‘Night Blindness’ Encourages Readers To Reconcile Their Past [REVIEW]

Couple by the water at sunset (Photo by David Spencer, Flickr)

Many of us have memories of our youth that we would like to forget. Sometimes, however, time refuses to keep those thoughts silent and starts to prick our conscience with increasing regularity. As Jensen Reilly discovers in Susan Strecker’s debut novel, Night Blindness, in some cases those frequent reminders can become both overwhelming and debilitating.

St. Martin’s Griffin

Jensen has not been able to drive at night since her brother Will’s death. Strecker reveals the nuanced story in beautiful, masterful brushstrokes as she takes us into Jensen’s tortured past. Wrestling with personal demons, Jensen struggles to cope in the present, an emotional dance that our first time author captures in vivid, heartbreaking detail.

When Jensen returns home to care for her father, she realizes her vantage point has shifted and she no longer sees her life as an innocent child, but as a mature adult.  But how can she reconcile past actions that may hurt those she loves? Should she simply leave the past alone? Or will her memories prove to be so powerful they refuse to be buried?

Read Susan Strecker’s phenomenal debut, Night Blindness, to explore a young woman’s inner psyche. This book could very well give readers the courage to be a bit more introspective themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed my journey into Jensen’s story and hope you do also!

Susan Strecker
(Photo by Erik Johnson, Scandinavian Photography)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Strecker resides in Essex, Connecticut, with her husband and two children. Her first novel, Night Blindness, was an October 2014 Indie Next List Pick, and her second, Nowhere Girl, will go on sale March 1, 2016, from Thomas Dunne Books.

NIGHT BLINDNESS
By Susan Strecker
320 pgs. St. Martin’s Griffin. $15.99.