Blind Side

By: William Bayer

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Geoffrey Barnett is a photographer. Due to a mysterious trauma in his past, he has, for many years, been unable to photograph people. When Kimberly Yates suddenly enters his life, Geoffrey's world is turned upside down. She nurtures him back to life - emotionally, mentally, and sexually. Eventually he is able to photograph her.

Then she disappears, like a puff of smoke, as if she were just a dream, a vision that Geoffrey has conjured up.

As he begins to search for Kimberly, Geoffrey discovers that perhaps she was a dream. Soon, he begins to wish that she weren't real, because his obsession with her turns his life from dream into a nightmare. As he discovers the truth about Kimberly, she leads him down a path of greed, deceit, and blackmail. It is a road littered with sexual perversions and struggles for power, with unbelievable pleasures and even greater pain, with powerful love and passion for life, and inevitably, the terror of death.

©1990 William Bayer (P)2012 David N. Wilson

Good

A photographer life changes drastic when he encounters one person, is that possible as per usual with noir stories there is always the other side of what we think, well done. Given audio for my voluntary review

Do You Ever Really Know Someone?

What did you love best about Blind Side?

A photographer is put into an action thriller mystery where he does an excellent job of unweaving a very complex crime conspiracy. This book has been out of print for a number of years by an author that was quite popular in his day. William Bayer writes very dark novels. This is true Noir at its very best. Let's not ruin it by saying much more than the story unfolds at a very fast pace and is highly interesting and compelling. It has a breath-taking ending. Finally, there is some nice inside information on professional photography art and technique that enriched the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hard to say, all of the characters are richly drawn, but Kimberly stands out. She is not what she appears...let's leave it at that.

Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. This compares very favorably. Dick Hill is one of the top three or so best narrators. His voice just pulls you along. You want to listen to him.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, but I can't spoil it for you. Let's just say that futility comes to life.

Haunting tale of failed metamorphoses

This is Bayer's most straightforward noir novel. It combines many of the standard features of the genre, and frequently alludes to famous cinematic examples. Yet the movie that this novel often reminds me of is "Vertigo" -- the story's division into two unforgettable parts is redolent of that haunting story, as a somewhat credulous narrator is transformed by an encounter with an elusive woman who disappears and reappears. The novel also combines many of Bayer's signature motifs, such as the obsession-inducing power of photographs, a strong female antagonist who seems too good to be true, and gorgeously painted locales (New York, Cleveland, Key West, New Mexico). This listen won't appeal to all tastes, as the unsympathetic, obsessive narrator turns out to be blind to his own capacity for evil while attaining little in the way of self-knowledge. But if you like the noir genre, it'll be hard to find a more captivating example. Dick Hill's vocal performance very effectively captures the narrator's bitter, brittle, and ultimately brutal personality.