Now You See It...
Thomas Mullen astonished me with his moving Darktown trilogy of books. Set starting in the 1940's, these brought to light what life was like for the first black police officers in Jim Crow Atlanta. Read "Darktown," it is an important and fascinating historical fiction.
Mullen's new novel, "Blind Spots," covers a whole different arena, now in the science fiction realm. An epidemic had caused the world's population to go blind. After a chaotic initial period, The Blinding," technology responded with an apparatus, a "vidder,"attached to the temples, enabling the brain to "see" images.
There is major concern over how this new vision is controlled. The very poor cannot afford this device while some groups of people reject the mechanism altogether. As mistrustful as people are about simple vaccinations, paranoia runs rampant over the government controlling people's perceptions of reality.
"We haven't voted on whether or not we should combine the human with the machine, but they're doing it anyway!"
In this setting, we have Mark Owens, a cop still devasted by his wife's suicide in the aftermath of The Blinding. Back on active duty, he is investigating a murder that seems crazy. A scientist was killed, and the witness claimed she only saw a dark form, "...like he'd been blotted out..." To the police this sounded like a weak alibi. "The vidder must have malfunctioned" was an excuse resorted to often.
Things change, though, when the witness is murdered, and this time Mark is the one who sees a cloaked image of the suspect getting away. Was this a malfunction? Why did his experience match the one his witness testified to? Is this a technical issue or are there dark forces controlling from behind the curtain?
"Blind Spots" branches out into a number of social issues, conspiracies, and plot twists-- all the time keeping the action brisk and intriguing. I did not expect a sci-fi novel from the author, but it was very well done.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Thomas Mullen astonished me with his moving Darktown trilogy of books. Set starting in the 1940's, these brought to light what life was like for the first black police officers in Jim Crow Atlanta. Read "Darktown," it is an important and fascinating historical fiction.
Mullen's new novel, "Blind Spots," covers a whole different arena, now in the science fiction realm. An epidemic had caused the world's population to go blind. After a chaotic initial period, The Blinding," technology responded with an apparatus, a "vidder,"attached to the temples, enabling the brain to "see" images.
There is major concern over how this new vision is controlled. The very poor cannot afford this device while some groups of people reject the mechanism altogether. As mistrustful as people are about simple vaccinations, paranoia runs rampant over the government controlling people's perceptions of reality.
"We haven't voted on whether or not we should combine the human with the machine, but they're doing it anyway!"
In this setting, we have Mark Owens, a cop still devasted by his wife's suicide in the aftermath of The Blinding. Back on active duty, he is investigating a murder that seems crazy. A scientist was killed, and the witness claimed she only saw a dark form, "...like he'd been blotted out..." To the police this sounded like a weak alibi. "The vidder must have malfunctioned" was an excuse resorted to often.
Things change, though, when the witness is murdered, and this time Mark is the one who sees a cloaked image of the suspect getting away. Was this a malfunction? Why did his experience match the one his witness testified to? Is this a technical issue or are there dark forces controlling from behind the curtain?
"Blind Spots" branches out into a number of social issues, conspiracies, and plot twists-- all the time keeping the action brisk and intriguing. I did not expect a sci-fi novel from the author, but it was very well done.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Seven years ago, everyone in the world went blind but technology helped people adjust to the new normal downloading visual data directly to people's brains. What happens when someone finds a way to hack it and change what people see. When a scientist is murdered, Mark Owens doesn't believe her. He must conduct an investigation in which he can't even trust his own eyes. A vidder is what they discovered to use which is a small disc like implantation on the right temple but it can be manipulated and change what people are seeing. This is a dystopian sci-fi novel that made me think about what it would be like having to rely on other people in order to see. There are some good plot twists and turns which kept me engrossed and reading on until the end. If you like dystopian sci-fi mystery novels then you would love this book. I would like to thank Minotaur books and NetGalley for a copy for an honest review.
