Blinded By Our Eyes by Clare London

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This was quite an unsettling novel, sometime bordering almost on the horror rather than the mystery; in any case, even if there is a romance in it, actually one former romance and a romance to be, I would classify it more mystery than romance genre.

When Charles Garrett finds the dead body of Paolo in a pool of blood in his gallery and his crying brother Joseph near it, at first he thinks at the beauty of the plateau they represent. This was the first time I stopped and re-read the sentence, I was thinking, “be careful, Charles, don’t stop into the pool of blood, don’t contaminate the crime scene”, that was my rational mind; and instead Charles was freezed in the moment since he was cataloguing all the macabre details like he was assessing an artwork.

Other than Charles, there are other three men in the novel and the relationships among them, and between them and Charles, are not clearly explained to the reader that has to build them step by step. At first, due to his interest in Paolo, and the regret for his sudden death, I thought there was more than a working relationship between Charles and Paolo. But then I realized that Charles had only an artistic interest in Paolo, and in a way, I classified it as a bit selfish, even if, indead, Charles was strongly denying that he was glad Paolo’s art was selling better after his death.

Joseph is the second man in the first scene, and the one alive; for how Charles deals with him, that night and after, I thought their relationship was superficial, more on the friendship side. Charles is concerned for Joseph, he worries for him, but I felt as he was a bit detached, as his concern was more for the well-being of a friend, not a lover. And instead Joseph is, or was, Charles’s lover.

Last to enter the scene is Antony, supposedly Paolo’s lover, but even that it’s not clear. Charles suspects Antony to be the one who killed Paolo, for different reasons. But when he meets the man, again for an artistic fascination more than for a sexual interest, Charles changes idea. I think the reasoning in Charles’s mind was, since Antony is a good artist, able to create beauty, he cannot be the killer. Strange reasoning indead, since there is not direct connection between the two things, if not in Charles’s mind and, at this point, his morbid fascination with everything is beauty.

Now from all of above someone could think I didn’t like Charles, and it’s wrong; I think Charles was a complex character, and I did like the author didn’t write him like an umpteenth wanna-be private investigator. Sincerely I think Charles was interested in finding the murderer more since the murderer killed a potential great artist than for a love of justice: that made him original, and even his obsession for beauty was something that gave him deepness.

http://ebooks.carinapress.com/244C41B8-5D01-46A2-9EA6-021B14D99E70/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=DBAA46A8-0436-4464-911E-3872333BB972

Amazon Kindle: Blinded By Our Eyes

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[clarelondon.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading and reviewing this, Elisa. What I love about your reviews is that you highlight things that aren't always the obvious - that you articulate what you feel and see in the layers and themes of a book. What I'm saying clumsily is that it fascinates me to see the book through your eyes, and especially Charles and his interaction with the other men that he is - or has been - close to :).

He's definitely a man who starts off judging everything in terms of visual beauty - then hopefully finds out there's much more involved in engaging with real life. Your comment intrigued me: Charles was interested in finding the murderer more since the murderer killed a potential great artist than for a love of justice. I think that, yes, he had mixed motives for his investigation, even if he wasn't always honest with himself about it.

Many thanks again! :)

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I think I have a strange mind myself ;-)