Blind Spot [Hardcover]

Adam Barrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

A couple whose three-year-old son is kidnapped and the desperate, childless couple who buys him wind up on a collision course fraught with fear and terror. By the author of Flawless. 20,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The traumatic event at the center of this wrenching novel about obsession and denial happens almost casually. Chicago-area professor Marshall Quinn dozes off in a planetarium; when he wakes up, his three-year-old son, Jeff, has disappeared from his side. As his wife sinks into near-catatonic despair and the police poke about apathetically, Quinn undertakes his own search. He drives around with a picture of Jeff in his car window until a woman in another car recognizes the image. She knows the boy as Davie, the newly adopted son of the Buckleys, a working-class family who lost a daughter to leukemia. As the two stricken families converge, Barrow shows how both derive their strength from the same capacity to believe in spite of the evidence. With a superb ear for dialogue, Barrow illumines the different social worlds of his characters. The main plot line is subverted by a subplot involving a small-time hoodlum and some shady goings-on at the factory, leading to the novel's violent conclusion, but Barrow maintains a haunting sense of foreboding throughout. More a multiple character study than a standard thriller, this novel transmits a memorable message about the imminence of tragedy and the fragility of family.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

With this second novel (after Flawless, NAL/Dutton, 1995), Barrow (pseudonym of "an acclaimed writer," says the publisher) exploits a topical issue to create a suspenseful and exciting thriller. He tells the parallel stories of two families: a young, suburban sociology professor and his wife whose three-year-old son has been kidnapped, and a Chicago factory worker and his wife who adopt the boy, not knowing?or not willing to acknowledge?that the adoption is illegal. While the Buckleys enjoy a respite of happiness as the boy enters their dreary, childless lives, the Quinns are catapulted into a labyrinthine hell of police bureaucracy and inaction, coupled with their own guilt, despair, and substance abuse. Marshall Quinn soon realizes that only he has the resolve needed to find his son, and his efforts take the shape of a Dantesque journey. He finds he must confront a violent world with his own violence, matching horror for horror. The author fleshes out his story with an ensemble of finely wrought characters deftly revealed by their environments. His is a world that has no room for heroes, just survivors. Recommended.?Linda Lee Landrigan, New York City
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052594186X
• ISBN-13: 978-0525941866
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,483,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the heart is a lonely grunter, July 2, 2001

By 

mayday - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blind Spot (Paperback)

The writing is rich and powerful. When the author describes the Norse Aluminum Plant, you can see and hear its immense fury and feel the sweat come pouring down.

Equally brilliant is the probing of the psychology of obsession. The search for his son becomes Marshall's initiation into an aspect of manhood -- compelling, grotesque, sensual, violent -- that his previous experience has barely hinted at. Even if he never finds Jeff, the search has become all-important. He'll see it through to the end even if it gets him killed. However much Marshall may want to recover his son, what he wants most is to prove to himself that he won't let himself be defeated. Ironically, he would have been defeated but for his wife's more modest and clearsighted bravery.

My only reason for not giving this gripping and beautifully crafted tale five stars is because of the editing. A lot of the dialogue, especially among the Norse workers, should have been cut and sharpened. Sometimes the writing runs away with itself and, especially with Dingo, gets repetitive. Chalk these flaws up to the editor, though, not the writer. (On the other hand, some of the exchanges are hilarious.)

There's a rumor going around that Adam Barrow is the pseudonym for Tom Kakonis. Yes or no, I think this novel is worthy of Kakonis' Criss Cross and Double Down. Despite all the muck, it turns out that kindness and human sympathy prevail against overwhelmeing odds.

One small nitpicky point. Given Buck's West Side address, his occupation and social class, he'd more likely be a White Sox than a Cubs fan!

4.0 out of 5 stars Psychological thriller that makes you want to keep reading, October 9, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blind Spot (Hardcover)

This is a good book in the same gendre as "Where Are the Children." Well-developed characters and a good plot are inherent in this book. Several sub-plots come together very well. My one fault with the book is the very rough language which is totally unnecessary.

3.0 out of 5 stars "Blind Spot" a good character study, August 20, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blind Spot (Hardcover)

A gripping tale of relationships, greed and obsession, Adam Barrow's "Blind Spot" is a strong character study in the life of a suburban college professor and his family, and a less-affluent group of factory workers. Both sides fall prey to an adoption scam gone haywire. While the book has a strong subplot and character development (I really felt sorry for "Lester"), it was difficult to view any of the factory workers as anything other than a group of rednecks with below-average intelligence. I wanted to view the couple that adopted the little boy as protagonists, but they simply didn't have any endearing characteristics. The character of Marshall was strong, but his wife seemed distant and unsupportive - ...but hey, to each his own. Barrow is an excellent writer. At times during the book I was amazed by his capacity for descriptive settings...I felt as if I was actually IN Chicago on a hot August day searching hopelessly for my little boy...