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Blind Spot by Barbara Shapiro

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Barbara Shapiro's book, Blind Spot, doesn't pit a detective against the bad guy, but a mother against her teenage daughter's accusers. Before you wave your hand and turn away with a "Bo-ring," at least consider that the writing is crisp and fresh. Er, I didn't intend to make it sound like a salad. But the writing is very good and the characters are intriguing.

I generally don't get into books about ghosts (Island of the Sequined Love Nun is the exception), ESP, or the paranormal. But Suki Jacobs, the main character, is a forensic psychologist who denies such things exist, making it okay to be skeptical. She isn't perfect, she isn't beautiful, she isn't a pathetic victim. She's just a single mom doing her job and raising two kids in a small town. This is a sympathetic character who makes mistakes, loses her cool, questions her motivations. She's real. Her daughter is moody in that aggravatingly normal teenage way.

Suki picks up a case than might be just the thing to put her ahead of the bills piling up on the desk - she is asked to assess the sanity of a murderess who claims to have seen a ghost commit the crime. Unfortunately, Suki's daughter Alexa has just had an inexplicable "vision" - that comes true. So Suki's torn - who's insane? Who's not? And the vision Alexa had is that of a murder. Things are complicated by the politics in a small town and loyalties are tested as fingers start pointing at Alexa as the perpetrator.

Shapiro approaches the mother-daughter relationship with a frankness I've not experienced. There are harsh words and awkward apologies. Suki has to confront the truth that her daughter isn't the perfect kid she'd believed her to be. But this isn't done in that sepia-toned, heartwarming way that Girl Movies are made. It's real. It's honest.

Suki takes matters into her own hands (you have to expect that) and it's kind of cool to read about a character who isn't prepared for every eventuality. She finds several times that she has no idea what she's doing or how to get what she wants, but she blunders forward until she finds her way. To me, this is more real and more inspiring than the hero characters who do everything just right and always have adrenaline-pounding action jumping out from every corner.

And if you like those books where you have to figure out which person is really the bad guy, you'll like Blind Spot.

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