cover image Night Blind

Night Blind

Michael W. Sherer. Thomas & Mercer, $14.95 trade paper (500p) ISBN 978-1-61218-418-0

An appealing, empathetic lead makes up only in part for a misguided plot in this thriller, set mostly in Seattle, Wash., from Sherer (Death on a Budget and five other Emerson Ward mysteries). Blake Sanders, who lost his reputation after he was accused of embezzling money from a political campaign, now delivers newspapers for a living. One morning on his rounds, Sanders, who lost a close relative to suicide, is at the right place at the right time to stop a woman from jumping off a bridge. Later, Sanders becomes the prime suspect in the stabbing murder of an old woman on his route with whom he was friendly. This crime, committed we learn by another, somehow ties in with a killing carried out by a French intelligence agent in Paris in the opening chapter. The reveal of what’s behind the mayhem will strike many readers as not a good fit with the book’s everyman hero. (Oct.)