Double Blind [Hardcover]

Kenneth W. Goddard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

Henry Lightstone, the Fish and Wildlife Service's top undercover agent, has been sent with his team on a sting operation to the Pacific Northwest. Posing as corrupt animal smugglers looking to bag some illegal game, they are hoping to bag some illegal gamers.

He'll have a lot of obstacles cross his path: a crooked congressman, a ruthless coalition of industrialists, a traitorous Army Ranger hunter-killer team team, and a band of crazy, gun-toting, right-wing woodsmen, to name a few. All in all, though, it's nothing Henry Lightstone can't handle.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Special agent Henry Lightstone of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigates an Oregon-based militia group in Goddard's (Cheater, Forge, 1996) latest. While the militia turns out to be only a group of old coots with more interest in avoiding their bossy wives than in waging war on the government, Lightstone is kept busy with other matters. A sexy witch with a pet panther, a ruthless congressman and his team of killers-for-hire, and a warehouse full of deadly snakes and spiders are just the beginning. Throw in a couple of mythical beasts and a blind soothsayer who rides a moped and you get this amusing, fast-paced thriller replete with bizarre characters and outrageous situations. Recommended for popular fiction collections.?Melissa Kuzma Rockicki, NYPL
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The usually reliable Goddard (Cheater, 1996, etc.) offers a murky, inane, farcical thriller in which federal agents unwittingly work at cross purposes while trying to bag the vindictive villains who are secretly after them. The US Fish & Wildlife Service dispatches two teams of special agents to Oregon's Rogue Valley on seemingly separate missions. One group, headed by ex-policeman Henry Lightstone, is ordered to set up an unlikely sting operation, while the other is told to trail Regis J. Smallsreed, a corrupt congressman with a passion for hunting endangered waterfowl species--in season or out. The crooked Smallsreed has powerful allies from the military/industrial complex, one of whom has vowed vengeance on Lightstone for the loss of his family (in Wildfire, 1994). In aid of their objective, the bad guys (whose ultimate goal is to keep the biosphere safe for ecologically ruinous overdevelopment) recruit a half dozen former Army Rangers. Using an over-the-hill gang of local militia as dupes, this armed and dangerous crew sets an up-country trap for the two-fisted Lightstone and his wiseacre associates. Before they can get the lawmen in their sights, however, the renegade soldiers need a positive ID, which (owing to a series of absurd misfortunes) they never get. In short order, Lightstone is doing undercover work with a luscious self-styled witch known only as Karla, whose amorous black panther (Sasha) takes to him as well. With help from this odd couple, the backwoods copper is able to infiltrate the mercenaries (who still don't know what he looks like). As a quasi- insider, Lightstone is then able to engineer a two-stage showdown that brings all but one of the culpable to book. An addled, awkwardly plotted narrative that strains for, and fails to achieve, devil-may-care effects. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312857969
• ISBN-13: 978-0312857967
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,507,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Ken Goddard's best..., March 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Double Blind (Mass Market Paperback)

Double Blind is the third entry into the Henry Lightstone series by Ken Goddard. Goddard seems to be slipping with each succesive entry in the series. Goddard started with an idea that had a lot to offer, but in the end the result is disappointing. Lightstone and his team of Federal Wildlife Agents are set up for elimination by a crack team of ex-military "hunter-killers". Lightstone is a good character and he is surrounded by an interesting cast of characters. Goddard's experience in Law Enforcement is readily apparent in his writing. The story begins to drag when Lightstone's team attempts to set up their undercover operation. Goddard spends a great deal of time with this device and it does nothing to progress the story. Goddard continually refers to Lightstone as the team's "wild-card agent", along with several other similar monikers, throughout the story and it really begins to grate on your nerves. I was left feeling cheated with a quick ending that tied-up all of the loose ends too easily. Goddard spent 450+ pages setting up a showdown which never materialized. Double Blind was not Goddard at his best, but he is still a lot better than many of the authors in this genre. Readers interested in Goodard's better books should read Balefire, Cheater, and Prey.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely fun book., November 30, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Salem, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Blind (Hardcover)

I had an extremely hard time putting this book down. Excellent!!

4.0 out of 5 stars Turning Pages While Screaming & Laughing, July 15, 2004

By 

P. T. Hill (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Double Blind (Mass Market Paperback)

This is easily my favorite Ken Goddard book, and I've now read them all. Like other Goddard thrillers, the pace is fast and the story builds in complexity as it unfolds. He described and portrayed one of the "bad guys" (the gray-eyed Wintersole) so well that the memory of him still gives me the willies. There's a lot of tension coupled with a lot of laughs, which I did not expect. But I found I thoroughly enjoyed Goddard's sense of humor, and Henry Lightstone has become one of my favorite fiction action guys.

This book -- with its quirky blend of natural and supernatural, tension and humor -- is different than his previous books and he heads into some rather peculiar territory, but it's a 'landscape' I enjoy, also being a fan of James Rollins novels. I also enjoy the natural landscape of Double Blind (the wetland areas of southern Oregon) and how Goddard draws us into it. Hint to the author: I want to read more Henry Lightstone-centered books, so write them, okay?