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After trying his hand at spy fiction in The Company of Strangers, Robert Wilson returns to his detective-thriller roots with The Blind Man of Seville, a grimly bewitching and character-driven yarn about people confronting their most hidden horrors.
"It was only right that there should be at least one murder in Holy Week," muses Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón as he's called out during Spain's Semana Santa festivities to probe the death of a prosperous Seville restaurateur, Raúl Jiménez. The deceased was found strapped to a chair with his eyelids removed, facing a television on which had been showing a video of him entertaining prostitutes. Jiménez's heart had failed as he struggled to escape. This murder is "more extraordinary than any I have seen in my career," Falcón tells the businessman's widow, as he embarks on an investigation that will lead to the slayings of a hooker and an art dealer, and force the homicide cop into a game of wits against a killer obsessed with the contradictions between illusion and reality. Meanwhile, Falcón is himself obsessed with the long-secreted journals kept by his late father, a famous painter, whose brutal acts during the Spanish Civil War and subsequent hedonism in North Africa shaped Javier's life... and will make him the killer's next target.
Wilson's plot turns rather creakily on the coincidence of Falcón discovering a photograph of his father among Jiménez's things. And lengthy excerpts from the elder Falcón's diaries, while they reveal links between the book's secondary players, and are interesting for their portrayal of wartime Europe and postwar Tangier, nonetheless hobble this story's pace and distract from the modern crimes at its center. Still, there's a poetic edge to this author's prose that makes even his most gruesome or tragic scenes worthy of rereading, and in Javier Falcón--a lonely outsider who shadows his ex-wife and has a perplexing aversion to milk--he creates a police protagonist as satisfyingly and humanly flawed as any since Zé Coelho, from Wilson's outstanding A Small Death in Lisbon. --J. Kingston Pierce
Book Description
Called to a gruesome crime scene, Inspector Javier Falcón is shocked and sickened by what he finds. Littered like flower petals on the victim's shirt are the man's own eyelids, evidence of a heinous crime with no obvious motive. When the investigation leads him to read his late father's journals, he discovers a disturbing and sordid past. Meanwhile, more victims are falling. While Falcón struggles to solve the case, he finds the missing section of his father's journal-and becomes the murderer's next intended victim.
Combining suspenseful storytelling with a thoughtful exploration of the human psyche, The Blind Man of Seville confirms bestselling and award-winning author Robert Wilson as one of the greatest literary mystery writers working today.
Customer Reviews:
Why Did I Wait So Long?.......2006-08-02
After reading A Small Death in Lisbon some time ago, I should have known that Robert Wilson would not disappoint. This treasure of literary genius has a splendid cast of characters, foreign language challenges, tremendous setting, and a plot with enough twists and turns to keep a race car driver dizzy.
Wilson has a knack for character development that is untouchable and psychological insights that even Freud on his best day would not be able to unravel.
The book can be slow going as you may need to check back on who's who or what a particular Spanish term meant, but the reward is well worth the effort. I won't belabor the plot, only to emphasize that it is tantalizing in a macbre way and actually makes me search my own psyche as to why I enjoy such deep dark thrillers. I guess it's fair to say Wilson may be a dark deep and even cruel designer, but there are few who can match his originality and his ability to weave a web so taut and mesmerizing that you won't be finished with the book even after you've read the last sentence.
Bravo Robert, Bravo!!
Spanish madness........2006-03-04
Perhaps there is a novel somewhere in the midst of this story of a Seville policeman attempting to solve a series of gruesome murders only to find himself investigating his own family history. A large part of the book are the journals left by the detective's father, a fearless Legionnaire turned famous painter; these give an interesting view of Spain before and after the Civil War, and contain some artistic insights. There are also interesting thematic connections throughout the book centering around ideas of blindness and of memory. And Wilson at his best writes quite well -- there is one superb bullfight sequence near the end -- but at his worst he descends to the foreign-phrase-spattered tourism of a Dan Brown. Furthermore, the police procedural makes an inadequate container for all this, the plot is all too clearly assembled rather than evolving naturally, and the depths of tormented psychology and even perversion revealed are just too macabre to be put to rest by the inadequate ending.
A personalized murder inquest.......2005-03-06
Robert Wilson's "The Blind Man of Seville", no doubt displays the authors creativity but bogs down as connections are made to tie the plot together.
Chief homicide inspector of Seville, Javier Falcon is atypically deeply disturbed by the abhorent murder he is presently investigating. A celebrated and wealthy restauranteer Raul Jimenez is found bound to a chair, facing a TV monitor, in his apartment and gagged with his own socks. The apartment is nearly empty as his family is in the process of moving. Falcon and his team discover that the 70 year old victim had been forced to watch a video, apparently so horrible that he inflicted wounds to himself trying to extricate himself resulting in shock and heart failure. What disturbed Falcon was that the victims eyelids had been incised off to assure that he would being viewing the terrifying video. The homicide team quickly find a video in the apartment of the victim having sex with a youthful looking prostitute. Circumstances point to Jiminez's young and attractive wife as the main suspect.
Falcon, who has recently divorced, is living his deceased father's palatial mansion. Falcon's father, Francisco Falcon was a famous painter celebrated for his exquisite execution of five nudes of Falcon's mother, Pilar, which were considered masterpieces. While Francisco Falcon was fabulously wealthy selling other pieces he was never able to again achieve the perfection of his nudes in other work.
Falcon, reluctant to enter his father's studio, finally does and discovers a will and a diary. The will instructs Falcon to destroy all his work and implores him not to read the diary. Javier's curiousity prompts him to read the diary which reveals many previously unknown facets of his father's life. His father's story leads him from his expulsion from his family at 16 to his long service in the foreign legion through his experiences in WW2 fighting for the Axis. He finally settles in Tangier, Morocco involved in the smuggling business and commencing his career as an artist.
The story become actually two stories that merge into one. Javier continues to investigate the murder which turns into a multiple murder as the prostitute in the video also turns up dead. Meanwhile Wilson narrates the diary of Francisco Falcon, which gradually reveals a connection to the murders being committed. Falcon eventually becomes psychologically distraught as his father's diary has him question his own existence.
Slow and confusing.......2005-02-24
I never could get traction in this book. The slow start, combined with what I felt was a confusing similarity in the names of the characters, made for tough going. Eventually it picked up the pace, but by then I had trouble caring. If you enjoy the feel of a "foreign" novel, this will probably appeal--there is no doubt the author has captured the sense of living in Seville. But if you want a quick, fast thriller that you can read hungrily, this one isn't for you.
(4.5) The nature of pure evil.......2005-01-06
It is Semana Santa in Seville and everything is in a state of excitement, anticipating a full week of Easter processions, crowds of celebrants lining the streets in preparation. In the middle of the cheerful chaos, Inspector Jefe Falcon is chosen to investigate a gruesome murder case with implications of dark secrets and a long-buried history of brutality.
Raul Jimenez surrounded himself with celebrity and the attendant bourgeoisie who made his life run smoothly. With a penchant for depravity, there was a discrepancy between his public and private lives, leading to speculation about the grotesque manner of the killing. As the case unfolds, something equally dark surfaces in Falcon's subconscious, a reawakening of memories tied to his own father, a famous artist of brutal intensity, Francisco Falcon. Living alone in his father's huge mansion, memory lurks in every corner; separated from his wife, Falcon is left confused and vulnerable.
The Inspector seizes upon the idea that the murder is rooted somewhere in Jimenez' past in Tangier in the 1930's and '40's. Falcon, as is his way, leaves no detail to chance, not Raul's younger wife, his son from a prior marriage, nor previous nefarious business associates. Clearly a man of uninhibited tastes, Jimenez had an equally murky history in Tangier, long before attaining the social status of Seville, his peasant beginnings obscured by the sophistication of wealth and power.
Falcon falls deeper into the mystery of his father's past, one that runs concurrent with that of Jimenez, confusing the Inspector's ability to separate truth from fiction. The artist's diaries rival Falcon's attention to his work on the case, as the Inspector becomes preoccupied with the history of the man who looms large in death as well as life. Beset with nightmares and unfathomable fears, Falcon encounters emotions he is ill prepared to comprehend.
More than a clever storyline, the author reaches behind the complex emotions of shocking criminal acts, with complementary plot lines that propel The Blind Man of Seville, gradually revealing the identity of the man who carefully executes the torture of his victims and Inspector Javier Falcon's internal struggle with his personal life, exacerbated by reading his famous father's journal entries. Ultimately, the true nature of the artist is revealed, exposed by his own words, turning Falcon's interpretation of reality upside-down and intimating the killer's identity.
Wilson's style of writing tunnels into the imagination, planting images, possibilities, and perverse thoughts that lodge in the mind. All in due time. The reader is complicit in the plot, a voyeur perched on Falcon's shoulder, privy to his musings and sharing his fears. This author has drawn me deeply into the subconscious texture of the plot, a willing victim. I read this novel compulsively, found it impossible to resist. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
Average customer rating:
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Blind Man of Seville
Manufacturer: HARPER COLLINS 1 PAP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GSE84U |
Average customer rating:
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The Blind Man of Seville
Robert Wilson
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000J68S18 |
Average customer rating:
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The Blind Man of Seville
Robert Wilson
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NP66Q4 |
Average customer rating:
- This Book Helped Me!
- I wish I could give it zero stars.
- There must be better pregnancy fitness books than this
- All reading and unclear pictures
- Not aimed at women who already exercise.
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Pregnancy Fitness: Mind Body Spirit (Health & Fitness)
Fitness Magazine , and
Ginny Graves
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Pregnancy | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Women's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Pregnancy & Childbirth | Women's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Family Health | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Medicine | Subjects | Books
Obstetrics & Gynecology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books
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Buff Moms-to-Be: The Complete Guide to Fitness for Expectant Mothers
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Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy, Revised Edition: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During, and After Your Pregnancy
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The Everything Pregnancy Fitness Book: Safe, Specially Tailored Exercises for Before and After Delivery (Everything Series)
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Exercising Through Your Pregnancy
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Fit to Deliver: An Innovative Prenatal and Postpartum Fitness Program: Safe and Fun Exercises Tailored by Professionals to Benefit Both You and Your Baby
Accessories:
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Luna Bars, Nutz Over Chocolate, 1.69-Ounce Bars (Pack of 15)
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Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
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Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
ASIN: 0609801597
Release Date: 1999-08-17 |
Book Description
Pregnancy Fitness, by the experts at Fitness Magazine, provides expectant mothers with all the information they need to exercise safely and effectively throughout their pregnancy.
Whether you're a hard-core triathlete or just starting a fitness program for the first time, proper exercise can ensure a healthier pregnancy, an easier delivery, and a faster recovery. Pregnancy Fitness guides you carefully through every trimester, covering the physical changes and common complaints for each one, from shortness of breath to dizziness to morning sickness. In each section, chapters on Cardiovascular Fitness and Getting Stronger help you develop the aerobic capacity and muscles to carry your growing child with greater comfort and prepare you for labor. Illustrated exercises show you how to enhance flexibility, build strength, and relieve pain as your pregnancy progresses.
Q&As throughout the book cover specific concerns: Can I continue running in the second trimester? Can I lift more than ten pounds? And How to Cope sidebars address common conditions from swollen joints and sleep problems to cravings and gestational diabetes.
Based on the latest medical research and designed for women of every fitness level, Pregnancy Fitness is the ideal and essential exercise resource for every mother-to-be.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Helped Me!.......2006-05-31
This book helped me with specific movements to get strength and stay limber during and after pregnancy. I'm now 2 lbs lighter than before I got pregnant and getting my figure back was mostly due to this book. I highly recommend it!!
I wish I could give it zero stars........2006-01-07
The advice for exercising and breastfeeding is wrong. It says breastfeeding hurts. It is out of date. It quotes that study that purported to show that exercise made milk taste bad/be less good for babies, and then recommends a complicated regimen not feeding that milk to your baby. It treats formula feeding as a reasonable strategy, despite how dangerous formula is for babies. It urges very tight, compressive, supportive exercise bras for breastfeeding mamas, and does not allow for the probability that might lead to plugged ducts/mastitis in many women.
The duck squat line drawing is laughable. In addition to not showing a form of the squat that would allow for a pregnant belly, it shows a woman in a very deep squat, with feet flat on the floor, not leaning forward and not holding onto anything or supported at her back. Physics sezs: Not Possible!
Overall: mostly useless, pretty dull, unhelpful if you exercise out of doors by engaging in interesting activities. Get Aneema Van Groenou's book instead.
There must be better pregnancy fitness books than this.......2004-11-23
As the other negative reviews indicate, this is a very wordy book with few pictures. There aren't that many exercises in here, and those that are there are pretty boring and basic (the kind you'd find in any fitness magazine or book), especially in the First Trimester section. The bulk of the book, involving information relating to pregnancy, was no different than the stuff usually given out in doctor's office pamphlets. This is a big book that doesn't have too much to offer.
All reading and unclear pictures.......2004-09-29
Usually when I buy an exercise book I expect clear concise directions and maybe a picture to illustrate what exactly the correct form would be. Well, if you are expecting this out of this book you my as well forget it. Although it was very informative, black and white pictures that aren't even shown for all exercises is not going to cut it. For example for a tricep kickback it doesn't really show you the ways that it would be wrong which can lead to an injury. If you are looking for information go for it; but if you want something that will show you the right way with pictures, skip it.
Not aimed at women who already exercise........2004-07-30
I purchased this book because I want to know how I should work out now that I'm pregnant. It's marginally helpful in that it calls attention to abdominal exercises and indicates when to stop running and when to start up again. Beyond that, it's not very helpful. The exercises are described, but the suggestions for reps or sets are sporadic at best. I saw only a few exercises that gave recommended reps, and none of them talked about sets. There's no way to chart or plan your workout schedule or progress. I realized this book wasn't aimed at women like me when I read that I shouldn't feel bad if I can't do more than 3 or 4 bench presses with a 3-pound weight.
I think this book tries to be too many things: It tries to be a fitness book, and introduction to exercise book, and an overview of pregnancy. It goes into loving detail about how much of your body will be destroyed, and refers to you as a 'breastorant.' I would prefer a book that treated me as a thinking, fit woman who wants to optimize her fitness regimen for carrying, giving birth, and recovering.
If you've never exercised and you want to start during pregnancy, go for it! And maybe this book will be helpful for you, although you'll have to do some additional research to optimize your fitness. If you are already in good shape, or know how to work out, skip this book.
Book Description
As America celebrates the 225th Anniversary of the greatest democracy in the world, author Boyd E. Graves, J.D. exposes the shocking evidence of a century long national obsession with ethnic genocide. Rationalized by the economics of population policy, legalized by Congress, and fueled by pharmacuetical propoganda, Dr. Graves outlines how the AIDS pandemic was manufactured and proliferated by government contracted laboratories.
Author Boyd Ed Graves has spent the last ten years tracking the origins of AIDS through a densely-covered propaganda trail of the highest deception. Dr. Graves' work offers the world a look behind the AIDS curtain, and offers our generation the first real opportunity to close the darkest chapter in human history.
As evidence, Dr. Graves provides the irrefutable “missing link,” the AIDS research logic Flow Chart. It is the linkage of over 20,000 scientific papers which conclusively prove a “candidate” virus was developed and mass produced. The “creation”, “production” and “proliferation” of AIDS is the ultimate assault on a social fabric woven in democracy. Here, Boyd Ed Graves shares some of the court documents and correspondence in response to the world's most deadly ethnic cleansing experiment.
His 1999 Flow Chart discovery has been authenticated by medical and scientific doctors around the world. The critical insights now being unlocked by the thirty year old secret U.S. AIDS Flow Chart, have firmly established the genocide blue print as “the greatest document find of the century.”
The shocking conclusions of Dr. Graves' research has resulted in the landmark case seeking Global AIDS Apology. Boyd E. Graves vs. The President of the United States, et al. United States Supreme Court Case No. 00-9587. “State Origin: The Evidence of the Laboratory Birth of AIDS” should be required reading for the world to ensure we establish a firm foundation, to never again allow the greatest democracy in the history of the world another opportunity to masquerade.
The AIDS holocaust has an activist, it is Boyd Ed Graves and this is his story.
Customer Reviews:
Blessed is he that readeth.......2005-09-30
Once in a bleu moon an author comes along with information that is so mind blowing, that the individual reading the information has to wonder if this person is a crackpot or just insane. The book will capture those very emotions that humanity says we all should experience when dealing with subjects that are mind wrenching and horrific. Mr. Graves , the investigator, has found ample evidence based on facts presented to suggest that our government, military, political, and medical industrial complexes have worked in conjunction to produce viruses that are population reducing and deadly to specific groups while other factions attempt to cover up the evidence or just remain unusually silent. The book in chocked full of incriminating evidence, from the nine years of research and detective work the author has done , with the slam dunk or missing link being the 1971 flowchart which conclusively shows "20,000 scientific papers which conclusively prove a candidate virus was developed and mass produced." The initial part of the book starts with the history of the development of aids ( you will be surprised) and the major players involved, (you will be shocked). These individuals make sure the project is carried on as planned. Then the research ends and the court battle begins, with copies of letters to leading officials and powerful individuals. Finally ending with the court cases filed by Mr. Graves, the lawyer. I found the research well documented, with new information densely packed in this 259 paged book. A shocking look at the truth.
Book Description
Written in an accessible style, this book offers couples pertinent information on how today's technology can help them have a baby. Features narratives of a dozen couples, each with a different cause of infertility, who share their experiences with endless cycles of medication and even surgery. Explains how the latest medical techniques, including laser surgery, gamete intrafallopian transfer and in vitro fertilization, were used to help each couple with such common problems as endometriosis, fibroids and male infertility.
Average customer rating:
- The Dissociated Goddess
- My Favourite Tanith Lee Book
- One of those that makes me want to jump in it and not return
- This book is beautiful
- An undisputed classic!
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Birth Grave
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: DAW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0879971770 |
Customer Reviews:
The Dissociated Goddess.......2004-09-18
Even more than a breathtaking adventure through a world of violence and magic, The Birthgrave is a psychological exploration of the inner life of a born outsider, an unattached person. The author's direct style and use of the first person places the reader close to the core of the heroine on a violent and troubled quest to find herself. The negative self-image and wandering, restless disposition, powerlessness against subconscious convictions of a person with attachment disorder are beautifully rendered. The description is hands-on, direct, without undue psychologizing. The book has unusual psychological depth in the genre, maybe to be compared with Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, although the issues described are very different.
My Favourite Tanith Lee Book.......2001-08-27
When I first read this book (more years ago than I care to recall) it ignited my interest in so-called sword and sorcery epics. Tanith Lee's lost child-woman draws you into her story from the opening chapter and I would definitely rate this as a read-at-one-sitting book because it is absolutely impossible to put down. It is one of the most broad ranging and breath-taking adventures as the heroine-of-many-names struggles to find her lost race, her identity and her destiny. From healer to warrior to enslaved goddess and reluctant birthgiver, she enchants, saddens and delights. She and her world are beautifully detailed, as are its occupants. The only thing that makes up for reading the last page is the knowledge that the two sequels ("Shadowfire:Vazkor, Son of Vazkor" and "Quest for the White Witch") are just as brilliant and provide a most satisfying, if unexpected, conclusion. Get this if you can - then hunt for the sequels. You will not regret it!
One of those that makes me want to jump in it and not return.......1998-10-03
In this tale of blood, love, violence, beauty, magic, dreams, brutal murder, swords'n'sorcery, rape, battle and deadly races, we follow a woman on a journey of self-discovery. First a Goddess, then a slave, later a pawn in the game of an emperor who shows her her true nature and leads her to understand what she is looking for. And then the end of this story.. a twist of the plot and atmosphere so totally unexpected I couldn't believe it at first. Terrific.
This book is beautiful.......1998-03-07
This was the first book I read of Tanith Lee and she has since become my favorite author. This is a story of a grown woman who wakes inside a volcano. She finds she is the last of a unknown race and this is her story of her search to find herself. Traveling through lands full of vast ancient cities and strange religions you will find yourself engulfed with the beauty and loneliness of her quest.
An undisputed classic!.......1997-11-30
This book, more than any other, renewed my interest in reading. It concerns a woman who awakens in a temple within a volcano with no memory of who she is. The rest of the book concerns her travels attempting to discover her identity and the nature of the strange, goddess-like powers awakening within her. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the way Lee does not allow the reader to know any more than the nameless heroine herself knows. It also makes this book one of the most addictive reads you're ever likely to come across! Easily the best book Lee has ever written, too bad it isn't more readily available.
Average customer rating:
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Grave undertakings: Gravestone inscriptions of Old Warwick Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Martha J Xakellis
Manufacturer: Closson Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
History | Subjects | Books | Africa | Americas | Ancient | Arctic & Antarctica | Asia | Australia & Oceania | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Europe | Gay & Lesbian | Historical Study | Large Print | Middle East | Military | Military Science | Russia | United States | World
General | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books
Pennsylvania | United States | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1558562044 |
Book Description
THIS 6 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors or Christianity before Christ, by Kersey Graves. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 156459288X.
Books:
- The Cactus Club Killings
- The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (Cat Who...)
- The Cradle Robbers (Mommy-Track Mysteries)
- The Equity Risk Premium: The Long-Run Future of the Stock Market
- The Grave Maurice
- The Grifters
- The Holy Thief: The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael
- The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others
- The Mask of Apollo: A Novel
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Books Index
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