Blindsighted

By: Karin Slaughter

Narrated by: Judith Ivey

Length: 6 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The sleepy town of Heartsdale, Georgia, is jolted into panic when Sara Linton, the town's pediatrician and coroner, finds Sibyl Adams, a young college professor, dead in the local diner. As well as being viciously raped, Sibyl has been cut: two deep knife wounds form a lethal cross over her stomach. But it's only once Sara starts to perform the postmortem that the full extent of the killer's brutality starts to become clear.

Police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, Sara's ex-husband, is in charge of the investigation, and when a second victim is found, crucified, only a few days later, he has to face the fact that Sibyl's murder wasn't a single personal attack. They're dealing with a sadistic rapist-turned-killer who is terrorizing rural Grant County.

Jeffrey isn't alone in his search. Lena Adams, the county's sole female detective, wants to see justice done since her sister was the first victim. Sara, too, cannot escape the terror. A secret from her past could hold the key to finding the killer, unless he finds her first.

©2001 Karin Slaughter (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Judith Ivey's expressive narration does full justice to the story....It's easy to listen to and hard to turn off." (AudioFile)
"Wildly readable....A bull's-eye, deftly crafted, damnably suspenseful and, in the end, deadly serious....Slaughter's plotting is brilliant, her suspense relentless." (The Washington Post)

I am dying for a good book!

And this is not it. I guess this is the type of book where your expectation should be at a certain level, which is to say - not high.

It's a certain kind of book. Very formula. I will say the author didn't try very hard with The Who-done it part. I knew the second this person entered the story, who the killer was. And I'm not particularly bright. :-)

A Good Listen

I realize that I really like Karin Slaughter books, as this is another that gets a 5* from me. Even though the audio is shorter then most (just over 5 hours), it packs a full story, good story line, and really good narration. I actually ready one of her later books first, so listening to this book helps me place the characters even more so. Yet you don't have to ready any other of her books prior to reading Blindsighted. Its a good story on it's own.

reader is horrible

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would a hardcover , but not by this reader. She made all of the characters sound horrible..It was all I could do to just finish it!!! I read this series years ago and enjoyed the hardcover so I thought I would give the audio set a try and was very disappointed in the first one.

Would you be willing to try another book from Karin Slaughter? Why or why not?

I have just started the second audio from the Grant County series..

How could the performance have been better?

By not making the characters seem like they were all hillbillys. I realize it is set in the south, but her vision was way off in my opinion

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

yes

Detailed!

Where does Blindsighted rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I Love Karin Slaughter! She is very realistic and graphic in her protagonist as well as her antagonist equally. The book never slows to mundane. I have enjoyed every novel of hers so far. Audible didn't start at the beginning of her series with what they have offered so I got the Will Trent series first and then as they come in I listen to the Grant County Series. I would have liked to do it from the beginning so I don't know so much about their futures first but even with that I really like these books. This is the 10th one I have listened to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blindsighted?

Descriptions of the villain with his victims for sure.. it will make your stomach turn.

What does Judith Ivey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She has a great voice and reads the characters well. Sometimes when listening to other readers intonation I don't think they fit the situation or the characters very well but Judith Ivey did an excellent job. I wasn't distracted from the story by her breathing or pausing one bit. Anyone who listens a lot will understand that remark :) and for those of you who don't this is a good reader to start out with.

A. Story that sustain sustains surprise

Lena finds her sisters k killer then learns family history not known that could be ....

Good story, poor perfomance

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The story was engaging and thrilling, but unfortunately the performance from Judith Ivey was borderline clichè. The narration was decent enough with a good amount of southern drawl, but the dialouge was so exaggerated it almost seemed like she was making fun of the characters.

What other book might you compare Blindsighted to and why?

Deant Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver

Would you be willing to try another one of Judith Ivey’s performances?

Not after this. Unfortunately her interpretation of the dialouge, especially the male ones, made it hard to take the story seriously.

Was Blindsighted worth the listening time?

Worth the time, not the price.

An Interesting Story...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I enjoyed the book while I was listening to it. Once I finished the book and had time to absorb the whole story, though, there were a few things I had an issue with. When the villain was revealed, I didn't find that his motive choice of victim and and the gruesome manner in which he killed his victim was adequately explained. The ending had a rushed quality about it, as though the author was rushing to meet a deadline.

Would you be willing to try another book from Karin Slaughter? Why or why not?

Absolutely. I have already made my way through Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series and I do enjoy her books very much.

What aspect of Judith Ivey’s performance would you have changed?

Some of the small characters (witnesses etc) seemed to be performed with a very whiny, geeky tone which I found annoying. I will give Judith Ivey credit with her use of emotion in her voice. There were times when a character was raging with anger and the emotion really came across strongly in her performance and really captured the mood of that particular "scene".

Did Blindsighted inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to get more of the Grant County series.

Good book, too much twang

The story was great, grabs you from the beginning and holds on until the end. Unfortunately the woman performing the story went way overboard with her southern accent and African American dialects to the point I could hardly stand to listen to her. There were several times I wanted to stop listening to the book, but it's a very short one and I didn't want to waste a credit so I stuck it out. I have never written a negative review of a performance and I've listened to two to three books per month since 2010.

Great book!

The story was riveting, I can't wait to read another book by Karin Slaughter. Good narration as well made the story come alive.

Narator's southern drawl . . .

I enjoyed the storyline, but had problems with the naration. Judith Ivey's southern drawl made all of the men in this book come across as nitwits. This distracted from the story, for me.
This is the second book I've listened to by Karin Slaughter. I've enjoyed her stories. I will continue to listen to others of her books.