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At First Sight
In his newest and most distinctive novel, Stephen J. Cannell channels his insider experiences into a tautly drawn noir look at the materialistic Hollywood lifestyle. Meet Chick Best—a middle-aged, selfabsorbed, disaffected, California dot.com millionaire. Other than his house and high-priced foreign cars, Chick’s most expensive possession is his trophy wife, Evelyn. Evelyn is good at spending Chick’ money, money that has pretty much run out. Another problem is his drug-addled sixteen-year-old daughter, Melissa. Though concerned about his life and family, Chick has resigned himself to a miserable state of acceptance. That is, until he, Evelyn, and Melissa take a Christmas vacation in Maui. With this, Chick’s life changes… Chick experiences unrequited love at first sight when he observes Paige Ellis emerging from the hotel swimming pool. His obsession, exceeded only by his need to possess her, isn’t diminished when he learns that she is happily married. Instead, he befriends Paige and her near-perfect husband, Chandler. A short time later, back from Hawaii, Chick’s obsession compels him to drive to Paige’s house, where he runs down and kills Chandler in a drugstore parking lot. But this is just the beginning of Chick’s nightmare as his life spirals homicidally out of control, resulting in the destruction of everything he holds dear. Will Paige learn the truth about Chick before it’s too late? Fast paced, filled with wry humor, murder, lust, and dead-on L.A. characterizations, Cannell has written his most explosively saleable novel yet.
328 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
6 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Stephen J. Cannell
68 books268 followersStephen J. Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist, and occasional actor, and the founder of Cannell Entertainment (formerly Stephen J. Cannell Productions) and the Cannell Studios.
Cannell created or co-created several successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s. Creations included The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. He was an Emmy winner and was awarded The Eye - Lifetime Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.
Cannell created or co-created several successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s. Creations included The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. He was an Emmy winner and was awarded The Eye - Lifetime Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
January 31, 2023
Boy, am I happy Mr. Cannell didn't listen to his nearest and dearest when he was told they disliked the premise for At First Sight - going so far as to say he shouldn't waste his time as it is almost surely going to be a flop.
Well... How wrong they all were. This title is hailed as one of the top thrillers by many book critics. I have to say I agree with this assessment. From start to finish, this is an absolutely gripping plot filled with amazing satirical humor, passion, and action. A tremendous whirlwind of a thriller.
Narrator Scott Brick is the icing on the cake.
Highest of recommendations.
Well... How wrong they all were. This title is hailed as one of the top thrillers by many book critics. I have to say I agree with this assessment. From start to finish, this is an absolutely gripping plot filled with amazing satirical humor, passion, and action. A tremendous whirlwind of a thriller.
Narrator Scott Brick is the icing on the cake.
Highest of recommendations.
September 25, 2018
Something about quitting a book before finishing it sticks in my craw, like walking out in the middle of a play or movie. There are very few books I don’t finish. This is one of them. I quit after 5 chapters.
The main character, Chick Best is a going-broke dot.com businessman who whines constantly about going broke (The book opens with he and his family vacationing for a week in Hawaii in a $2700 per night hotel room. Duh! No wonder he’s going broke!). He whines, too, about his spending- and appearance-addicted wife, and drug-addicted, attitude-copping daughter. None of them are likeable or even tolerable.
I more than didn’t like them, I detested them. And that to me is where this novel failed and why I didn’t finish it. If I can’t find anything at least slightly likeable about the characters (or at least something that makes me hope they will become more likeable), I won’t spend my time reading about them.
I can’t help wondering why Cannell, author of the great Shane Scully series (each book loaded with fully-drawn, three-dimensional characters), wrote a book stocked with such shallow, self-absorbed people.
Cannell prefaces this ‘Novel of Obsession’ with a page and a half explaining why he wrote it. In it, he says that when he tried to explain his vision for this book, others begged him not to write it, but only he could see what was inside his head so he wrote it anyway.
Frankly, he should have left it in his head.
Still that thing about not finishing a book sticks in my craw. Maybe some day (when I am beyond desperate for something to read), I will go back and plow through At First Sight to the end. But I doubt it.
The main character, Chick Best is a going-broke dot.com businessman who whines constantly about going broke (The book opens with he and his family vacationing for a week in Hawaii in a $2700 per night hotel room. Duh! No wonder he’s going broke!). He whines, too, about his spending- and appearance-addicted wife, and drug-addicted, attitude-copping daughter. None of them are likeable or even tolerable.
I more than didn’t like them, I detested them. And that to me is where this novel failed and why I didn’t finish it. If I can’t find anything at least slightly likeable about the characters (or at least something that makes me hope they will become more likeable), I won’t spend my time reading about them.
I can’t help wondering why Cannell, author of the great Shane Scully series (each book loaded with fully-drawn, three-dimensional characters), wrote a book stocked with such shallow, self-absorbed people.
Cannell prefaces this ‘Novel of Obsession’ with a page and a half explaining why he wrote it. In it, he says that when he tried to explain his vision for this book, others begged him not to write it, but only he could see what was inside his head so he wrote it anyway.
Frankly, he should have left it in his head.
Still that thing about not finishing a book sticks in my craw. Maybe some day (when I am beyond desperate for something to read), I will go back and plow through At First Sight to the end. But I doubt it.
October 19, 2016
Typically, I like Stephen Cannell's work. This is a less than inspiring novel of predictability all the way to framing a gangbanger. An off the rails man and his unbalanced family contribute little but scorn for them and the listener. And, of all things, a born again Inspector. Spare me. 3 of 10 stars
June 28, 2011
A terrible book! Selected to read because of others of this author that I have read and enjoyed. An unpleasant story about a very unpleasant, dislikeable man who commits murder (twice) and throws away everything he has because of his intense desire for a woman he glimpses at a resort pool. The character's constant attempts to justify his actions is most annoying and I was constantly tempted to stop reading as it was a chore, rather than a source of enjoyment. I often choose books to read based on the author, if I have read and enjoyed his/her work previously so this was a significant disappointment. Fortunately this was not the 1st of Cannell's books I had read, otherwise I would not have ever read him again. I will try one other to see if "At First Sight" was an anomaly.
December 23, 2017
Good characters, interesting premise, but it needed to be tightened up and add some substance. Could cut about a 100 to 150 pages and it would be much better, replace those pages with some substance and it would be a much better book.
November 2, 2010
I probably should have stopped reading after the first chapter. I didn't like the protagonist, which the author certainly intended. The problem was I never liked the victims either. Very predictable and many contrived situations that put the heroine in danger.
December 2, 2022
My first book by this author. Average story. Somewhat unbelievable.
March 4, 2011
A thriller with a twist, this story is told from the bad guy's point of view. Chick Best is a dot come millionaire whose business has fallen on hard times. Still he and his family take their annual resort vacation where he sees Paige Ellis and immediately decides that she is the most perfect woman he has ever met and that he must have her. Small problems arise: Paige is newly married and deeply in love with her husband, Chick is unhappily married but will be left penniless in a divorce, etc. Chick goes on to eliminate these problems--starting with Paige's husband. [return]So with this type of book the question is, does the author make the main character interesting enough so that you still want to hear their story even though they are morally reprehensible? Cannell does an OK job with this, and I wanted to see how/if Chick was going to get away with his crimes, but I didn't care much about him and would have been happy to put this book down after I sensed where it was going. As an audiobook it was given a boost but the skillful performance of Scott Brick, who gave Chick the perfect voice and made him somewhat more interesting. I've probably told you too much about this book, but if you like thrillers that are out of the ordinary give it a try.
December 20, 2008
Probably one of the worst books I have ever read. I am surprised that I actually finished it. I found the characters in the book to be more like caricatures and not very likable ones..even those we were suppose to root for. Hopefully, Cannell will go back to his regular genre that are decent quick reads.
February 25, 2013
This was a book that had an interesting if implausible plot. But all the characters were unlike able or one-dimensional. Nonetheless I read the entire book in one day. It started out a little rough and became quite vulgar toward the end. Cannot recommend. Best to just pass this by because there is no redeeming ending.
November 26, 2016
A simple noir tale updated for the 21 century.
A software millionaire with a shrew-ish wife and a bratty kid is running out of money and patience when he meets the young wife of an acquaintance. He falls completely in love, becomes obsessed, and decides he will do anything to have her, including murder.
A software millionaire with a shrew-ish wife and a bratty kid is running out of money and patience when he meets the young wife of an acquaintance. He falls completely in love, becomes obsessed, and decides he will do anything to have her, including murder.
September 28, 2016
I've been a fan of Stephen J. Cannell and have enjoyed other books and the television series he is known for. At First Sight was a "no brainer" read. I enjoyed it but it certainly wasn't too suspenseful.
July 8, 2024
Kind of a depressing book. Page 64 might tell the whole boyhood Chick history, in that it editorializes how one might lose their spirituality in favor of materialism.
Watching the story unfold from 2 points of view works, but up until that page 65 it appeared to be first person omniscient, and then the Columbo like character appears in the guise of Bob Butler. At this point I was hooked to see how it would end [have to admit i fast forwarded 5 chapters at the end]. It really doesn't play that they don't sell phone chargers in CA ?.
Having 2 characters attempting to tell the story in first person seems like something only a screen playwright would attempt when stretching what might suffice as screenplay into novel length. His mention of
, and andrew Klaven's endorsement did seem to be something of a love fest between the 2 mystery writers. Overall it did smack of something like death of a salesman or "falling down". His metaphor for the governor of CA once acting as the terminator was amusing, as much of his cynicism appeared more real than delusional.
Watching the story unfold from 2 points of view works, but up until that page 65 it appeared to be first person omniscient, and then the Columbo like character appears in the guise of Bob Butler. At this point I was hooked to see how it would end [have to admit i fast forwarded 5 chapters at the end]. It really doesn't play that they don't sell phone chargers in CA ?.
Having 2 characters attempting to tell the story in first person seems like something only a screen playwright would attempt when stretching what might suffice as screenplay into novel length. His mention of
, and andrew Klaven's endorsement did seem to be something of a love fest between the 2 mystery writers. Overall it did smack of something like death of a salesman or "falling down". His metaphor for the governor of CA once acting as the terminator was amusing, as much of his cynicism appeared more real than delusional.October 11, 2018
As the author's intro suggests, this book IS a little different. It starts as a sad story about a self-absorbed man and his horribly dysfunctional family, and while the genuinely unlikable characters never draw you in, the plot does. It's interesting how the author takes a completely unbelievable plot and actually takes you along with him -- if you're able to suspend your disbelief just a little, knowing that it's not serious literature, after all. The best part of the book was when the first-person viewpoint switched to Paige for the first time. The story became more believable then because we saw the story through her eyes and came to understand how she convinced herself -- against her better judgement -- to go along with Chick. The author does a good job of explaining her thoughts and her logic, making you believe that the final chapter of the book could actually have happened this way, making the ridiculous plot a little more believable and fulfilling the book's promise to be "different."
November 28, 2020
Maybe this one just wasn't for me. I admire Cannell's work, especially some of his TV work like 21 Jump Street, Greatest American Hero, and the fantastic Wiseguy starring Ken Wahl.
I can appreciate Cannell wanting to experiment in his work, as he says in his into to this book. He was never all that original. Cannell's talent was in taking the stale cliche and wringing something fresh out of it. He's more about perfecting the sluggish genre.
I'm not one who needs to admire or sympathize with a main character either. But writing amoral or unsympathetic leads who we want to follow just wasn't in his wheelhouse.
In the interest of sparing myself further injury from this book, let's just say you've been warned.
I can appreciate Cannell wanting to experiment in his work, as he says in his into to this book. He was never all that original. Cannell's talent was in taking the stale cliche and wringing something fresh out of it. He's more about perfecting the sluggish genre.
I'm not one who needs to admire or sympathize with a main character either. But writing amoral or unsympathetic leads who we want to follow just wasn't in his wheelhouse.
In the interest of sparing myself further injury from this book, let's just say you've been warned.
August 16, 2024
Interesting and intriguing characters... you get to "ride along" as the characters progress through the story line. Our primary character (initial narrator) seems likeable although a bit phony, but you can't help but relate to him. He's an interesting and amusing fellow. As the story unfolds, you begin to see his darker underside, as his newest obsession begins to consume him. Eventually, the story broadens, and we are offered access to the perspective of other characters in the story, and the true conflicts begin to truly take shape.
I enjoyed the read. I usually like characters and scenarios that come from the mind of Stephen J. Cannell. This one was no exception!
I enjoyed the read. I usually like characters and scenarios that come from the mind of Stephen J. Cannell. This one was no exception!
August 24, 2020
At First Sight attempts to make the main character, Chick Best, an unlikeable sort. In this it succeeds. Having received a recommendation to read Cannell from a fellow who actually knew the man, I picked up three of his books. The other two are Shane Scully books. It was good that I had read those two books first, ot his would probably have been the last Cannell book experience for me! I will more carefully check out future books and unless it is a Shane Scully book, I will probably pass it by.
December 21, 2021
I am very annoyed with Stephen Cannell for dying before he'd finished writing all the stuff I wanted to read so I was tickled to find this one of his books I had not read yet. He notes in the book's preface that he was trying something new and different. Why his publisher let him get away with it is a mystery all its own.
It is the novel equivalent of a train wreck. I read it to the end and all the while astonished at how clumsily it was constructed and written. The plot was actually decent and the rest was so not.
It is the novel equivalent of a train wreck. I read it to the end and all the while astonished at how clumsily it was constructed and written. The plot was actually decent and the rest was so not.
May 20, 2019
Definitely not a feel-good story. Crazy and unfortunately very believable. I can see where he says that everyone told him he shouldn't write this book, but if you can get past the creepiness it is a well-spun story.
April 16, 2018
A book to read to only pass the time if you want to read about someone you are NOT going to like.
January 7, 2020
Snappy and entertaining, with insights into odd and arrogant characters. Very funny throughout.
April 23, 2020
My first book by Cannell. It is a great book about some seriously messed up characters!
June 9, 2020
Not Scully. Not bad, but not Scully. Just saying....
July 31, 2022
Strange tale of fantasized love and real murder on both coasts
March 6, 2023
I liked it, it just wasnt groundbreaking. Nice bit of fiction to keep me entertained while driving
August 27, 2024
Strangely interesting at times, repetitive at others
November 14, 2014
This is a very tough one for me to rate. In the forward, the author states that he was advised against writing it in the first place as it was somewhat risky. But by the time he wrote it I suppose he had seen and done just about everything in television, Hollywood, and writing so why not?
The story is about a dot.com entrepreneur in LA that was once king of the hill of internet business but has now been passed by and is hemorrhaging money fast. His body-building trophy wife is horrid and his teenage daughter is a wasted drug addict. His debts are huge and yet they can't stop spending on their over-the-top life style. The POV character for most of the book, Charles "Chick" Best can't seem to see what's coming and piles on mistake after mistake. Enter Paige Ellis, a beautiful young woman with everything going for her, and Chick is instantly head over heels in love. Too bad she's married...and hence the impetus for the rest of the novel.
Since the first portion of the story is told from Chick's first person perspective, the reader is forced to get in his head and experience his downfall along with him. It's a conflict between wanting to like the poor sap and hope he can get his act together but yet still knowing he's going to spiral deeper and deeper into the fiascos of his own making. Chick represents the very worst of successful people who have become condescending, cynical, and totally self absorbed. No matter how much wealth and extravagant displays of that wealth he accumulates, he still covets what other people have. Later, the POV character switches to Paige and it's even easier to see what a monster Chick is becoming, as he will do absolutely anything to be with Paige.
Fortunately, I listened to an audio version of this book. I think if I had read it in its written form I would have felt it to be clichéd and over-the-top. But Scott Brick does an absolutely amazing job at narrating the story. His sarcastic self-indulging portrayal of Chick Best is among the very best audio performances I have ever heard. And it brings just the right amount of humor to this very dark story. I'm afraid without that, I would have been sick to my stomach as I "became" the character of Chick Best.
So my rating is based on the writing, the plotting, the characters, etc. Mr. Cannell can write! If I had rated it purely on how much I "enjoyed" the book I would give it 2 stars at best.
The story is about a dot.com entrepreneur in LA that was once king of the hill of internet business but has now been passed by and is hemorrhaging money fast. His body-building trophy wife is horrid and his teenage daughter is a wasted drug addict. His debts are huge and yet they can't stop spending on their over-the-top life style. The POV character for most of the book, Charles "Chick" Best can't seem to see what's coming and piles on mistake after mistake. Enter Paige Ellis, a beautiful young woman with everything going for her, and Chick is instantly head over heels in love. Too bad she's married...and hence the impetus for the rest of the novel.
Since the first portion of the story is told from Chick's first person perspective, the reader is forced to get in his head and experience his downfall along with him. It's a conflict between wanting to like the poor sap and hope he can get his act together but yet still knowing he's going to spiral deeper and deeper into the fiascos of his own making. Chick represents the very worst of successful people who have become condescending, cynical, and totally self absorbed. No matter how much wealth and extravagant displays of that wealth he accumulates, he still covets what other people have. Later, the POV character switches to Paige and it's even easier to see what a monster Chick is becoming, as he will do absolutely anything to be with Paige.
Fortunately, I listened to an audio version of this book. I think if I had read it in its written form I would have felt it to be clichéd and over-the-top. But Scott Brick does an absolutely amazing job at narrating the story. His sarcastic self-indulging portrayal of Chick Best is among the very best audio performances I have ever heard. And it brings just the right amount of humor to this very dark story. I'm afraid without that, I would have been sick to my stomach as I "became" the character of Chick Best.
So my rating is based on the writing, the plotting, the characters, etc. Mr. Cannell can write! If I had rated it purely on how much I "enjoyed" the book I would give it 2 stars at best.
July 4, 2014
I think most guys can identify with the plight of the protagonist in this book - even though it is an over-the-top, supercharged case of what they have experienced. Women doubtless experience a subdued form of the same madness although from appearances less often, and probably much less often the one-sided attraction protrayed here. Just what is this madness that can overwhelm a guy unless he can get hold of himself? - obsessive thought probably being the main feature. I couldn't read straight through the book because it was a forgone conclusion that the guy was doomed, and took down a bunch of people with him in his crash and burn, and it was just too, too depressing. This type of obsession really is a form of temporary insanity that is built into nature, and subject to varying degrees of control. How many people have woken up a few months after a marriage (or a destoyed life) with a kid on the way and discovered that the object of their fantasy is just another normal person with a different set of equipment from themselves, and not the ideal they fell over. If they are lucky, it is still a good match.
The funny thing about Nature's trap of mutual sex illusion - even when it may be an "affair" that wrecks lives - is that, as I read somewhere, there still is a type of spiritual experience and communion occurring, and likely one of one's deepest and remembered experiences in life. 'A life-wrecker with a token.
Another thought the book brings to mind, is what a terrible curse it is to a woman in reality to be exceptionally good-looking. Every guy she meets or passes in the street zeros in on her with their attention. It can create an atmosphere that permeates the good-looker's whole life, and a barrier to every other effort to develop the deeper inportant things. 'And to think that for the feminine side of creation in our culture, using all the tricks to become continually better-looking is a national obsession, and our poor girls are trained to it by the media from an early age.
The funny thing about Nature's trap of mutual sex illusion - even when it may be an "affair" that wrecks lives - is that, as I read somewhere, there still is a type of spiritual experience and communion occurring, and likely one of one's deepest and remembered experiences in life. 'A life-wrecker with a token.
Another thought the book brings to mind, is what a terrible curse it is to a woman in reality to be exceptionally good-looking. Every guy she meets or passes in the street zeros in on her with their attention. It can create an atmosphere that permeates the good-looker's whole life, and a barrier to every other effort to develop the deeper inportant things. 'And to think that for the feminine side of creation in our culture, using all the tricks to become continually better-looking is a national obsession, and our poor girls are trained to it by the media from an early age.
March 2, 2009
Chick Best, erstwhile dot.com millionaire, was at one time on top of the world, with a luxurious home in Hollywood, cabin in Big Bear, married to a beautiful woman, with a teenage daughter. But lately things have turned sour. Chick’s business is going under, his wife is having an affair, and his teenage daughter’s only interest is hanging out with a criminal biker and taking drugs. The family goes on vacation to Hawaii, where Chick encounters beautiful Paige Ellis and falls in love “at first sight.” Chick is despaired to learn Paige is married to Chandler, a handsome, altruistic man from a wealthy family who uses his time and money to help learning disabled kids. Chick makes an effort to get to Paige through Chandler, but it’s evident Paige is very much in love with her husband. Back home, Chick can’t keep his mind off Paige. When an opportunity arises to go to New York, he flies there, rents a car, and drives to her home in North Carolina, where his life begins its slow, horrific spiral downward into madness and deception.
Cannell’s depiction of the shallow mindsets of the materialistic rich is revealed with humor, although at times, it seems sad and unfathomable that people actually think this way. Chick is a character readers will not like, but his inner thoughts and insights, while usually obnoxious are, nonetheless, entertaining. The story has its suspenseful moments and the reader will root for Paige, an intelligent woman who grieves the death of a man she was very much in love with while trying to deal with Chick, a middle-aged, portly man with no morals who is slowly going mad.
Cannell’s depiction of the shallow mindsets of the materialistic rich is revealed with humor, although at times, it seems sad and unfathomable that people actually think this way. Chick is a character readers will not like, but his inner thoughts and insights, while usually obnoxious are, nonetheless, entertaining. The story has its suspenseful moments and the reader will root for Paige, an intelligent woman who grieves the death of a man she was very much in love with while trying to deal with Chick, a middle-aged, portly man with no morals who is slowly going mad.
February 18, 2017
i'd forgotten how much I liked this guys books (and his tv shows) and again lamented his death several years ago. This was a stand alone (not in the Skully series) and it was good and fun. This ends my chapter with him (unless I decide to reread and I have been known to do that) and it's sad.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews