Blind Fear is the third novel in a series by co-authors Brandon Webb and John David Mann about their protagonist, Finn, a Navy SEAL who had been falsely accused of some murders by his corrupt bosses. He had escaped from them in Iceland and had landed in Puerto Rico eight months earlier where he had been lying low while continuing a stealth internet search that he hoped would free him from the fake charges. Meanwhile, he had been befriended by a blind grandfather and his two grandchildren. They were all living together in Esperanza (Spanish for Hope) on the small island Vieques which is just a few miles from the main island. The island is an idyllic location, and the opening scene is one of 10-year-old Pedro and 6-year-old Miranda touring their small island, mostly swimming from the shore and enjoying the safety and beauty of their home – that is until they were inexplicably kidnapped.

The authors skillfully developed the character of Finn who risked his own capture if he were to openly join the search for the grandchildren. Meanwhile, the reader was treated to a history of the islands, and then they were also the victims of a terrific hurricane. This turned out to be another story about trafficking, but it came from a different angle since it was kids who were being trafficked, not just young women. The negative side of this story was both very dark and very believable.

After having been enticed with this book, I’m going to have to go back and find books one and two in the Finn series. Good characters, excellent plot, a very good mystery. I strongly recommend this novel.

This series is exciting and suspenseful. I didn't want to put the book down. I can't wait for the next book to find out if Finn suceeds.

Finn is hiding in Puerto Rico, living under the radar, being hunted by the US government, accused by the FBI of war crimes. He is determined to find out what actually happened and clear his name. When the 2 grand children of the blind owner of the restaurant where he works go missing he is determined to find them. He needs to stay below the radar but he needs to find the children. There are 2 government agents on the island looking for him. To complicate matters a hurricane is heading their way. Finn can’t trust anyone, dirty cops and a dangerous criminal organization are terrorizing the island residents and may have the children. This is an action packed book that will grab your attention from the first page. It is part of a series but could stand alone. I hope to see Finn in a future book. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Wrongfully disgraced Finn is back - hiding out in Puerto Rico, still dealing with memory issues (or lack thereof) and trying to find out who smeared his good name before the powers-that-be find him and, at best, stick him in jail for the rest of his life. I first "met" the guy a couple of years ago when I read "Steel Fear" - an excellent book, BTW - and loved him, flaws and all. There was no shortage of action in that one, and it spilled over into this one and doesn't slow down.

Finn's need for anonymity takes a hit early on, when the elderly blind man he's working for's two grandchildren, Pedro and Miranda, go missing. The authorities are convinced they drowned while swimming in treacherous waters, but those who knew them well - including Finn - believe something more sinister happened: the probability that they saw something they shouldn't have. But what?

Sure enough - no spoiler here - the kids are alive; their self-sufficiency and street smarts help keep them alive and readers get to follow their attempts to stay that way, but it's a struggle that's about to get worse with the onslaught of a dangerous hurricane. Meanwhile, Finn has to take chances he's rather not, like venturing into the heart of Puerto Rico where the likelihood he'll be recognized increases exponentially and trusting people he really doesn't trust, to get to the bottom of their disappearance (and, more importantly, get them back home).

It is, of course, a race to the finish, but who wins I won't say. Terrific book for any season, but if there's a beach calling, consider taking this one along. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for letting me meet Finn once again by way of a pre-release copy. Now bring on the next!

These guys know how to write! This is the third in a series featuring a Navy Seal who has been targeted for something he didn’t do; and he is on the run. But the plot line is really different every time. In the first novel, Finn is on the aircraft carrier Eisenhower. In the second, he’s in Reykjavík, Iceland. This time, he on the island of Vieques, off Puerto Rico.

The action in a Webb and Mannthriller is always heart-pounding and this one is no exception. Finn, the Navy Seal is living very quietly on Vieques with a blind cook and his two grandchildren. The children are swimming off the coast of the island when they see something they shouldn’t have seen. Quickly, they are kidnapped and spirited to the mainland of Puerto Rico. But they manage to escape. Finn, known to the cook and the children as mimo, must find them before they are recaptured.

Into this mix, add a JAG representative and an FBI agent who are searching for Finn (having caught wind that he is Puerto Rico.) Stir the pot with drug dealers, or are they? And corrupt cops, especially one with a brutal execution style that strikes fear into the hearts of the islanders.

If all of this is not enough to make your heart pound, there is a hurricane headed directly for the island and the weather is already grim. The nascent hurricane is creating havoc on the highways and in the coastal towns.

Finn has almost superhuman powers for disguising and disappearing himself. But to find the children and stop the killers, he must expose his position.

The third in the series of books featuring ex-Navy SEAL Chief Finn (after Steel Fear and Cold Fear), this book follows his continuing desire to clear his name after being accused wrongly of conducting a massacre of innocent people in Yemen. But we also learn a lot more about Finn in this last book. We learn about his childhood and how it turned him into the man he is today, and we see his love for the two children featured in the book, Pedro and Miranda -- sort of the "soft side" of Chief Finn. While this book wraps up the plot line from the three books, it does leave an opening for Chief Finn to appear again, and I certainly hope these two authors bring him back for more adventures.

Two missing children. A hunted Navy SEAL. A brutal criminal head. And a massive hurricane bearing down on them all.

If you are looking for an addictive thriller, your search is at an end! Pedro and Miranda, the young grandchildren of a blind cafe owner on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, go exploring in the ocean as they regularly do. This time, however, they don’t return. The police suspect that they have either run away or, worse still, have drowned. Their grandfather, Zacharias, doesn’t believe that; nor does his helper, a mysterious drifter they call Memo, who sets out to look for them. Memo is in reality disgraced Navy SEAL Finn, wrongly accused of killing his team and innocent civilians in a military operation gone horribly wrong in Yemen. Someone in his chain of command set him up to be the fall guy, and Finn has been on the run ever since as he tries to find out who was actually behind the debacle, first on an aircraft carrier returning him stateside, then Iceland, and now he’s hiding out in Puerto Rico. Finn had a brutal childhood, one that he is only starting to remember, and he has difficulty feeling emotions in a normal way. The one man he considered a friend, his supervisor Kennedy, was killed shortly after the disastrous mission ended…..he believed in Finn’s innocence, and paid the ultimate price when searching for the truth. Even as Finn begins his search for “los pollitos”, as Zaccharias calls the children, two Americans have arrive in Puerto Rico in search of FInn. One, a former military pilot and now JAG lawyer, encountered Finn aboard the aircraft carrier….she trusted him then and he saved her life, but others were killed and she was told and now believes the official story about his alleged atrocities. She has come to help identify Finn for the FBI officer charged with finding him, as few good photos of Finn exist and he is also adept not only at remaining hidden but also at disguising himself. To further complicate things, a criminal enterprise headed by a shadowy figure known only as El Rucco is terrorizing the island, leaving tortured corpses behind when people try to intervene. Can Finn keep himself safe from discovery while he searches for los pollitos? Are the motives of those hunting him as clear as they appear to be? What if anything does El Rucco’s enterprise have to do with the children’s disappearance? And, with a powerful hurricane targeting the island, will time run out before Finn can make things right?
Blind Fear is a fast-paced, action-packed story that is hard to put down once begun. It is the third in the series, but enough of Finn’s backstory is divulged that the novel can be read as a standalone. As a character, Finn is an unusual but appealing hero….smart, well-trained, quick to act, but also emotionally remote and with major gaps in his memory, The authors use the setting of Puerto Rico as a character in and of itself….its history, bits of which were new to me, its uneasy relationship as a territory of the US, and its natural beauty. It’s hard not to root for Finn, both in his quest to clear his reputation and now his mission to find los pollitos and return them to their loving grandfather. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, a truly nasty villain to be defeated, and a wild conclusion to wrap things up. Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Jack Carr’s James Reece, Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X, and Mark Greaney’s Gray Man should definitely try the Finn thrillers; I venture a guess that if you read one, you’ll want to read them all. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy.

Navy Seal Finn is back in this third novel, Blind Fear, by Brandon Webb and John David Mann. I loved the first two books and had high hopes for this third one. I wasn’t disappointed! We’re back with Finn, this time hiding out on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Finn is still trying to figure out who is responsible for the crimes he is accused of committing. As much as he tries to keep a low profile when his employer’s two grandchildren go missing, Finn feels compelled to try to find them. The plot moves fast and as with the first two novels, the characters are rich and well-drawn. A first-rate thriller that will keep you turning page after page in anticipation! Thank you Netgalley and the authors for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Equal parts heart-stopping thriller
and haunting character study

A disgraced Navy SEAL sniper in hiding, hunted by the powerful conspirators who framed him for atrocities, he didn’t commit. He has vowed to unmask them and avenge the death of his best friend. But when the grandchildren of a man which Finn deeply respects disappear, he will go to hell and back to bring them home alive. And in this case, hell means going to war with a Puerto Rican kingpin and his psychotic enforcer, while being hunted by the American intelligence community…

Brandon Webb and John David Mann do it again. They deliver a thriller which is so well crafted, the pages almost turn by their own volition! The reader is taken onto a breathtaking journey about yearning, loss and hope.

Finn is such a fascinating character because he is both highly competent as an operator and highly relatable as a human being, struggling with trauma and searching for meaning He is someone who has enough secrets to not get completely “figured out” by the reader but is yet so relatable in his desire to belong, that you instantly root for him.

The other characters are well rounded out and memorable, too. Add to that a twisty, multi layered plot, bouts of innovative, cinematic action and a vibrant, fresh setting and you probably have the best thriller of the year.

Kudos to Brandon Webb and John David Mann for not only holding but again crossing the immensely high bar they set for themselves with STEEL FEAR. I can’t wait to find out where this sensational series goes next!

A big thanks to John and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this masterpiece early!

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Blind Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann. This is the third book in the SEAL Chief Finn series. It takes a different tack that either of the previous books in the series with Finn looking for two missing children during a pending hurricane. This takes place after Finn has found refuge in Puerto Rico for eight months, which has made a very close relationship between him and the two children. I found this first portion of the book a little slow but as I continued, it not only picked up but the pace and storyline became one that I could not put down and finished in a single night. This novel answers more of the questions presented in first two books in the series and sets the stage for the next book.

Blind Fear by authors Brandon Webb & John David Mann is the continuing story of Navy Seal Sniper Finn who is being hunted by the US Intelligence & the FBI for killings he didn't commit. He is a hunter who knows how to blend into a crowd and needs to find out who is responsible for an atrocity. The story takes place in Puerto Rico with Finn working as a cook and befriending two young children, while he searches the internet for information to identify which of his senior officers set him up. This quick read held my attention with surprises and is part detective novel and spy thriller. A great addition to the series.

This is the third book in the Finn series and is a terrific stand alone. However, it is so well done readers will want to read the first and second books to simply get to know Finn better and to learn what makes him tick. I know I do. Finn is in Puerto Rico and is a fugitive when his boss’ two grandchildren disappear. Being Finn, he starts looking for them immediately, even though he is in hiding. The plot, up to and including a hurricane, is more than complex and is so well visualized readers will be wondering when the movie will come out. Thanks to Net Galley and Bantam for an ARC for an honest review.

I cannot get enough of this series, every time a new one comes out, it is like Christmas, except the kind where you get a present first and then excitedly stay up all night. I cannot put these down. Our hero is such an interesting person and each of the books is in such a vividly described setting. I cannot wait for the fourth installment!

I received an ARC from NetGalley, but my opinions are all mine.

If you aren't reading this series and it's protagonist, Finn, you are really missing out! Chief Finn is on the run while continuing his hunt for the people who set him up and put a target on his back. On a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico, Finn is living and working with a blind restaurant owner and his two grandchildren. When the kids go missing while snorkeling, a massive search gets underway but finds nothing. Having bonded with the kids, Finn sets out to find them all the while being hunted by the FBI, local police, drug dealers, and a former Seal who has other orders.

Finn, and this series, is fantastic. Brandon Webb and John David Mann have written many books together and Blind Fear is their best fiction offering. A good comparison is Jack Carr's James Reece series but a little less less violent (still plenty of awful things done to people),a little more nuanced and not as technical. The attention to detail and research are exquisite. Webb and Mann do a great job incorporating weather into their books that is easily understood while also being correct. As a meteorologist it probably matters only to me but it is a big deal. I appreciate it.

Cinematic in scope with a great plot and characters, Blind Fear should be on your radar this summer!

A sincere thank you to Bantam and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of Blind Fear.

Totally enjoyed this book. Not into military books but for some reason this book I couldn't put down. Most of the characters were likeable. Would definitely refer book to friends since it is a page turner.

Many thanks to both Bantam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Blind Fear.

Expected publication July 18, 2023

Haunted by the death of his best friend and hunted by the FBI for war crimes he didn’t commit, Finn lands on an island paradise that turns into his own personal hell in this gripping follow-up to Steel Fear and Cold Fear. Finn’s world is about to be turned upside down by a new nightmare when his employer’s two grandchildren go missing. To find them, he’ll have to infiltrate the island’s dangerous criminal underbelly.

There was so much I enjoyed about Blind Fear! Finn was a fabulous character, as were the two children (and their blind grandfather.) Reading about the hurricane was interesting and terrifying. The book's plot was riveting! So, what DIDN'T I like? Halfway through the book I knew who the baddie was, and that never happens to me! I had difficulty accepting that Finn, who was so brilliant, couldn't figure it out, himself.

Anyway, I still highly recommend Blind Fear. It's a wild ride!!

Oh My! This was an excellent book! I've read all three of their books in this series, and this one was far and away the best so far! I couldn't put it down. Great story, great characters, great thriller and mystery. Wow, it was just awesome! Maybe even the best book I've read this year, and I've read lots of great books. I think the missing kids factor and less technical stuff made it more enjoyable. Not that I enjoy kids missing, but it made it more interesting. Love Finn and the ongoing saga of his past. Looking forward to their next book! Glad I found these to begin with, and certainly highly recommend you read these books, especially this latest one!

Review of uncorrected eBook file

Two children, swimming together, find themselves pursued by two men in wet suits. They are Pedro and Miranda, Zacharias’s grandchildren. And when they don’t return after their afternoon of play, Finn goes looking for them.

Who were the men in wet suits? Are they responsible for the children’s disappearance? And can Finn find them before he risks revealing himself to those searching for him?

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“Blind Fear,” the third in the authors’ Chief Finn series, picks up where “Cold Fear” ended, but there is sufficient backstory for the book to work as a standalone for readers who have not read the earlier two books.

Set in Puerto Rico, the authors bring a strong sense of place to the telling of the tale; as with the previous stories, the action is non-stop, the plot is twisty and filled with surprises, and the suspense builds throughout the narrative.

Well-developed characters are a strength of the narrative; as Finn continues his efforts to prove his innocence in the Mukalla atrocity, he puts himself at risk to find Pedro and Miranda, the grandchildren of the man for whom he works in a small family restaurant.

Continually-mounting tension keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace; the search for the missing children puts Finn into some dicey situations, but in this realistic tale, readers will find themselves rooting for Finn to find the children before it is too late.

Pulling readers into the telling of the tale from the outset, this impossible-to-set-aside thriller belongs on every mystery/thriller reader’s must-read list.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley
#BlindFear #NetGalley

Brandon Webb and John David Mann keep the series fresh and innovative with exciting locales and race-against-time narratives that keep you pumped to read more and more of their books. Blind Fear feels like a departure from the previous books in its tone and style of characters, while still honoring the foundations of the charismatic protagonist.

Full review to be posted.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review