With One Look

Can there be any event that is so terrible that the sole surviving witness blocks out the memory by loosing her vision? Unfortunately, Horsman's ( Virgin Star ) new novel does not live up to its intriguing premise. Blind since she witnessed her parents' murder, Jade Terese Devon is the darling of post-Louisiana Purchase New Orleans society, able to cross the racial and class systems of the city because of her disability. Clearly, however, not everyone loves Jade: someone arranges to have her kidnapped and sold to a brothel. She is rescued by American shipbuilder, Victor Nolte, who, although unable to reconcile his love for Jade with her blindness, searches for the person who murdered her parents and who now threatens her. Jade's feistiness is one of the more engaging aspects of the book, especially in one humorous episode in which she prevents a pirate from raping her by acting like a dog. Likewise, once Jade's sight is restored, her struggle to accept her new vision rings true. Too often, voodoo and mystical powers are substituted for plot development, but still the writing grabs the reader's attention. (July)