Karin Slaughter: Blind Sighted

By MICHELE HEWITSON

Oh, sure that's the real name of the writer of this debut novel which is touted as being "in the best-selling tradition of Patricia Cornwell".

Anyone who thought that Slaughter was a compelling name for a thriller writer ought to be looked at askance. And, as Blind Sighted proves, that's a reasonable call.

It has all the elements: a female medical examiner with a troubled past (read men) stumbles across a crime (read: a woman has been sexually assaulted and killed). There's going to be a second victim, and you just know that the killer has got links to medical examiner Sara Linton.

Slick and very, very sick, Blind Sighted is better described as being in the tradition of a new breed of thrillers which go for graphic descriptions of sexual crimes over storytelling. More than enough already.

Random House

$34.95