Like his creator, Paul Theroux, the hero of BLINDING LIGHT, Slade Steadman, became famous for a best-selling travel book. In Therouxs case it was THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR, in Steadmans its TRESPASSING, a book about traveling the world without a passport. Unlike the prolific Theroux, however, Steadman has had writers block for years. Then he has a sexually charged romance with a doctor named Ava, who accompanies him to Ecuador to introduce him to a powerful hallucinogenic drug that removes his block--but blinds him in the process. Theroux manages to work President Bill Clinton into his exotic story, which is not only a tale of sex and travel, but a meditation on the hubris that can bring down the powerful.