- Paperback: 328 pages
- Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (April 2 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771015348
- ISBN-13: 978-0771015342
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.3 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,603,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Think a blind, younger Bonnie Raitt, and you've got Kit Mason, a struggling musician desperate to get both her career and her non-existent love life kick-started. But those twin preoccupations are forced to take a back seat when her close friend Marion is brutally murdered. That's the premise of Shooting Straight in the Dark, a thriller from Toronto musician-turned-author Rick Blechta (Knock on Wood, The Lark Ascending): forget being a professional songstress, it's time to become an amateur sleuth. To crack the case, Kit recruits her other best pals, a close-knit yet often dysfunctional group of friends who call themselves the Ruthless Babes. Clearly a man who has spent a lot of time around women, Blechta depicts their foibles and failings with real insight, humour, and tenderness. He's much more convincing in describing their group dynamics than the interaction of Kit and Patrick, her new lover.
Blechta keeps the suspense high by switching the narration between Kit and the vicious predator now targeting the Babes, referred to simply as "The Man," as in "The Man couldn't remember the last time he felt so angry. His rage sent out tendrils in every direction, like some noxious weed." The reader is also likely to take pleasure in Blechta's observational asides about life in Toronto. Whether he's querying the suspect acoustics of Roy Thomson Hall or the wimpyness of the Blue Jays fans at SkyDome, his insights ring true. Those seeking a breezily entertaining yet suitably suspenseful thriller will find Shooting Straight in the Dark right on target. --Kerry Doole
Book Description
Thirty-year-old Kit Mason has been blind for six years, and she still hasn’t accepted what has happened to her. Not only is her career as a songwriter/guitarist stalled, but her personal life is the pits. Kit’s closest friends, Carolina, Susan, Marion, and Jackie, all members of her former softball team, the Ruthless Babes, have encouraged her to branch out in her music, and decide – during a ribald and beer-fuelled get-together – to kick-start her social life with a companion-wanted ad in a Toronto newspaper.
Before the plans can take effect, however, one of the Babes is brutally murdered. The police are sure that she was the victim of a serial killer who is on the loose, but the Babes, shattered though they are, begin to suspect that the police are wrong.
With the fighting spirit that served them well on the baseball diamond, they throw themselves – sometimes literally – into the investigation, much to the annoyance of the police detective assigned to the case. What they find puts them all at risk, and affects Kit’s life in ways she never could have expected – just when her musical career and her love-life are taking a turn for the better.
Shooting Straight in the Dark, full of the atmosphere of the music business and the affectionate banter of good friends, is smart, funny, and crammed with suspense.
Before the plans can take effect, however, one of the Babes is brutally murdered. The police are sure that she was the victim of a serial killer who is on the loose, but the Babes, shattered though they are, begin to suspect that the police are wrong.
With the fighting spirit that served them well on the baseball diamond, they throw themselves – sometimes literally – into the investigation, much to the annoyance of the police detective assigned to the case. What they find puts them all at risk, and affects Kit’s life in ways she never could have expected – just when her musical career and her love-life are taking a turn for the better.
Shooting Straight in the Dark, full of the atmosphere of the music business and the affectionate banter of good friends, is smart, funny, and crammed with suspense.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
SHOOTING STRAIGHT IN THE DARK,
This review is from: Shooting Straight in the Dark (Paperback)
Rick Blechta has a way of involving me with the characters such that I wonder,"what are they doing now, after the story?". They become almost real and I almost forget they are not real and that must say something about the authors story telling ability. I'm genrally on a pragmatic plane. My friends who don't genrally read anything but technical stuff also love Rick's books. He is a really great story teller!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hooked from Chapter 1,
By A Customer
This review is from: Shooting Straight in the Dark (Paperback)
I purchased this book mainly because my old guitar teacher, Linc Chamberland, is mentioned in it. What surprised me (after reading the back cover) is that I really enjoyed it -- and I don't read mysteries. Blechta, being a musician, naturally has all the musical facets down pat, but he also tells a darn good story. Within a chapter, I was caught up in the fate of the main character. When I had to put the book down to teach a few lessons, I was extremely put out! This is a terrific thriller, telling the story of a blind guitarist and her friends as they try to solve a murder. They also don't know that the murderer is now after them and the parts of the story he tells are suitably creepy. I stayed up past 3 a.m. (much to the annoyance of my wife) to finish the book as it drove to a satisfying climax, and the only thing negative I have to say about the book is that I finished it. I hope that Blechta is planning a sequel. I like these characters!
5.0 out of 5 stars
High-Energy Entertainment,
By K. Honey (Brampton, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooting Straight in the Dark (Paperback)
I don't usually read books cover-to-cover in one sitting, but Shooting Straight in the Dark had me up until 4 a.m. recently. Even though it's supposed to be a mystery, there is a lot more depth to the characters (especially the main character, Kit) than you normally find in genre fiction. The author has done a very good job making it all very real.The plot, too, is quite good, involving a murder (naturally) but it's set against a backdrop of music, something I found very interesting and informative. Blechta has also given his protagonist another wrinkle: she's blind. He pulls off this aspect particularly well. He made me really feel what it might be like to be without sight. All in all, I quite enjoyed this book. The writing is refreshingly good (often quite funny, too), the characters compelling and the plot rockets along to a very satisfying conclusion. Can we hear more about Kit and her friends really soon?
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