Eastwood is excellent, film's ending not Eastwood again proves himself an excellent judge of great characters for himself. Since "Unforgiven," he has found roles which are made for his economical expression and his tough shell/inner vulnerability. His portrayal of Terry McCaleb, especially in the first half of "Blood Work," is among his best performances.
Eastwood is assisted in strong supporting performances by Anjelica Huston and Tina Lifford, and I liked the way that a previous intimate relationship between Lifford's and Eastwood's characters is alluded to but not spelled out.
Unfortunately, the movie itself is undone by a melodramatic and awkward performance by Wanda De Jesus, who perhaps needed more screen time and stronger direction (here we must fault Mr. Eastwood) to allow her character's growing attraction to McCaleb to seem more natural.
The ending of the movie is another problem, as developments become more and more ludicrous. The revelation of the killer's identity, which I could see coming an hour or more, wasn't the worst part. Instead, we are subjected to a variation of the killer-loose-in-a-dark-house sequence. I'll grant that the final set is atmospheric and unusual, but questions about the logistics of how hostages could be convinced to travel there, and about how the killer's approach to the site in daylight would not draw suspicion from everyone in the area, were too distracting for me to suspend disbelief.
Eastwood has found a great character. He now just needs to find a better script.