DEAD EYES

A blind actress is tormented by a stalker—in another slick but uninspired thriller by Woods (L.A. Times, p. 332, etc.), who himself seems in the dark about how to capitalize on his melodramatic premise. Chris Callaway, 31, is climbing the ladder to stardom when she falls from her half-built Malibu beachhouse to the rocks 20 feet below—an accident that leaves her able to see only vague shapes, though her sight should return to near-normal anytime within two years. Compared to this career setback, the annoying flowers and letters Chris has been getting from a fan who calls himself ``Admirer'' don't seen very important, but the day after she returns home from the hospital—with her best pal, gay hairdresser Danny Devere, in tow—she senses an intruder and calls the cops: Enter hunky Detective Jon Larsen, who takes Chris under his wing and, soon, into his bed. But despite Larsen's attentiveness—he teaches Chris to use a gun and bucks his superior by devoting himself to her case—he can't nail Admirer, even though clues point him toward a creepy security expert as the stalker. Meanwhile, Admirer invades Chris's home again, overpowering her and tattooing her hand; causes Danny to crash his car; burns down Chris's old house; sends the actress a dog's head in a gift box; and decapitates another woman, placing the headless body in Larsen's house—with all this escalating mayhem prompting Larsen, Chris, and Danny to trap Admirer at Chris's now-completed beachhouse in an abrupt finale that yanks a twist ending out of left field but fails to deliver the extended climactic stalking—or, perhaps, the return of Chris's sight—that readers will be expecting. Smooth running, but shallow characters (the villain is a total cipher) and lack of dramatic payoffs leach suspense: Wait Until Dark this isn't. (First printing of 100,000)