The Eye of the Beholder - Softcover

Behm, Marc

3.56

433 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1901982033 ISBN 13: 9781901982039

Publisher: No Exit Press, 1999

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A private investigator becomes obsessed with a woman whom he has discovered is a serial killer

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Review:

If the Noir genre has a singular power, it is the ability to enshroud the reader with a fierce, unrelenting atmosphere. From the very first page of Marc Behm's astounding The Eye of the Beholder, it is clear that we are in a world that is unforgiving, brutal and without beliefs. Despite its short length, it is packed with violence and cynicism. The Eye is a private investigator at Watchmen Inc.: dedicated, proficient and near sociopathic. He is obsessed with crossword puzzles and always carries a picture of 15 schoolgirls--one of whom is the daughter he never knew. Dogging the footsteps of a bi-sexual serial murderess seems like just another job until his dedication turns into an intense obsession. The Eye makes voyeuristic observations that span 30 years, 100 killings and every state in America, as the coldly efficient femme fatale acquires and murders one wealthy suitor after another. Punctuated by routinely vicious episodes, both The Eye and his enigmatic quarry pursue their quests with lyrical grace, both bound by a tragic hopelessness. This is a potent mix of a heartbreaking love story, epic thriller and violent travelogue. Make no mistake, this is stone-cold, hard-boiled, classic noir-harsh and graceful--a formidable accomplishment. --Danny Graydon

Review:

"A heartbreaking love story, a most puzzling thriller, the story of a descent into hell. A deathly travelogue through every state in the US Union, a major book about desire, the way men look at women, lyrical and relentless in its intensity." -- Maxim Jakubowski, Murder One

"A quest for grace, a stone classic noir." -- Crime Time

"One of the punchiest, bleakest, weirdest hard-boiled crime novels I've ever come across, and one of the most original. This slender novel covers 30 years and details over 100 killings. It's a picaresque-epic thriller, a nihilistic road movie: Sam Spade meets Badlands. Vicious episodes occur in almost every section of the country, and the back and forth travel patterns weave a web across the USA. Behm's Eye is a voyeuristic near-sociopath who spends three decades dogging the footsteps of a bi-sexual serial murderess who, in a chameleon-like series of disguises, wanders the country acquiring and then snuffing out one well-heeled partner after another. The Eye Of The Beholder is a private-eye novel to end all private-eye novels." -- Los Angeles Herald Examiner

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