A BLIND EYE
by G.M. Ford
True-crime author Frank Corso learns once again that betting on people’s intrinsic goodness doesn’t pay.
A snowstorm a hundred miles wide strands Corso (Black River, 2002, etc.) in O’Hare Airport with his ex-girlfriend Meg Dougherty, whose suspicions have just been confirmed by the TV in the airport bar: Corso invited her along not because of her skills as a professional photographer, but as camouflage. The State of Texas has issued a warrant for Corso’s arrest as a fugitive material witness. The potential for an imminent appearance by Tommy Lee Jones explains why Frank, who’s already cut off his trademark ponytail, now wants to drive to the nearest airport in the middle of a snowstorm. Meg hits the road with him till a collision lands the two in an abandoned farmhouse. When they tear up the floorboards in order to feed a fire that will keep them from freezing to death, they discover the bodies of a family murdered 15 years ago. Sheriff Trask makes a deal: Investigate the murdered family and save Trask’s career, and she’ll let Corso escape the deputies waiting to cuff him. It’s an offer Corso can’t refuse. In minutes, he and Meg are back on the road, eluding the Texas deputies and tracking a most unusual serial killer.
It’s hard to decide what’s better, the action or the dialogue, in this hugely entertaining study of good intentions and bad.