It begins, as shocking events often do, with a simple lapse in judgment.
A strange and brilliant young man slips out of a mental institution and takes his family hostage in the frozen isolation of the mountains. In a suffocating cabin, he demands the truth from Moira, the mother who admired and abandoned him; Nathan, the father who showered him with a dangerous, unconditional love; and Crissie, the younger sister who adored and betrayed him. At the center of this Rashomon-like tale are Moira, beautiful, deceptive, loving, and cold, and Vince, a stranger with a secret who finds himself drawn into the tense and explosive climax.
A visceral, relentlessly compelling novel of true literary achievement, The Desperate Season captivates as it terrifies, with a psychological power that resonates long after its haunting conclusion.

The Desperate Season

Literature & Fiction

Blaine, Michael

Contemporary

Harper-perennial

An inspirational profile of unlikely golf champion Johnny Goodman describes how an orphaned Omaha caddy from the wrong side of the tracks beat the legendary Bobby Jones in the nation's first national golf tournament at Pebble Beach in 1929.

The King of Swings: Johnny Goodman, The Last Amateur To Beat The Pros at Their Own Game

Biographies & Memoirs

Houghton/Mifflin

An orphan turned caddy born near the Omaha stockyards, Johnny Goodman was considered too small, too foreign, and too poor to play the country club game. But he swore he would prove everyone wrong, and before a nation’s riveted gaze this self-taught kid from the wrong side of the tracks beat the legendary Bobby Jones in the 1929 U.S. Amateur at a little-known California course called Pebble Beach. Goodman’s victory sent shock waves through the rarified world of golf in the Roaring Twenties, but he was just getting started. The idealistic Goodman clung to his amateur status despite lucrative offers from sponsors and Hollywood, ultimately winning the 1933 U.S. Open—the last amateur to perform this stunning feat. A hero in the Depression-era press, Goodman went on to win the 1937 U.S. Amateur—becoming only the fifth golfer in history to wear both crowns. Like The Greatest Game Ever Played, Michael Blaine’s King of Swings brings the story of one of golf’s forgotten heroes to life.

The King Of Swings: Johnny Goodman, the Last Amateur to Beat the Pros at Their Own Game

Historical

Mariner Books

In the frozen isolation of a remote country cabin, a young man holds his mother, father, and sister at gunpoint. As their survival hangs in the balance, they must face a terrifying reality: The shadow of madness looms closer than we choose to acknowledge-and sometimes, it is born of our own flesh and blood.
It begins, as shocking events usually do, with a simple lapse in judgment: On February 26, Maurice Coleman is prematurely released from the institution where he is being treated for schizophrenia. After dumping his medications into a stream and buying a semiautomatic, Maurice makes his way through the bitter snow to his parents' secluded hunting cabin. There, he demands from them the truth-with threats that are at once vividly delusional and unmercifully violent. And from the members of the broken family that both love and fear him we learn of their complicity in Maurice's sickness: Moira, the estranged mother who offers little comfort to Maurice; Nathan, the ex-husband and devoted father who showers his son with a dangerous, unconditional love; Crissie, the younger sister who befriends, despises, and ultimately sees her brother as only a sibling can; and Vince, an outsider with a secret who finds himself drawn into the final, fateful confrontation.
A visceral, relentlessly compelling novel of true literary achievement, The Desperate Season captivates as it terrifies, with a psychological power that will resonate long after its haunting conclusion.

United States

William Morrow

Max Greengrass is a stringer for the New York Herald in 1893. He's paid by the column inch. With no regular salary, Max must hustle for his stories, and late one night he nearly trips over one. He finds four cats lined up neatly on a Greenwich Village sidewalk. They have no visible wounds but are quite dead. They've been killed and ritually arranged. The story makes the paper and Max pursues it, from low dives to posh mansions, from a proper if eccentric society of refined ladies, concerned about the suffering of stray felines, to a bizarre conspiracy of churchly landlords and respected insurers who are getting rich by exploiting the misery of others. And it doesn't stop there. The facts he uncovers suggest dark ideas Max can barely contemplate, arousing suspicions that terrify him. He meets a source in a deserted saloon, only to find the man, apparently dozing, as dead as the cats that started it all. Soon Max's worst terrors come to life. The story Max is stalking now stalks him. Michael Blaine's The Midnight Band of Mercy is informed by actual events. It resurrects scandalous facts long since forgotten or conveniently - deliberately - buried, about an outrageous crime that spawned ever greater ones which haunt us to this day.

Midnight Band of Mercy: a novel

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Soho Press

“Engaging. . . . The 19th-century local color makes a good mystery even more enjoyable.”—Publishers Weekly “A hell of a yarn that moves with the velocity of a newspaperman on a hot story.” —Michael Connelly “Absorbing . . . puts modern-day urban scandals into perspective.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fabulous.”—The Charlotte Observer “A superb mystery.”—Mystery News “Delightful. . . . This is the bawdy, seamy, ripe-for-reform Gotham City no reader would want to live in—The crooks! The corsets!—but any reader would enjoy visiting.”—Detroit Free Press “A gritty and fascinating glimpse of New York in the late 19th century.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Blaine is a wonderful tour guide of old New York.”—The Washington Post Book World New York, 1893. Max Greengrass is an ex-pugilist turned space-rater for the New York Herald—he’s paid by the column inch. With no regular salary, Max must hustle for his stories. After a lucky night at the faro table, he nearly trips over his big scoop: four cats, killed and ritually arranged on a Greenwich Village sidewalk. Catricide! Max sells the story and pursues it, from low dives to posh mansions; from a proper, if eccentric, organization of respectable ladies, who are killing stray cats to “save” them; to a bizarre conspiracy of tenement landlords and insurance interests who are getting rich by exploiting the misery of the poorer elements of society. At the heart of The Midnight Band of Mercy is a story too strange to be true, except most of it is. Based on actual events—actual crimes—that occurred in New York City in 1893, Michael Blaine’s brilliant historical novel re-creates an age when American belief in scientific progress led to the slaughter of innocents.

Midnight Band of Mercy

The Invisible Walls of Dannemora: Inside the Infamous Clinton Correctional Facility

The infamous Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, in 2015 became the site of one of the most famous prison breaks in modern American history. However, the conditions that made possible the notorious escape and the massive manhunt that ensued had been developing for many years prior.Having earned the nickname of "Little Siberia", the brutal winters contributed to the already depressing façade of the facility. During the long, dark hours, the wind howled outside and sounded like ghosts haunting the halls of the prison.Dannemora had a proud past. Every employee chose to work there and there was always a transfer list of staff hoping to work there. It was a hard prison for hard criminals. Having housed the likes of mobster Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz, Rappers Tupac Shakur, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, and countless other infamous criminals, the staff at the Clinton Correctional Facility knew how to handle even the toughest of men. Like most prisons, Clinton was a place of routine. Each day was very much like day before. It was a big, clunking machine that simply ran each day unless someone in the administration used poor judgment and tried to implement an unsafe change in policy or targeted the wrong staff member.The author, Michael H. Blaine spent a career at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Having been an Officer, Sergeant, and Lieutenant, his story reveals the changes he observed and what he experienced at each rank he earned. Refusing to compromise his principles and sickened by the downward spiral that Clinton was experiencing, he retired less than 10 1/2 months before the first successful escape at Dannemora on June 6, 2015.This new book reveals the inner workings of this massive prison. It is the first look inside at what it was like to work at the Clinton Correctional Facility, its effects on those who spent time there on both sides of the bars, revealing why nobody escapes the Invisible Walls of Dannemora.

Invisible Walls of Dannemora: Inside the Infamous Clinton Correctional Facility

Community & Culture

Histria Perspectives

The infamous Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, in 2015 became the site of one of the most famous prison breaks in modern American history. However, the conditions that made possible the notorious escape and the massive manhunt that ensued had been developing for many years prior.Having earned the nickname of "Little Siberia", the brutal winters contributed to the already depressing façade of the facility. During the long, dark hours, the wind howled outside and sounded like ghosts haunting the halls of the prison. Dannemora had a proud past. Every employee chose to work there and there was always a transfer list of staff hoping to work there. It was a hard prison for hard criminals. Having housed the likes of mobster Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz, Rappers Tupac Shakur, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, and countless other infamous criminals, the staff at the Clinton Correctional Facility knew how to handle even the toughest of men. Like most prisons, Clinton was a place of routine. Each day was very much like day before. It was a big, clunking machine that simply ran each day unless someone in the administration used poor judgment and tried to implement an unsafe change in policy or targeted the wrong staff member.The author, Michael H. Blaine spent a career at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Having been an Officer, Sergeant, and Lieutenant, his story reveals the changes he observed and what he experienced at each rank he earned. Refusing to compromise his principles and sickened by the downward spiral that Clinton was experiencing, he retired less than 10 1/2 months before the first successful escape at Dannemora on June 6, 2015.This new book reveals the inner workings of this massive prison. It is the first look inside at what it was like to work at the Clinton Correctional Facility, its effects on those who spent time there on both sides of the bars, revealing why nobody escapes the Invisible Walls of Dannemora.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Blaine, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Blaine, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Blaine, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Desperate Season

The King of Swings: Johnny Goodman, The Last Amateur To Beat The Pros at Their Own Game

The King Of Swings: Johnny Goodman, the Last Amateur to Beat the Pros at Their Own Game

The Desperate Season

Midnight Band of Mercy: a novel

Midnight Band of Mercy

Invisible Walls of Dannemora: Inside the Infamous Clinton Correctional Facility

The Invisible Walls of Dannemora: Inside the Infamous Clinton Correctional Facility