the first word being "Blind." One of the two I found exciting and satisfying, and eagerly read it. That was not this book.

At first, I thought it was just me. Unlike others, I found it easy to get into the book. But I found it too new age for me. Between Eve talking to her dead daughter to the creepy Aldo to Jane's connection with the murdered Cira, I decided I didn't need to read the whole novel and checked to make sure Jane and Trevor survived.

Maybe this wasn't Iris Johansen's best book. But I'm not going to be trying any of her others, based on this one.

Average customer rating:

BLIND ALLEY
GEORGES SIMENON
Manufacturer: Reynald & Hitchcock
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J50WJU

Average customer rating:

Blind Alley
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: 1415902992

Product Description

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen delivers a brand new thriller. Every day brings a new challenge for the forensic sculptor Eve Duncan: identify a new victim and help bring a criminal to justice. But Eve, who uses her intuition and modeling clay the same way a sketch artist uses a pencil, is about to meet her greatest challenge yet: a killer who is going to extraordinary lengths to obscure the identity of his victims, leaving them literally faceless and with burned fingerprints. When Eve reveals the identity of the first victim, her world is turned upside down.

Average customer rating:

Callejon Sin Salida / Blind Alley
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: Ediciones Urano
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Misterio | Libros en español | Formats | Books

Animal Alert 7 - Blind Alley (Animal Alert)

Average customer rating:

Animal Alert 7 - Blind Alley (Animal Alert)
Oldfield
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340708735

4 Titles in Eve Duncan Series - The Face of Deception - Killing Game - Blind Alley - Countdown

Average customer rating:

4 Titles in Eve Duncan Series - The Face of Deception - Killing Game - Blind Alley - Countdown
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000T9S1GC

Product Description

Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

Average customer rating:

Blind Alley
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000P1MZ5M

Product Description

7 Cassettes - Cardboard Mailing Container - Read by Bernadettee Dunne

Average customer rating:

Blind Alley

Manufacturer: Pyramid Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000H0009Y

Average customer rating:

Blind Alley

Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1415902984

Average customer rating:

Blind Alley
T Thompson
Manufacturer: George Allen & Unwin Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WOVYQ8

Book Description

One keen, clear night, a polar bear cub wakes inside her warm den. Something in the moonlit stillness quietly beckons. What is it?The little cub sets out for the snow and sky and sea and ice, and the moon follows.So begins a magical journey through a starlit world filled with love and wonder. Soothing words and luminous pictures make this nighttime tale as comforting as a goodnight kiss.

Customer Reviews:

Lovely book.......2006-03-13

I read this book to my two youngest girls, 2 & 4, and they loved it. As I was reading it I wasn't sure how much of it they were really understanding, but when we got to the last page, they both let out a delightful sigh and looked up at me with a smile. It is a sweet touching story.

An Okay Book.......2006-02-22

The illustrations are pretty neat, but the story is just okay. I love polar bears, so I thought this would be a neat book for my 2 1/2 year old son, but he really isn't interested in it at all. One of our least favorite books.

A Captivating Bedtime Book.......2005-12-30

While many children's bedtime books are trite and redundant, every now and then you find one that's unique. "Polar Bear Night" is one of those books, and it immediately became a favorite of both kids and adults in our house.

It has a sparse visual style that's also very interesting - much more like retro graphic design than typical children's illustration. Still, the animal characters are each very cute and our son loves each of them.

The story is simple yet full of wonder - perfect for calming kids down before bed while also opening up their imaginations as well.

I see that Amazon is bundling this book with "Kitten's First Full Moon" and they are both great books with comparable storylines. However, it didn't take long for this book to overtake "Kitten" as our favorite each night. Enjoy!

Feel the night fever, night fever..........2005-07-26

Mmmf. Linocuts. Ask me to expound on the subject of watercolors and I'll do so for years on end. Request my opinion on woodcuts or pen and ink drawings and I'll talk your ear firmly off. Plead with me to offer a discourse on the wonders of collage and you'll be pleading just as heartily an hour later when I refuse to stop. But show me a book done entirely in linocuts and you already know my response. Mmmf. Linocuts.

This is hardly fair though. Certainly linocuts, while not the most eye-poppingly fabulous illustration technique known to man, have their own particular charm. "Polar Bear Night" proves as much. Created through the collaboration of author Lauren Thompson (best known, until now, for bringing "Little Quack" books into the world) and artist Stephen Savage, the book tempers its potentially treacly-sweet message with some cute-but-not-overly-saccharine illustrations. The result works. I'll tell you right here and now that "Polar Bear Night" isn't my favorite picture book of 2004. But it tells a sweet message and gives young young kids a good idea of what kinds of animals live on the North Pole.

A baby polar bear cannot sleep. Instead, she stares outside into the bright wintery moonlight with the undeniable feeling that something is out there. Something that is calling to her. Leaving her warm and sleeping mother's side, the polar bear cub passes a variety of different animals, all asleep and out in the open. Then she goes to the top of a mountain of snow and waits. All of a sudden, the night sky is filled with softly falling stars. In the star shower the other animals wake-up and watch in amazement. Then, when it is done, the cub is finally tired and returns home to, "mother bear's soft, warm fur". The last image in the book is of the mother softly nuzzling her baby's head.

I can see why people love this book. Thompson, who until now was content to write nice but not particularly overwhelming picture books, hones her simple words into something akin to poetry. Consider these two sentences that describe the cub as she watching the star show. "The light up everything the little bear loves. And the little bear shines bright with light too". Thompson skillfully conveys an emotion children can identify with while also making the words easy one-syllable descriptors. With this page, Thompson caught my admiration and never let it go.

Savage is different. I'm the first one to admit that the pictures here are, in their way, stunning. But there's something (forgive my phrasing) cold about the book as well. Savage places the lighting and the pacing of the illustrations in a kind of hazy dreamscape, while keeping the images here crisp, clear, and sharp. The result is a beautiful book that will please some children, but not all. This is not crime, of course. It is the rare book indeed that makes every kid happy. But for all its beauty, "Polar Bear Night" is bound to bore those children that want color and tension rather than muted tones and geometric polar animals.

It's a great book and if you know the children that you are giving it to very very well (and know them to be dreamy types from time to time who can sit and listen to moderately paced tales) then this is the purchase for you. If, on the other hand, you are thinking of passing this along to reluctant readers or kids with the attention spans of sparrows, think again. It's a nice book but linocuts are not everyone's cup of tea. It's beautiful but for some it may turn out to be a rather hard sell.

Calming, soothing.......2005-05-20

I bought this book for the daughter of a friend, and now I want to give it to everyone I know who has a pre-schooler! It is a charming tale about an adorable little polar bear on a nighttime quest. The story offers an interesting cast of characters, a spectacular meteor shower, and a happy, contented ending. The illustrations are lovely and captivating. Delightful!

Average customer rating:

A good, not great, Thompson
1953 psycho noir sets the bar
One of Thompson's Fizzles
a rather strange, gratuitously violent piece by Jim Thompson
Great hard-boiled noir novel

Savage Night
Jim Thompson
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Hard-Boiled | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0679733108
Release Date: 1991-11-05

Book Description

Is Carl Bigelow a fresh-faced college kid looking for a room, or is he a poised hit man tracking down his victim? And if Carl is really two people, what about everyone around him? Savage Night is Thompson at his best, with plot reversals and nightmarish shifts of identity.

Download Description

First class criminal Carl Bigelow has a difficult job ahead of him. How can he kill one-time hoodlum Jake Winroy without making it look like a hit? The man is about to turn evidence in to the authorities, threatening to bring the law down on the powerful crime syndicate that runs the city. Allowing Jake Winroy to live could be very bad for the career of Carl's Boss, not to mention several prominent but corrupt Long Island politicians. Luckily for Carl, Winroy's beautiful wife is bored with his drunken behavior and anxious to become a widow. It seems that she could easily be implicated in the plot by her eagerness to take up with Carl, the handsome young hoodlum.

Customer Reviews:

A good, not great, Thompson.......2007-08-28

The terse but eminently descriptive prose that is Jim Thompson's forte is on display in Savage Night, and the sense of a believable, hard-boiled world, despite the perversity missing from most ordinary lives. But the characterization slips here and there, and at the denouement is, frankly, unbelievable. For the noir reader, if not any literate reader who can appreciate the complexity this writer conveys through simplicity, Savage Night is certainly worth reading. But Thompson has written better books.I Think, Therefore Who Am I?

1953 psycho noir sets the bar.......2007-05-11

It's ticklish to comment much on SAVAGE NIGHT without giving away the plot and ending. Carl Bigelow, an unreliable and offcenter narrator, is a hitman who shows up in Pearldale, a "tank town" ninety-five miles from New York City. The five-foot, tubercular Carl is in bad shape: he wears eye contacts, shoe lifts, and false teeth. He takes a room in a boarding house and attends the local teachers' college. Actually Carl has been sent by "The Man", a shadowy crime boss in NYC, to take out Jake Winroy, a key witness to testify in a corrupt politicians case. Carl quickly puts the moves on Ruthie, the stuttering housekeeper with an odd leg deformity, and Fay, Jake's greedy and earthy wife. Carl works in a bakery adding plaster of Paris in its dough. His schmoozing with the local sheriff's matronly wife is laugh-out-loud funny. The nightmarish ending is a jolt. SAVAGE NIGHT moves fast and is a one-sitting read. It offers a multiple appeal to the fans of American gothic, hardboiled prose, and psychological suspense.

One of Thompson's Fizzles.......2006-05-13

I started this novel two years ago, put it aside, then picked it up again and decided to finish it. Getting to the last page was a chore, and I remembered why I had previously abandoned it. Thompson was a master of creating complex and doomed characters who crashed through gut wrenching stories, but it seems he gave up on this one somewhere in the middle.

The narrator, a short, youthful looking hired killer, is, at first, compelling and morbidly interesting. He seems for a few chapters to be one of Thompson's best. The plot puts him as a college student in a boarding house. In reality he is a cool and vicious killer slowly setting up his prey. There's also a steamy triangle involving him, a physically crippled house girl, and an emotionally crippled housewife. Then everything falls apart: characters randomly walk in and out of the storyline, the dialogue is stilted, and red herrings flop around gasping for breath.

An unneeded character makes a guest appearance in a flashback that mainly serves as a redundant setup to the ending's setting. Did Thompson forget that he had built a similar contrivance into another central character? Did we really need the possibility of another hideout? Must we also learn so much about a commercial bakery's operation? With a successful killer at the center of the stage, wouldn't something on the line of "greatest hits of my wicked life" work better? What was once thrilling is now tedious. The climax, such as it is, seems entirely borrowed from the panels of an EC comic.

However, with its tough, but vulnerable narrator and tense plot, and with a little tightening and a more logical ending, "Savage Night" still has the makings for a gripping Cinemax movie.

a rather strange, gratuitously violent piece by Jim Thompson.......2003-05-15

Jim Thompson wrote some fine noir novels in his time. The Getaway, The Killer Inside Me and The Grifters are amongst his famous and best works. Savage Night is definitely not in the same class but it is a curious read nonetheless.

Savage Night is a story of how a thug/fugitive enters into the lives of those living in a small college town. He is certainly a brutal character without any redeeming values (..the sort of characters often found in Thompson novels). The story meanders a bit ... in fact there isn't that much of a story at all (some talk about doing a big crime, some hanky-panky with a married woman, a suspicious sheriff, etc). But the most curious feature of Savage Night are the strange and memorable characters, most of whom are very dysfunctional and nasty.

I suppose my only disappointment with Savage Night is with what the other amazon.com reviewers consider to be an asset: its absolutely shocking ending...

Bottom line: weird almost to the extent of being surreal. But certainly memorable.

Great hard-boiled noir novel.......2002-06-22

Jim Thompson is one of America's great hardboiled/noir writers, and there will never be another writer like him. It's impossible, his background and experiences were just too varied. He wrote some terrific books, and this is my favorite of them. Savage Night follows Carl Bigelow, a pint-sized hitman who is literally falling apart. The ending is as psychotic and outrageous as they come. This should be a must read for anyone interested in american pulp/hardboiled literature. I respect Jim Thompson immensely, and hope that my own books live up to the standards he set...

Selections From The Arabian Nights, Sir Richard Burton's famous translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night, with modernized spelling and punctuation.

Average customer rating:

Selections From The Arabian Nights, Sir Richard Burton's famous translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night, with modernized spelling and punctuation.
Sir Richard Burton
Manufacturer: De Luxe Editions Club, Garden City, NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OTA96M

Product Description

De Luxe Editions Club edition. With new illustrations and decorations by Steele Savage.

Average customer rating:

Savage Nights (Savage)
Cassie Edwards
Manufacturer: Leisure
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0843958839

Average customer rating:

The Savage Night
Mohammed Dib
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0803266200

Book Description

The Savage Night collects thirteen stories by Mohammed Dib, one of the founding fathers of North African literature. Whether set in present-day Algeria, depicting the war for independence, or evoking memories of the colonial era, many of the stories in The Savage Night paint a vivid picture of the diverse facets of the Algerian question. Dib's other settings include Latin America, war-torn Sarajevo, and Paris. A major element unifying his work is the unanswered question of human brutality. In the face of our shameful indifference, Dib shows us that senseless violence is a daily reality for many. The Savage Night is the first book-length English translation of Dib's work.

Average customer rating:

so engrossing....

Savage Nights
Cyril Collard
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

so engrossing...........2000-06-22

Written by French director and rockstar Cyril Collard, this book is an engrossing confession where it is impossible to keep hope and despair apart. This largely autobiographical novel is the story of a young, gay, promiscuos man, Jean, who, after being told he's got AIDS, starts understanding the meaning of love thanks to a nervous, morbid at some times, relationship with a very young girl called Laura: whem the end comes (there is an end, actually) Jean states he's understood what love means and his farewell sounds like the triumph of life rather than of death. Collard loved life; and life, which was not unsensitive towards him, gave him the possibility to write this remarkable story, with an outstanding style that reminds of both rap music and French symbolism.

Average customer rating:

Reviewed by Alan Gerrard.

Savage Night
Jim Thompson
Manufacturer: Creative Arts Book Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0916870979

Customer Reviews:

Reviewed by Alan Gerrard........1998-04-03

Thompson's 'Savage Night' begins as a typical syndicate novel; the story of Carl Bigelow, a diminutive contract killer who's hired to murder a once well placed figure in the syndicate, who has now turned informant. Bigelow is hired by 'The Man' to silence the informent. But he mustn't make it look like a contract killing otherwise it will prompt the politicans to organise a clean up of crime in the city, and that wouldn't be good for The Man's business. So the order is clear: make it look like an accident. There is an interesting series of twists and sub-plots. In true noir-ish traditions there are two women in bigelow's life, but which one has been hired to take care of him? An interesting novel with a rather disturbing ending. It was so disturbing that it haunted me for many weeks after I'd finished reading it. Again, further proof that Thompson was the true master of the maverick crime novel. A worthy book indeed.

11 Titles By Jordan - Valentine's Night - Rival Attractions - Forgotten Passion - A Forbidden Loving - Daugher of Hassan - Dangerous Interloper - Injured Innocent - Woman to Wed - Kind of Madness - Too Short a Blessing - Savage Adoration

Average customer rating:

11 Titles By Jordan - Valentine's Night - Rival Attractions - Forgotten Passion - A Forbidden Loving - Daugher of Hassan - Dangerous Interloper - Injured Innocent - Woman to Wed - Kind of Madness - Too Short a Blessing - Savage Adoration
Penny Jordan
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

Product Description

11 massmarket paperback Titles By Jordan - Valentine's Night - Rival Attractions - Forgotten Passion - A Forbidden Loving - Daugher of Hassan - Dangerous Interloper - Injured Innocent - Woman to Wed - Kind of Madness - Too Short a Blessing - Savage Adoration

4 Titles By Sommerfield - Savage Kiss - Elusive Swan - Night Star

Average customer rating:

4 Titles By Sommerfield - Savage Kiss - Elusive Swan - Night Star
Sylvie F. Sommerfield
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PCCKK6

Product Description

4 massmarket paperback Titles By Sommerfield - Savage Kiss - Elusive Swan - Night Star

Average customer rating:

The Arabian Nights

Manufacturer: Blue Ribbon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JVFYJC

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books