Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Darker Dreams Media
Publication Date: 19th May 2015
Pages: 616
MY REVIEW:
A copy of Blind Eye
was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author William Malmborg in
exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Darker
Dreams Media.
The above is sort of true. I noticed one day someone had
a copy of this and happened to comment on it being a nice book. A week later a
signed hardback copy arrived in the post courtesy of Mr Malmborg. I was over
the moon with it so decided to give it the full Confessions treatment.
I have read a few things by William Malmborg in the past
and due to those experiences, settled myself down for a brutal and terrifying
journey. By the way if you get this book, it is bigger than a brick!
Alan Miller is at a turning point in his life. Recently
discharged from the army, he is living back at his mums with no job and just
college classes for something to do. Life is mundane.
Enter Stacey. An old flame from years ago. Stacey is a
freelance reporter and emails Alan out of the blue after hearing he was back in
town.
They get together for drinks and soon slip into the familiarity
they had years ago. Circumstances bring them even closer and force Alan into
the middle of an investigation Stacey is doing into a local real estate company
after she becomes suspicious the business is a front for a prostitution ring.
Alan soon wishes he had never opened the email from
Stacey as the investigation takes some nasty turns. After offering to pose as a
client to get “inside” info, Alan and Stacey soon find themselves embroiled in
the brutal world of vice and uncover some nasty, unexpected surprises.
OK, where to start with this one. If you have ever read
Mr Malmborg’s stuff like Jimmy and Text Message, you will know that he
writes horror which at times can be brutal to the extreme, fast paced and blood
and guts galore. I was expecting the same with Blind Eye. What we have here though is nothing like what has come
before. This is essentially a thriller. It has none of the scares of his
previous works. You still have plenty of the blood and guts and some scenes
that will turn your stomach just as effectively but I missed the horror
element.
That being said, if this is a conscious new direction
that Mr Malmborg is intending to take, he certainly has a flair for it.
There is a wide range and big mix of characters in this
story. Alan Miller himself has a lot of similarities with William Malmborg – he
has an illness which can be very debilitating at times and he loves drinking
the finest of teas. Now if you are like me you will always have a picture in your
mind of what a character looks like when you read a book? Alan Miller looked
exactly like William Malmborg as I read this. Now that wasn’t off putting in
any way but there are certain scenes where things happen to Alan and I found it
a bit “weird” to be imagining them happening to William. He is a pretty
unassuming person in the book. He is ex Special Forces so has all the qualities
of a hero but at the same time is quite timid and set in his ways so it is
surprising to see him involved in some of the scenarios. He pulls them off very
well though and proves to be a very enjoyable and likeable person. Stacey is
just so driven in her career you would think she wore blinkers all the time.
She can be quite ruthless but at the same time also timid. Whereas Alan becomes
stronger, she seems to become weaker although she has good reason to.
A couple called Kristi and Sam Woodman are the main
“villains” if you like. They are horrible. They are gross. They run the
prostitution ring and are just vile. Especially Kristi. Sam’s brother Riley is
also involved but more out of circumstance than a desire to be. You can’t help
but feel sorry for him in a way. Amanda is one of the prostitutes. Again she is
a victim of circumstance more than desire and again you can’t help but like
her.
Obviously, giving the nature of the business involved,
there are a host of other characters that I can’t really get across to you just
how much I hated them. They are the worst of the worst. Scum that you would buy
a ticket to watch being taken out by the most painful and slow methods
possible. There are what I would call some upsetting scenes in the book that
may not be for everyone but thankfully they are not over stated and gone into
in excruciating detail. If I have a complaint about the book it’s about the
amount of sex in it. Now I understand the book is about prostitution so
therefore it is part and parcel of the lifestyle but it’s just not for me. I
have never been a fan of sex in books.
Putting that negative aside, this is a cracking thriller.
I was intrigued right from the very first page to see if Mr Malmborg could pull
it off. After finishing it I have to say he has more than done that. He has
proved just how versatile his writing skills are. This is quite honestly up
there with some of the best I have read from dedicated thriller writers. When
it comes from someone who has cut his teeth in the horror genre, it is quite a
change of style but if you picked this up as the first book you have read by
him, you would think he had written thrillers all his life.
It also showed a certain amount of maturity. William
Malmborg is a young lad but this reads like a book that has been written by
someone who has been in the game much much longer. The pacing is perfect. Each
scene is believable.
There are no big elaborate chases, explosions or people
falling from the top of skyscrapers and walking away. If someone gets kicked,
something breaks and it bloody hurts. It doesn’t need all that blockbuster
stuff. It reads like a lifestyle that none of us are familiar with but one that
seems very real and very true.
To summarise: Don’t expect the horror you normally get in
a Malmborg book. Do expect a thriller of the highest quality with thrills and
spills and twists and turns galore. Brutal and harrowing at times with plenty
of naughty bits this develops into a thriller that, if I read things right, is
introducing Alan Miller as a recurring character. I, for one, am very pleased
at that and look forward to reading more of his adventures.
General rating:
★★★★★ Excellent thriller that pulls no punches. Recommended.
Horror rating:
★★★★ Plenty of thrills without going overboard.
You can buy Blind Eye here:
Book Synopsis:
He survived two wars and the onset of a horrific disease,
only to find his life threatened back at home!
Alan Miller is adrift. At thirty years old, he is living
in the basement at his mother’s house, jobless, taking classes at a local
community college, his promising military career cut short by the sudden onset
of an autoimmune disease that often leaves him racked with pain and stuck in
the bathroom. And then one morning an email arrives that changes everything,
one that he initially believes to be spam and nearly deletes.
“Long Time No Talk . . .”
Though she can’t stand clichés, Stacy Collins is the poster
child for the ruthless female reporter who will do anything to get the scoop on
a story. Unfortunately, this ruthlessness has done little in establishing her
position as a journalist, and, instead, has simply isolated her from being able
to obtain friends and contacts within her career field. And then one day she
discovers an old ‘no strings attached’ sexual partner from five years earlier
is back in town, one that she has always had feelings for and would like to see
again.
“Back off . . .”
Initially, Stacy had no plans to bring Alan into her
freelance investigation of the local real estate agency that she believes to be
a front for a suburban prostitution ring, but following the attack he thwarts
as the two enter her apartment, she has no choice. And, honestly, his ability
to pose as a customer and hire one of the real estate girls to service him
might provide the break her story needs. That is, if their deception goes
unnoticed . . .
William Malmborg is the author of five novels, Jimmy, Text Message, Nikki’s Secret, Dark Harvest, and Blind Eye, as well as the short story collection Scraping the Bone: Ten Dark Tales. Future works will include Santa Took Them, Crystal Creek, and A Taste of Pain. When not writing, William spends time reading, doing puzzles, planting peach trees and looking for ghosts in the 100-year-old farmhouse where he lives in with his brother Tom and their two cats Toby and Truman.
And for more about William, visit his site or find him on social media:
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