Blind Spots

By: Thomas Mullen

Narrator: Gary Tiedemann

Macmillan Audio

ISBN: 978-1250842749

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: 04/04/2023

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)

TOP BOOKS OF 2023 LIST

Blind Spots is a riveting crime novel with a speculative edge about what we really see with our own eyes.

Seven years ago, a mysterious virus blinded everyone in the world in a matter of months. Technology helped people adjust to the new normal, creating a device that approximates vision, downloading visual data directly to people’s brains. But what happens when someone finds a way to manipulate it and change what people see?

Homicide detective Mark Owens has been on the force since before The Blinding. When a scientist is murdered, and the only witness insists the killer was blacked out of her vision, Owens doesn’t believe her―until a similar murder happens in front of him. With suspects ranging from tech billionaires to anti-modernity cultists, Owens must conduct an investigation that hinges as much on what goes unseen as what happens before his eyes...

Thomas Mullen, the acclaimed author of The Last Town on Earth and Darktown, delivers an unputdownable crime novel that could only happen during this particular moment in time, perhaps just a few years into the future.

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#CrimeThriller #SciFi #Noir #ScienceFiction #ThomasMullen #BlindSpots #MinotaurBooks

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#BlindSpots

Praise

“[An] excellent near-future mystery. . . Fans of P.D. James’s Children of Men will be enthralled.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A gritty, dystopian story and an all too real and possible exploration of the dangers of continuous surveillance and the spread of disinformation.”

–Library Journal (starred review)

"[Mullen] has outdone himself here: this is a tremendous crime-SF hybrid, a brilliantly conceived story impeccably told. A novel that will stay with you for a very long time."

―Booklist (starred review)

"Grounded in the set pieces of police procedurals, this is both a whodunit and a cautionary tale about technology and government authoritarianism run amok. A lively, offbeat mystery with a thought-provoking premise."

―Kirkus Reviews

"It’s rare to find a thriller with such a fantastic and original concept. I was gripped."

―Anthony Horowitz

"An exciting page-turner that's also full of sharp writing and thought-provoking ideas. Mullen fuses science fiction and a detective story into a stylish and entertaining novel."

―Charles Yu

"This terrific mix of noir and sci-fi delivers an exciting and cautionary crime novel of what may be our not-so-distant future."

―Ace Atkins

“Terrific... The world of this story is brimming with imagination and raises alarming questions about our own near-term future. Attention Black Mirror fans: This is your next book!”

―Jason Rekulak

#DarkTownSeries

About the Author

Thomas Mullen is the internationally bestselling author of several previous novels, including Darktown, an NPR Best Book of 2016, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, the Indies Choice Book Award, and was nominated for or won prizes in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The follow-up, Lightning Men, was named one of the Top Ten Crime Novels of 2017 by The New York Times and was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award. His debut, The Last Town on Earth, set during the 1918 flu pandemic, was named Best Debut Novel of 2006 by USA Today and was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for excellence in historical fiction. He lives in Atlanta. WEBSITE

Connect with Thomas Mullen:

Instagram: @mullenwrites

Twitter: @Mullenwrites

Facebook: @thomasmullenfan

Website: thomasmullen.net

In the News

• "Surveillance Tech and the Crime Novel" via CriminalElement.com

• Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

• Library Journal, Starred Review

My Review

Master storyteller Thomas Mullen returns following Midnight Atlanta, Lightning Men, and Darktown (5 stars) with his latest, BLIND SPOTS —a dystopian mind-blowing near-future mystery set seven years after The Blinding.

This thought-provoking riveting crime thriller explores how our perceptions of reality can be manipulated. Can you imagine a world where everyone is blind? So many were helpless, and some became addicted to drugs—then how they attempted to correct the blindness.

Seven years after a global event known as The Blinding (where everyone was blind), the vision was restored with the help of vidders—metal discs implanted in human temples.

This has helped many people, but organized crime is still a huge challenge for law enforcement. Also, who gets them first, and are some misusing them? And what about hacking, tampering, and manipulating?

Technology assists with the new normal by downloading visual data to people's brains. However, what happens when someone hacks into the system (much like our internet today) and changes what people see?

Partners Mark Owens, Safiya Khouri, and Jimmy Peterson (cops) —find themselves in the run-down River District, where a tense situation and a malfunctioning vidder lead to a questionable shooting by Owens.

A scientist is murdered, and the only witness insists the killer was blacked out of her vision, and Owens doesn't believe her—until a similar murder occurs before him.

That suggests that someone may have found a way to hack vidders, a development with frightening implications.

With an array of suspects and bodies mounting, Owens must conduct an investigation in which he can't even trust his own eyes.

Can law enforcement agents Owens and partner Peterson decide if they trust what they see and believe what they hear?

Owens will also have to figure out if he is ready to move on from his wife, Jeanie (artist), lost to the "Blinding" and if he should trust his new girlfriend, Amira, also in law enforcement, with what he has found out.

Told from multiple POVs, the story explores conspiracies and lies with surprising revelations.

A big fan of Mullen and have enjoyed his previous work set in Atlanta (former resident)— I was intrigued by BLIND SPOTS.

You will be pondering (a cautionary tale) about our not-so-distant future, technology, and government. Utterly fascinating! Enthralling, scary, and thought-provoking.

From the stunning front cover to the superb writing, Mullen delivers a first-class intelligent novel—Blending literary, crime thriller, whodunit, cop procedural, technology, Sci-fi, action, and dystopian. Highly recommend.

AUDIOBOOK: I had the privilege of reading the e-book and listening to the audiobook narrated by Gary Tiedemann for a captivating performance!

Fans of P.D. James' Children of Men (1992) set in England, will enjoy this.

Thank you to #MinotaurBooks #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for an ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review. I also purchased a hardcover copy for my Mullen home library collection.

@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks

Pub Date: April 4, 2023

My Rating: 5 Stars

April 2023 Must-Read Books

On a personal side note:

Ouch! This blindness hits home and the area where they implanted the vidders.

I have Giant Cell Arteritis (Temporal Arteritis), inflammation of the temporal arteries, and I have been on a high dosage of steroids for a year. GCA can cause blindness. With GCA or TA, arteries in your head become inflamed. As these blood vessels swell, they narrow, limiting how much blood they can carry. A lack of blood is called ischemia.

Blindness in GCA is primarily due to ischemic optic neuropathy (ION), where the optic nerve becomes damaged. It is so close to the temporal arteries. Too little enough blood can damage your eyes and cause sudden vision loss without warning.

Dexamethasone steroids (allergic to prednisone) have caused many dangerous side effects, damaging my body and organs. (almost as bad as the disease itself). From drug-induced Cushings, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, cataracts, Urticaria, lesions, thin skin, bad bruising, bleeding under the skin, blurred vision, joint pain, 40 pounds of weight gain (I am a vegan), blood clots, edema, etc. etc... I am also allergic to Actemra infusions.

My inflammation markers have remained High on both counts for seven consecutive months, so I cannot risk going off the steroids and going blind. This is a rare disease and strikes people who are age 50 and older, primarily women. Many people in my online support group are blind, which is irreversible. No cure except for steroids to reduce inflammation. So taking it one day at a time

Where would we be without our eyes? Never take them for granted.