Scan barcode
attytheresa's review against another edition
4.0
A doubleblind is a clinical test using 2 or more groups without either knowing which medicine each group is being given. It's an excellent title for this detective novel with 2 separate plots set during the COVID pandemic. Story opens with PI Georgia feeling the effects of a pandemic on her work, and everything we all experienced. She gets a call from a friend and is asked to investigate the death of a healthy older woman immediately after being given the COVID vaccine, a death caused by the vaccine. The family is not satisfied it was really a vaccine related death.
While Georgia investigates this death, we are introduced to a parallel plot regarding a Fundamentalist Mormon wife who runs away from her abusive husband, said fundamentalist husband now looking to kill his wife as she knows too much about some illegal doings he's contemplating. This story quickly intersects with Georgia because she is the doppelganger for the runaway wife and is being mistaken for her. When someone attempts to murder Georgia, the question is whether its the COVID case that's put her at risk or is it being a doppelganger - the doubleblind of the title.
This is my first [a:Libby Fischer Hellmann|77146|Libby Fischer Hellmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634297607p2/77146.jpg] but it sure won't be my last. The story builds a bit slowly but accellerates in quite a satisfactory manner. There are a few twists and turns, and at the end of the penultimate chapter, the author delivers a shocker I did not see coming but that was in hindsight inevitable. It's a beautifully plotted detective suspense thriller. I thought the affect of the pandemic on the character's everyday lives was well-integrated into the story and will make it very clear exactly when this story occurs. Set in and around Chicago, including places in nearby states (this New Yorker tends to forget Chicago's proximity to 3 other states), there is a wonderfully strong sense of place; I believe I would even recognize many of the settings were I to visit them. The author did not stint on her research either into COVID vaccine distribution and administration, but also into Fundamentalist Mormons -- I learned a few things and none of it was extraneous to the plot.
Best of all, though this was 6th in an ongoing series which I have not read, it reads perfectly fine as a standalone. There are references to prior events and secondary characters and relationships clearly are evolving, but it does not read as you need to have read the earlier books to appreciate where all are here. .
While Georgia investigates this death, we are introduced to a parallel plot regarding a Fundamentalist Mormon wife who runs away from her abusive husband, said fundamentalist husband now looking to kill his wife as she knows too much about some illegal doings he's contemplating. This story quickly intersects with Georgia because she is the doppelganger for the runaway wife and is being mistaken for her. When someone attempts to murder Georgia, the question is whether its the COVID case that's put her at risk or is it being a doppelganger - the doubleblind of the title.
This is my first [a:Libby Fischer Hellmann|77146|Libby Fischer Hellmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634297607p2/77146.jpg] but it sure won't be my last. The story builds a bit slowly but accellerates in quite a satisfactory manner. There are a few twists and turns, and at the end of the penultimate chapter, the author delivers a shocker I did not see coming but that was in hindsight inevitable. It's a beautifully plotted detective suspense thriller. I thought the affect of the pandemic on the character's everyday lives was well-integrated into the story and will make it very clear exactly when this story occurs. Set in and around Chicago, including places in nearby states (this New Yorker tends to forget Chicago's proximity to 3 other states), there is a wonderfully strong sense of place; I believe I would even recognize many of the settings were I to visit them. The author did not stint on her research either into COVID vaccine distribution and administration, but also into Fundamentalist Mormons -- I learned a few things and none of it was extraneous to the plot.
Best of all, though this was 6th in an ongoing series which I have not read, it reads perfectly fine as a standalone. There are references to prior events and secondary characters and relationships clearly are evolving, but it does not read as you need to have read the earlier books to appreciate where all are here. .
aspygirlsmom_1995's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
attytheresa's review
4.0
A doubleblind is a clinical test using 2 or more groups without either knowing which medicine each group is being given. It's an excellent title for this detective novel with 2 separate plots set during the COVID pandemic. Story opens with PI Georgia feeling the effects of a pandemic on her work, and everything we all experienced. She gets a call from a friend and is asked to investigate the death of a healthy older woman immediately after being given the COVID vaccine, a death caused by the vaccine. The family is not satisfied it was really a vaccine related death.
While Georgia investigates this death, we are introduced to a parallel plot regarding a Fundamentalist Mormon wife who runs away from her abusive husband, said fundamentalist husband now looking to kill his wife as she knows too much about some illegal doings he's contemplating. This story quickly intersects with Georgia because she is the doppelganger for the runaway wife and is being mistaken for her. When someone attempts to murder Georgia, the question is whether its the COVID case that's put her at risk or is it being a doppelganger - the doubleblind of the title.
This is my first [a:Libby Fischer Hellmann|77146|Libby Fischer Hellmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634297607p2/77146.jpg] but it sure won't be my last. The story builds a bit slowly but accellerates in quite a satisfactory manner. There are a few twists and turns, and at the end of the penultimate chapter, the author delivers a shocker I did not see coming but that was in hindsight inevitable. It's a beautifully plotted detective suspense thriller. I thought the affect of the pandemic on the character's everyday lives was well-integrated into the story and will make it very clear exactly when this story occurs. Set in and around Chicago, including places in nearby states (this New Yorker tends to forget Chicago's proximity to 3 other states), there is a wonderfully strong sense of place; I believe I would even recognize many of the settings were I to visit them. The author did not stint on her research either into COVID vaccine distribution and administration, but also into Fundamentalist Mormons -- I learned a few things and none of it was extraneous to the plot.
Best of all, though this was 6th in an ongoing series which I have not read, it reads perfectly fine as a standalone. There are references to prior events and secondary characters and relationships clearly are evolving, but it does not read as you need to have read the earlier books to appreciate where all are here. .
While Georgia investigates this death, we are introduced to a parallel plot regarding a Fundamentalist Mormon wife who runs away from her abusive husband, said fundamentalist husband now looking to kill his wife as she knows too much about some illegal doings he's contemplating. This story quickly intersects with Georgia because she is the doppelganger for the runaway wife and is being mistaken for her. When someone attempts to murder Georgia, the question is whether its the COVID case that's put her at risk or is it being a doppelganger - the doubleblind of the title.
This is my first [a:Libby Fischer Hellmann|77146|Libby Fischer Hellmann|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1634297607p2/77146.jpg] but it sure won't be my last. The story builds a bit slowly but accellerates in quite a satisfactory manner. There are a few twists and turns, and at the end of the penultimate chapter, the author delivers a shocker I did not see coming but that was in hindsight inevitable. It's a beautifully plotted detective suspense thriller. I thought the affect of the pandemic on the character's everyday lives was well-integrated into the story and will make it very clear exactly when this story occurs. Set in and around Chicago, including places in nearby states (this New Yorker tends to forget Chicago's proximity to 3 other states), there is a wonderfully strong sense of place; I believe I would even recognize many of the settings were I to visit them. The author did not stint on her research either into COVID vaccine distribution and administration, but also into Fundamentalist Mormons -- I learned a few things and none of it was extraneous to the plot.
Best of all, though this was 6th in an ongoing series which I have not read, it reads perfectly fine as a standalone. There are references to prior events and secondary characters and relationships clearly are evolving, but it does not read as you need to have read the earlier books to appreciate where all are here. .
theirresponsiblereader's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
---
What’s DoubleBlind About?
I’m going to appropriate the description from Hellman’s website so I don’t slip up and say something she wouldn’t like me to reveal about the plot.
With little work during the pandemic, Chicago PI Georgia Davis agrees to help the best friend of fellow sleuth, Ellie Foreman. Susan Siler’s aunt died suddenly after her Covid booster, and Susan’s distraught mother wants the death investigated.
However, Georgia’s investigation is interrupted by a family trip to Nauvoo, Illinois, the one-time Mormon heartland. It’s there that her life unexpectedly intersects with the runaway spouse of a Mormon Fundamentalist. Back in Evanston, after Georgia is almost killed by a hit and run driver, she discovers that she and the escaped woman look remarkably alike.
Is someone trying to kill Georgia because of her death investigation case? Or is it a case of mistaken identity? And how can Georgia find her doppelganger before whoever wants them both dead tries again?
The Vaccination Storyline
I’m going to end up saying this at least a couple of times, but I thought it was a risky move to make the cornerstone of this novel a death that occurs right after the character receives a COVID-vaccination booster. It’s risky enough to try to get readers to invest in a COVID-era novel, but to center your plot on it—particularly vaccines right now? Hats off to her.
What’s more, there were a couple of times where I wondered if Hellman was on the verge of coming out pretty strongly anti-vaccination and other times I thought she was in danger of preaching the other direction—in the end, neither was true. There’s enough for everyone to like the way Georgia opines (and enough for everyone to dislike it, too). For Hellman’s sake, I hope her readers remember the views that are expressed by a fictional character do not necessarily match that of the author.
I thought the story wrapped up nicely, but I wish we’d gotten a little more time with it (and less of the Doppelgänger story).
The Doppelgänger Storyline
I’m of two minds about this storyline—I got really invested in Georgia’s doppelgänger. I’m not sure Hellman did the best job of depicting her story, but I really couldn’t get into everything surrounding her story—the reactions of those she left behind, Georgia’s involvement, the law enforcement angle…none of it seemed right.
If it stayed as a B-Plot to the Vaccine story, rather than taking over the book, I might have been better. If there’d been more nuance to the depiction of her husband—I’m not saying make him less of a clear-cut villain, just be more subtle about it’s shown.
Infodumps
Given the subject matter of the two storylines, a lot of research had to be done to make the details believable—and a good deal of the product of that research needed to be delivered to the readers, too. The trick comes in how that product is delivered. Hellman gets it right with one storyline, and less-right with the other.
When it comes to the vaccination storyline, Georgia has to dig in and find out more about the transportation of the vaccines and how things are supposed to go if there’s a problem with a patient post-vaccination. As Georgia does that research early on in the investigation, she has to think about what she learned and process it—this gives Hellman an opportunity to get that information in front of the readers in an organic way—even if it is an infodump.
On the other hand, Georgia and another character or two (being purposefully vague) need to be given information about Fundamentalist LDS culture and practices. Which results in some awkward infodumps—one that’s so far beyond awkward and ill-timed that I couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to handle the scene.
I’ve often heard authors in interviews talk about the temptation to use all their research in a novel, because it’s just so interesting. The infodumps about the Fundamentalist LDS felt like Hellman just had to share everything she learned.* Giving us the information in a smoother fashion, and only what was needed (at least explicitly, she could’ve alluded to more) would’ve worked better for the flow of the story—and might have provoked the reader to go read more on their own.
* “Felt like” is the key term there, she clearly could’ve gone more in-depth, but in the moment it seemed like she left it all on the page.
So, what did I think about DoubleBlind?
There’s some really strong storytelling at work here, with characters that Hellman’s clearly spent a lot of time crafting over the previous five novels.
I had some issues with some of the mechanics of writing—I thought that some of the dialogue needed another editing pass or two, some of it is best described as “clunky.” Not all of it—but enough that it stood out as a problem. The pacing could’ve been tighter in spots, there are the above comments about the infodumps (for both good and ill) and I don’t think Hellman prioritized the stronger storyline as she ought to have. Those detracted from and diluted the storytelling and characters—but not to the extent I wasn’t entertained by the novel or intrigued by the stories.
I’ll say it again, the way she incorporated COVID-19, the restrictions, and vaccinations was a gutsy move. I’m not wholly convinced it was the best way to approach it, but it was a pretty successful effort, and a nicely calculated risk.
Would I recommend this? Yeah, I would—maybe with a few reservations, but I don’t think they’re important enough to make me wave off a potential reader. Am I going to read Georgia Davis #7? I think it’s likely, I’m curious to see how Georgia moves from this point.
Georgia Davis is an intriguing character with a lot to commend her to your attention. Hellman’s a solid storyteller. That’s a combination I’m glad to recommend.
More...