Blind Switch - Softcover

One-time amateur boxer Jack Doyle, an irreverent and rebellious advertising account representative, goes to work one fine Chicago day and finds his desk - and his job - both gone. A two-time loser at the marriage game as well, Doyle, usually ultra-confidant, fishes himself out of a bottle to take stock, realizing, "with a thumping finality, that Life sure as hell did have his Number and was crunching it." At loose ends, Doyle accepts a most unusual offer from an acquaintance, Moe Kellman, to fix a horse race. The context of making the deal, a Cubs game at storied Wrigley Field, sets the tone for the drama that follows. Thus begins a chain of events that will lead the FBI to Doyle's door where they "coopt" him into a quest after people who are maiming or killing thoroughbred horses for their insurance values. Their number one target is a loathsome media mogul who can't bear to lose ...at anything. Built upon recent factual events, spiced with satire and peppered throughout with engaging loonies, Blind Switch is a noteworthy first novel with a hero forced to ask in its ultimate line, "Where have I gone right?"

John McEvoy, former Midwest editor and senior correspondent for Daily Racing Form, is the author of several previously published nonfiction books on thoroughbred horse racing, including the award-winning Great Horse Racing Mysteries. He has also published a book of poetry. Close Call is his third novel, following Blind Switch and Riders Down, winner of the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery/Suspense. McEvoy and his wife Judy live in Evanston, IL.