The Blindfold Test - Barry Schechter - What I'm Reading Right Now

I'm halfway through this debut novel and I'm really liking it; I'd suggest you check it out. It's a little paperback from the up and coming Melville House out of Brooklyn.

It's about a man who has been followed his entire life by a secret sector of the government; an imaginative Hoover spin off that's called the Breather program. But why is Jeffery Parker a suspect, and being followed? He mistakenly attended a rally in his salad days and now realizes that everything he's ever not done, that's right, not done, is due to this secret group that's gone around and prevented him from getting what he wants. The pitfalls of his life are due to one wrong turn, he zigged when he should have zagged, and has to pay for it over his entire life. There is a wickedly funny opening scene that needs to be read three or four times. It's a great way to start a novel, unconventional and totally worth your time.

This is an interesting book that I've been reading off and on over the last few weeks, and there is so much going on in the world of books right now that it's hard to focus on one thing. As soon as I do, something else I really want to read arrives on the doorstep. Stay tuned for a full review of this great debut. To put a finer point on it, this book is a trade paperback original, and in these penny pinching times, a good deal.

-JR