Blind Spots

Mullen’s latest novel (after Midnight Atlanta) is a near-future police procedural set in a decaying urban environment, seven years after a pandemic has left the entire population of the world blind. After the first dark days, months, and years, scientists develop a device, a “vidder” that is implanted in people’s heads so that they can “see.” Mark Owens is a homicide detective who lived through, and still walked a beat, during the early dark days of The Blinding, and though he misses being able to see the sun, his vidder does allow for extra technological tools in doing his job. When a scientist is murdered and a witness claims that the killer was blacked out (unable to be fully seen by her vidder), he’s initially skeptical. It’s only when he experiences something similar that he begins to realize he may quite literally not be able to trust what he is seeing. His investigation leads him deeper into a world of conspiracy and power games and may reveal something about his own personal mystery before he’s done.