Blind Spots

A family is murdered in a dilapidated Minneapolis housing area, and Milo Krantz—the unpopular rental agent of the unit—is pegged as the culprit. Fifty-two-year-old Detective Gunther Mulvaney senses that Milo is telling the truth when he initially pleads not guilty. Yet overnight, Milo’s court proceedings become a main public attraction, and it’s only at the sentencing stage! In addition, Milo not only suddenly changes his plea, but also refuses to say anything in his own defense. Gunther, wondering if Milo’s drastic indifference has something to do with the judge handling his trial, does his own sleuthing. It is a matter of time whether or not Gunther can collect enough evidence to prove Milo’s innocence before he is sent to prison.

Award-winning author, Patrick Garry, spins a mystery within a mystery in his recent novel. Key to Garry’s third person narrative is a complex cast. Garry features a handful of tainted characters—namely Gunther Mulvaney, Milo Krantz, Judge Donna Davis, and her husband, Steven Davis—hiding behind facades . Surrounded by a supplemental yet foiled cast, each principal character (whether a professional or supposed lowlife like Milo) is a mixed bag of personalities laced with problems and/or deception. That said, Garry keeps readers scratching their heads and wishing that the real culprit would rise to the surface. Adding to the confusion, Garry’s characters also have their own set of convoluted circumstances that slowly intertwine in the body of plot.

Garry keeps his story moving by incorporating the aforementioned literary tools within chapters that alternate between character scenes as well as backstories. Amid a flurry of activity and red herrings, Garry also includes cliffhanging chapter endings that eventually (for the most part) get resolved in subsequent chapters. Replete with plenty of twists and turns and closing on an eerily open-ended note, Blind Spots is not only a top-of-the-line read for mystery aficionados and beyond, but also earmarked to be another award-winning book.