Mystery Books Store
Shooting Straight in the Dark
RRP: $18.95
Our Price:
You Save: $ 18.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
Author: Rick Blechta
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price:
You Save: $ 18.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
Author: Rick Blechta
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Average Customer Rating:
Experimental feature: Order Shooting Straight in the Dark from the UK, Canada, Germany or France by clicking an appropriate flag below.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Shooting Straight in the Dark Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780771015342
ISBN: 0771015348
Label: McClelland & Stewart
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 328
Publication Date: 2002-04-02
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Studio: McClelland & Stewart
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780771015342
ISBN: 0771015348
Label: McClelland & Stewart
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 328
Publication Date: 2002-04-02
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Studio: McClelland & Stewart
Editorial Review of Shooting Straight in the Dark
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.
Customer Reviews of Shooting Straight in the Dark
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: SHOOTING STRAIGHT IN THE DARK
Review: 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!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Hooked from Chapter 1
Review: 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!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: High-Energy Entertainment
Review: 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.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shooting Straight to the Top
Review: I am delighted to find that Rick Blechta has now succesfully consolidated his own unique writing style with this latest crime thriller. He creates a well rounded and intriguing plot that succesfully blends suspense, tension and humour. With 'Shooting Straight' Blechta has forcefully elbowed his way into a crowded room of crime writers and has made himself heard above the din! Well done.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shooting the Language
Review: This is a book by a musician trying to imitate John Grisham. The problem is Bkechta is not a writer. The book is filled with so many cliches and hackneyed phrases that you feel your slogging through deep mud. Examples "The door burst open and I screamed in alarm" or "It was so quiet you could hear half (italiczed) a pin drop." It reads like one of those formulaic Goosebumps books. He also shows us how to make many grammatical mistakes such as "...who'd worked with the good doctor closely." Is that Doctor Closely I presume? It's the work of an amateur, a first book try that every writer does and usually discards (if he or she is smart). The story plods, it's predictable where it should not be, the characters dry, wooden, shallow, the blind girl 'sees' things she should not, for example she knows from across the room that her friend is sprawling on the couch. It's just not worth the time to reach the anticlimactic ending that you almost predicted. I say 'almost' because it's much more poorly constucted, conceived, and written than I ever imagined.
Review Summary: SHOOTING STRAIGHT IN THE DARK
Review: 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!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Hooked from Chapter 1
Review: 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!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: High-Energy Entertainment
Review: 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?
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shooting Straight to the Top
Review: I am delighted to find that Rick Blechta has now succesfully consolidated his own unique writing style with this latest crime thriller. He creates a well rounded and intriguing plot that succesfully blends suspense, tension and humour. With 'Shooting Straight' Blechta has forcefully elbowed his way into a crowded room of crime writers and has made himself heard above the din! Well done.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shooting the Language
Review: This is a book by a musician trying to imitate John Grisham. The problem is Bkechta is not a writer. The book is filled with so many cliches and hackneyed phrases that you feel your slogging through deep mud. Examples "The door burst open and I screamed in alarm" or "It was so quiet you could hear half (italiczed) a pin drop." It reads like one of those formulaic Goosebumps books. He also shows us how to make many grammatical mistakes such as "...who'd worked with the good doctor closely." Is that Doctor Closely I presume? It's the work of an amateur, a first book try that every writer does and usually discards (if he or she is smart). The story plods, it's predictable where it should not be, the characters dry, wooden, shallow, the blind girl 'sees' things she should not, for example she knows from across the room that her friend is sprawling on the couch. It's just not worth the time to reach the anticlimactic ending that you almost predicted. I say 'almost' because it's much more poorly constucted, conceived, and written than I ever imagined.