Sorry, did not finish (dnf). I just didn’t enjoy the fragmented, sometimes repetitive, writing style. I got to 12% and realized I had no idea what was going on.

Delighted to include this Stuart Evers novel in the monthly hotlist October roundup for Zoomer magazine's Club Zeb book club, online at this link

I found the premise of this novel to be compelling (threat of nuclear war and its effect on those living with it) but the writing was so disjointed in so many places that it simply was not an enjoyable read for me. I didn't care about the characters, thought none of them acted consistently within the parameters they were given. Especially annoying to me were the frequent paragraphs of sentence fragments or repeated phrases that didn't add to the narrative.

Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the ARC to read and review.

4.5 stars. Really beautiful book about friendship, families, secrets, and the effects of all on each intertwined life. I would say the Blind Light = that which blinds you from reality.

"The year is 1959. Two young soldiers, Drummond and Carter—one working-class, the other privileged—form an intense and unlikely friendship at “Doomtown,” a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic strike. Years later, the men watch in horror as the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold. Carter, now a high-ranking British government official, offers Drummond a way to save himself and his family in the event of a nuclear strike. Their pact, kept secret, will have devastating consequences for the very lives they seek to protect.


Spanning decades, from the 1950s to the present, this ambitious, original novel offers a nuanced and absorbing portrait of friendship and rivalry that explores class divisions and the psychological legacy of the nuclear age."

The book is really so much more than this synopsis tells you. Drummond never really gets over their time at Doom Town, and makes a series of decisions/pacts with Carter than change the course of his life and those of his family. Drum's obsession with being safe from what he considers to be the inevitable nuclear war changes his childrens lives permanently, as well as his own. The novel touches on each decade from the 1950s to the present. Each decade is suffused with details that make each time period come alive.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not finish this novel. I found it to be quite dense, and extremely depressing. I put it down after finding myself avoiding picking it back up.

This is a very sad book. It gave me sad dreams. It's about longing, love, lost relationships, and blind terror, the kind you live with for years.

Drum and Carter meet in 1959 while they are doing National Service. They could not be more different. Drum's a working class guy who worked in a Ford plan near London, and Carter is a wealthy kid just expelled from Oxford. They become friends, and that friendship lasts their lives.

It's not an easy or an even friendship. Carter gets them assigned to a civil defence base called Doom Town, which is made to look like a city after an atomic bomb has landed on it. For Drum, the nightmare of nuclear apocalypse follows him forever, through the Cuban Missile Crisis , 9/11, and the London bombings. He's terrified of what's to come.

"The Blind Light" is not an easy read. The characters are flawed, sad and frightened. You'll wish Drum would drop Carter, but then you realize that he sees Carter as embodying safety.

There is some satisfaction in the relationships at the end, but overall this book is just sad. I never considered not finishing it, but it made me, who ducked and covered under a desk as a tiny child, happy that I was too young to remember more.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this title.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

If I were to pick a synonym for this book, I’d pick ambitious. It’s a hefty novel. Sometimes I felt “less is more”. Some of the text could have been said more simply. The plot could have been better thought out. The spread of time over six decades could have been written more smoothly. But the story of what letting our lives be controlled by fear has on not only us but those we love fits into the current time as well as it did during and after the Cold War.

This is about friendship, family, and relationships, and it is literary, so there's no action or suspense, etc. It's well written and the characters are well flushed out. It's mostly engaging, and potentially a thinker's tale, since the writing can be deep and nuanced. Recommended for literary fans.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

A brilliant read a book of friends ,life family.I was immediately drawn into the story I so absorbed I didn’t want to stop reading leave their world and get busy in the real world again.A special read an author who writes words that stay with you.Highly recommend this special book & author.#netgalley #ww,norton