The Blind

Written by A.F. Brady

Narrated by Kate Zane

‘Taut and intelligent’ Prima ‘Utterly addictive’ Lisa Hall

Every morning, psychiatrist Sam James gets up at six forty-five. She has a shower, drinks a cup of coffee, then puts on her make-up.

She ignores the empty bottles piling up by her door.

On this particular morning, Sam is informed of a new patient’s arrival at Manhattan’s most notorious institution. Reputed to be deranged and dangerous, Richard is just the kind of impossible case Sam has built her reputation on. She is certain that she is the right doctor to treat such a difficult patient.

But then Sam meets Richard. And Richard seems totally sane.

Let the mind games begin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Oct 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9780263932485

A.F. Brady

A.F. Brady is a New York State Licensed Mental Health Counselor/Psychotherapist. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Brown University and two Masters degrees in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University. She is a life-long New Yorker, and resides in Manhattan with her husband and their family. The Blind is her first novel.

Reviews for The Blind

[bogopea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Blind by A.F. Brady is a highly recommended debut novel of addictions, codependency, psychological self-examination and redemption." Samantha is a psychologist at a psychiatric institute in Manhattan, battling her own addictions and codependicies, yet works to help her patients battle the inner demons that she cannot.A mysterious patient, Richard, arrives and manages to get Sam as his doctor. There is a reason for this. But you won't know what it is until the last page. It's a fascinating read into Sam's psyche as she falls deeper into her own rabbit hole for a period covering five months. I really liked the book to the point where I couldn't put it down because it was very slow-paced and I was anxious to reach its conclusion. It was worth reading.

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars

The Blind by A.F. Brady is an absolutely riveting, impossible to put down character driven novel that keeps readers on the edge of their seats in breathless anticipation awaiting answers to two very compelling questions.  Why is Richard McHugh, a seemingly normal ex-con, a patient at Typhlos Psychiatric Center? And most important, will Dr. Sam James' carefully hidden secrets be revealed by a routine staff evaluation?

In her late thirties, Dr. Sam James is a functioning alcoholic who seeks out unhealthy relationships with men she can "fix". Her latest boyfriend, Lucas, has multiple addictions and takes his frustrations out on Sam on an increasingly regular basis. Juggling a heavy caseload, Sam is already in a serious downward spiral when she inherits enigmatic new patient Richard McHugh's from another therapist. With scant information about the newcomer, Sam is frustrated by her inability to get Richard to open up to her. It is not until her career and personal life are about to implode that Richard makes her a deal that she cannot refuse. But will this uneasy shift in their dynamic help either of them deal with their respective problems?

Sam is absolutely devoted to the patients in her care but when it comes to herself, she is incredibly self-destructive.  Hard drinking gives way to painful hangovers but she has successfully kept her personal life from affecting her career. She is highly regarded by her peers and in fact, Sam has a high rate of success with the toughest patients that end up at Typhlos.  Her professional achievements are a sharp contrast to her chaotic personal life and while she has managed to keep them separate to this point, the line begins to blur as her relationship with Lucas hits a new low. Making even more reckless decisions that exacerbate the volatile situation with Lucas, Sam's drinking escalates and she begins making mistakes at work that sometimes culminate with devastating results. Fast approaching rock bottom, Sam stumbles on the perfect solution to salvage her career after a routine staff evaluation when she is forced to strike a deal with Richard.

With nothing but rumor filled speculation and the knowledge that he did time for murder, Richard is a blank slate to the therapists at Typhlos. He refuses to answer any questions about his past and his records are no help since there are scant details about his crime or his life after he is paroled from prison. When Richard uncovers Sam's drinking problem, he offers a quid pro quo deal where he will tell her his secrets in exchange for hers. Desperate to save her career, Sam agrees but will she be able to hold up her end of their bargain?

The Blind is a novel that provides readers with a raw and unvarnished glimpse into mental illness and the nearly daunting efforts to treat the patients who suffer from these disorders.  Equally compelling is the fascinating dichotomy between Sam's out of control personal life and her highly successful career.  She is on a collision course with disaster for much of the story and it appears that she will never pull herself free from her self-destructive tendencies. Can Sam pull herself back from the abyss? Will Richard ever reveal the reason he is a patient at Typhlos Psychiatric Center? Although astute readers will most likely guess the final plot twist, A.F. Brady brings the novel to a satisfactory conclusion.

[tlvz721 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Holy unreliable narrator, Batman! A clinical psychologist at a New York mental institution battles her own demons as she treats her patients, one of whom is accompanied by a next-to-nothing paper trail and a penchant for being tight lipped about why he is there. Her personal life is a nightmare and she is losing her own grip on reality in a place where reality certainly does not abound. 4.5 stars for this debut novel which kept me guessing until the last five pages.

[1forthebooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A psychological mess. Psychologist, Dr. Samantha James appears to have it all together...but everything is not as it appears. As she comes to terms with the mess that is her life a stranger comes in and threaten her little sense of security.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Liking - or at least spending time with - an unlikable main character was an ongoing problem for me with this book. Sam is one of those people I'd feel sympathy for from a distance but would avoid interacting with at all costs. She's flat-out mean and a total psychological mess. So 400+ pages of her first person narration grated on my nerves. I persevered because the author does an excellent job of showing us specific mental illnesses, and I wanted to believe Sam would evolve with some redeeming characteristics to alter my opinion of her. She didn't, though I suppose that's often the reality of life.The pace of this story is quite slow as we watch Sam spiral out of control. She drinks so much at night that she's still drunk when she goes to work in the morning. Most of the first two-thirds of the book is her descent into an alcoholic stupor. As for Richard, the mystery patient, nothing much happens with him until the last third of the book. He's silent, mostly, though he drops clear hints and certain things are glaringly obvious, at least to readers. Sam, the top psychologist at the hospital, is too drunk to notice and is oddly content to let him sit around in this hospital with essentially no treatment and no diagnosis. I had trouble buying into Richard's placement at the hospital. It seemed beyond strange to me that none of the doctors or administrative staff would know anything about his past or why he was committed to a psychiatric hospital. Even so, his character intrigued me enough to keep me reading.The last quarter of so of the story picks up and things finally start happening. Though I saw the twist coming, I was carried along, feeling the turmoil of emotions and the edge of suspense. Then, just when we get to what should have been an intense climax, the story abruptly ends. We not only don't see any aftermath, we don't even see how things play out in the moment. A short, one-page final chapter, which reads more like an epilogue, reveals the twist, in case we didn't figure out where the build-up had left us dangling in the previous chapter.I was exasperated by the non-ending. The lack of depth and insight into the heart of the entire story made me feel like I'd wasted my time with an unlikable character.*I received an advance copy from the publisher, via Amazon Vine, in exchange for my honest review.*