Blinded by Kim Pritekel

Blinded
by Kim Pritekel
Pages: Unknown
Date: November 15 2016
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 8 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Sapphire Books Publishing in return for a fair review.*

This is the second story I’ve read by this author. I had loved the first one I had read, so was quite happy to see a new one pop up. Though there was/is a certain amount of confusion generated by odd twists of fate – the nature of the previous book I had read, the cover of this current book, and the title of the current book.

I went in knowing that the book involved a rising television reporter, Burton Blinde, who was involved in a tragic accident that forced her to flee. I learned more, obviously enough, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Combining that snippet of information with the cover, shattered glass as if a bullet had been shot through it, plus wide open startled eyes, in addition to the ‘Blinded’ part of the title, and combing the first with the prior work I’d read I had this vague idea that the reporter might have been blinded by the tragic event. The prior work involved a blind report, though I believe that one was born blind.

Right, so, I’m not actually sure why the title is ‘Blinded’, nor, for that, why there is that specific cover implying someone got shot (what with the reporter who had been, relatively recently, within the last three years?, been shot while on air, combined with the shot glass, I assumed that is how Blinde would end up in that tragic accident – shot). Blinded, could be taken like when something happens that remind people of someone else, and say that they have been ‘Last Named’; or it could mean literally that someone had been blinded and are now blind. Neither works in this instance.

Why am I rambling on like this? Simple, for the longest time I wasn’t sure what exactly I was reading, where we were going. The book starts with Blinde being a rising television reporter for a local Denver television station, the kind who has acquired awards for her work. And the kind who had just secured a contract to leave that local station for the big time – with CNN. Things were advancing along, some odd little things were occurring here and there (both in terms of things that flowed with the story, unexplained post cards and vodka bottles arriving at Blinde’s work), and those things that were just odd (occasionally the point of view, I assumed, would switch and ‘things’ of no importance, nor obvious reason would be revealed (a unnamed man and woman are in an old studio and fiddle with some of the buttons and . . scene; a woman arrives in a helicopter, goes down some stairs, talks with some people and . . . scene – there was never any explanation for either scene). Then a tragic accident occurs that left a limp and other injuries (I’ll otherwise leave that vague – the injuries and the situation; though will include the bit wherein Blinde was not blinded), and Blinde flees.

Years later, while working a side job for a private investigator, she makes some comment about these odd things she had been receiving. One thing leads to another and Blinde’s off to some tiny island nation, Chilvokia, off the coast of Russia that may or may not be involved in a civil war or other war related issue.

It kind of felt like, rightly or wrongly, that something like 90% of the book was from Blinde’s point of view, though there were a few other point of views filling out the rest of the book (hmm, wording it that way, maybe Blinde had 75% of the book). One of the other points of view was a young woman by the name of Lilli, and she is the other ‘important’ character in the book. Though I believe she only first appears 22% into the book (and I’m not 100% sure that is her). Lilli has the second largest percentage of the book, though her parts were super rare, just not as rare as the few other people who got POV’s.

There was a bit of action/adventure/investigation/damsel-in-distress going on – quite interesting. Not always clear what was going on (in terms of why certain things were occurring when they occurred (though, except for two specific instances, the ‘confusing’ things were later explained), like why postcards from Chilvokia were landing on Burton’s desk; not in terms of a confusion foggy plot).

I liked the book well enough. For most of the book I had in the back of my mind that I was reading something that I’ll eventually rate between 3.8 to 4.2, and by the end found to be a good solid 4 star book.

August 8 2016