The Tarnished Eye [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Judith Guest (Author), Mark Bramhall (Narrator), Anne Marie Lee (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

In the town of Blessed, in Michigan, lives Sheriff Hugh DeWitt, a man still grieving for his infant son, who had died of SIDS. Meanwhile, nearby in one of the rich summer cottages, Paige Norbois grieves for a lost love of her own. When an unimaginable tragedy strikes and a whole family is murdered, any dreams of stability in Blessed are abruptly destroyed. Sheriff DeWitt, deeply moved by the murder scene, is driven to solve the crime, while keeping his own demons at bay.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Loosely based on an actual unsolved crime that occurred in Michigan in the late 1960s, this tightly paced, gripping thriller is imbued with substance, sensitivity and depth. County sheriff Hugh DeWitt and his wife are still reeling three years after the SIDS death of their infant son and struggling to sustain a normal life for the sake of their 10-year-old daughter. The emotionally scarred DeWitt, once an overeager lawman, now cherishes the beauty of days "where nothing happens" in his quiet community. Though he knows all of the town's year-round residents by name, no one seems to know any of the affluent families who come to summer in anonymity along the bluffs of Lake Michigan. The Norbois are a classic example: the father a high-energy publishing executive, the mother and four kids a poster family for upper-middle-class values. When a handyman reports seeing something strange, DeWitt goes to investigate and finds they've all been ceremoniously executed and left to rot inside their palatial vacation retreat. Suddenly, DeWitt is on an emotional trail that jerks him back and forth between reflections on the anniversary of his son's death, the horrific murder scene and the serial rape/murders of a handful of University of Michigan coeds. As the point of view shifts from sheriff to victims and back again, Guest (Errands, etc.) keeps the plot moving along apace, creating a finely tuned page-turner.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Guest made a considerable splash with her first novel, Ordinary People (1976); the successful film version earned an Oscar. She hasn't been prolific, a fact to be applauded if conserving her energy explains the intense energy in her latest novel, a thriller based on an actual murder case that occurred more than three decades ago and is still unsolved. Just as Guest's apparent instinct for the conventions of the domestic-fiction genre stood behind her stunning exploration of family dysfunction in Ordinary People, she now demonstrates as strong a grasp of the defining traits of the suspense novel. An entire family has been murdered in their summer cabin in northern Michigan, and the local sheriff faces a staggering uphill struggle in attempting to find an explanation. Guest carefully insinuates the reader into the lives of all the people involved in the case--not only the victims and the sheriff but also relevant townspeople and obvious and not-so-apparent suspects. At a fast but methodical pace, she follows the story of the crime's ramifications and draws a connection to a simultaneous series of coed murders in Ann Arbor. The gathering momentum is irresistible. By maintaining the plot's welcome and even necessary swiftness while at the same time tending to character development, depth, and differentiation, Guest produces a novel shivering with artistry and darkness. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; Unabridged edition (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786186887
• ISBN-13: 978-0786186884
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,245,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There's no way to put this mystery down once you've begun it, July 4, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tarnished Eye (Hardcover)

You hear (or read) the name "Judith Guest" and you think ORDINARY PEOPLE. And that creates ... expectations. About the last thing you expect is a mystery. One can sympathize with Guest's publicist, who must spend time in equal shares explaining what THE TARNISHED EYE, Guest's newest book, is and is not. The best place to begin for our purposes would be to state that it is not a disappointment; it is indeed very, very good.

Guest's prose is spare, which is not to say it's simple. She simply does not waste words, and uses them well. Her narration --- here she uses the third person present --- compels and commands reading; there is no way to put down THE TARNISHED EYE once you have begun reading.

Guest's tale is based on two true-life crimes that occurred in Michigan in the 1960s. One of them --- the brutal murder of a family of six in northern Michigan --- abruptly intrudes into the life of Hugh DeWitt, the Sheriff of otherwise idyllic Blessed, Michigan. DeWitt, still grieving over the loss of his infant son years before, is emotionally ill-prepared to investigate the carnage that he finds at the summer home of the wealthy Norbois family from Ann Arbor.

DeWitt nonetheless doggedly investigates the matter, and soon finds that suspects abound. Paige Norbois was having an affair, while her husband Edward had discovered that his business partner was embezzling from the company. One of their sons had a confrontation with a couple of ne'er-do-wells from the town on the night of the murders, and a local handyman is caught absconding with evidence at the scene of the crime.

DeWitt's investigation takes him to Ann Arbor, which is awash in terror, thanks to the serial murders of four young women. DeWitt is troubled by some of the similarities between the Ann Arbor murders and the Norbois killings. When Norbois's business partner commits suicide, it appears that DeWitt's investigation has come to a close. It is in fact, however, only beginning. DeWitt's plodding but methodical investigative style is extremely effective. He never draws his gun, or even raises his hand in anger throughout the course of THE TARNISHED EYE. Indeed, all of the violent acts giving impetus to the investigations take place off of the page, but the overriding impression is that DeWitt is a force to be reckoned with, a man who should not be underestimated.

Guest is not a prolific author, but what she perhaps lacks in quantity she makes up for in quality. THE TARNISHED EYE, as with all of her work, has been worth waiting for and will hopefully expose her to a new and wider audience.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far above standard genre fare..., November 29, 2004

By 

Robert Wellen (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tarnished Eye (Hardcover)

Guest's book transcends the standard thriller/whodunit...thankfully it did not have a some stupid action scene or the usual scene where the cops explain the entire "whys" of the crime. One of the cool things about this book is that Guest never fully explains the whys of the murders. The whodunit is not completely impossible to figure, but as you read it, you might well be surprised along the way. The characters are people you are care about (however Karen might be a bit too perfect) and Hugh is wonderful. It reads fast, but not because it lightweight. It is welcome addition to the genre and well worth your time.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read in one sitting..., October 17, 2004

By 

C. Bridges "Hooked on books" (Trenton, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tarnished Eye (Hardcover)

Though simply written, this was a novel I couldn't put down. The slower character development in the beginning pays off when the pace picks up mid-novel and never stops. There are plenty of small twists to the plot and every character gets their due. I think the strength of this novel set in Northern Michigan is that it is underwritten. You read on to get more...more sense of the victims, more sense of the community, more sense of the killer. The characters were so real I still find myself thinking about them. Reading this story makes me want to go into the archives and read about the true murders that this story was based on. A VERY intriguing read.