Thank you NetGalley for this book. This book was more promising before reading, the writing style confused me at times.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC
I enjoyed this book. The storyline was well written and the characters were all people you could relate to. Looking forward to more frim this author.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book!
I unfortunately did not finish it because why is there a mention of AI? I was very intrigued by the cover and the description of the book but ended up very disappointed just by the first few pages. The mention of AI annoyed me too much. Another thing I unfortunately did not like is that there was no mention that the book is a part of a series so a reader who has never read a book by this author going in blind would not know this and would be lost which I was. I liked the writing style but not the story.

Overall Rating: ~2.5/5 stars
This is the first Tess Barrett book I’ve read. I was intrigued by the description and the book cover but I feel let down by pretty much every aspect of the book. Ultimately, I finished the book feeling as if I’d just read a very early draft, not a review copy a few steps from publication. It feels thrown together, like there was little commitment to the characters or the plot, and fails to feel complete, in my opinion. The plot isn’t bad, but the writing, the characters, and the lack of good readability make for such poor execution that I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would recommend this book, and I won’t be reading more in this series.

Plot: 3/5 stars
At its core, the plot is promising. Tess Barrett is living in a nightmare after losing her parents and her sight. A message from her believed-dead father shocks her, and the U.S. government, Russian oligarchs, and a malicious attack on the American power grid bring her into an even worse situation where she must work with the people closest to her – even those she doesn’t trust – to navigate and overcome. That description alone seems like a lot, but reading the book is even more overwhelming (while somehow managing to remain underwhelming from cover to cover). It reads as though Sherer was trying to nail down the plot, throwing in every possibility he might use, but then left them in. To me, there was too much going on without enough closure. Blind Spot had the potential to communicate a great thriller mystery plot but couldn’t rein it in enough to succeed.

Narrative/Writing Style: 2/5 stars
I really tried to give Sherer the benefit of the doubt, especially since this was the first book of his I’ve read. The random tense changes, hard-to-follow and often incorrect chapter POVs, and glorification of seemingly random points in Tess’s past (such as when Oliver thinks “I’m glad she’s blind”) make this difficult and almost painful to read. There were moments when I’d have to go back a few pages, trying to understand whose POV I was reading, only for it to change on the next page with no marking of who I was reading about. This seems like something that should have been labeled in early edits, not left random and inconsistent for readers to figure out just in time to be confused again. Sherer writes like a man, and Tess’s character, a young woman, demonstrates it perfectly. There are odd thoughts, the most unexplained mood changes – and he fails to play it off with the explanation of “cramps.” Again, the plot could have been incredible with some fine-tuning, but the writing style would benefit from a complete overhaul.

Characters: 2/5 stars
I failed to relate to or grow attached to any of the characters. Oliver has a couple of chapters where he’s pretty likable, but then his personality seems to change, and he becomes weirdly possessive and compares himself to Derek. Tess’s constant back and forth is tiring (no fault of her own, she’s just not well-developed). The villains – yes, plural, and they pop up randomly – are the product of weak motivations and honestly come across as poor attempts to push Tess farther in the story. Additionally, I had no idea how old the characters were (I’m assuming this is in part my own fault for starting 4 books in), but if they’re high school- to college-aged like I’m led to believe, they’re immature for their age, are doing things that don’t align with a typical school schedule, and constantly talk about sex, rape, and a modified porn made to get revenge on one of the characters. Not that those aren’t consistent with people that age, it just seems weirdly placed in a book that’s marketed to teens who are probably aware you can’t skip a week of school with no explanation to investigate a power outage. The characters test your suspension of disbelief, and I gave up trying to understand them about 15% into the book.

Readability (and Re-Readability): 2.5/5 stars
The culmination of a poorly contained and unrefined plot, lackluster and confusing writing style, and lack of relatable characters made this hard to read. I’ll admit I skimmed most of the book after the 20% mark, and I won’t be returning to this book or reading more in the series. I hate that I didn’t enjoy this book as it had so much promise, but unfortunately, it continues to need editing and restraint.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. There’s a lot of exposition, hard-to-follow POVs with off-topic comments, uncomfortable glorification of traumatic events, inconsistent tense changes, improper timelines (such as when Oliver says he’s finally realizing he likes Tess, even though he’d said it several times in previous chapters), and too many characters and subplots in need of refinement. Some of my thoughts while reading were that the plot and characters felt unfinished, it seemed like more characters and fruitless ‘run around’ were added in a failed attempt to build success, and there is no emotional stake in the story for readers. There are a lot of mystery and thriller series out there, and this isn’t one I’d recommend.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book for my honest review.

I wish I had known that this was the fourth book in a series. I believe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous installments first, and I apologize for missing that detail before starting the ARC.

Despite not having prior knowledge of the series, I truly appreciated the writing style. It was very easy to read and follow. However, due to coming in mid-series, I found it challenging to stay fully invested in the story, and some of the non-action-oriented parts felt a bit slow.

I plan to go back and start the series from the beginning, hoping to connect with the story on a deeper level.

*3 stars*

I’ve been following this series from the beginning, and while I’m still invested in Tess’s journey, this fourth book was a bit of a mixed bag. The plot really kicks up a notch and there’s a twist at the end that genuinely surprised me. I also liked seeing the romance finally progress in a more natural way.

Some of the representation also fell flat for me. Characters of color often leaned into stereotypes or served mainly to support Tess’s arc, and a few cultural references felt unintentionally insensitive. I also found some dialogue, especially during emotionally heavy scenes, didn’t quite reflect how teens actually speak or process trauma.

As an ARC, there were a few typos, but nothing major. Overall, this is a solid continuation for fans of the series, though I was left wishing for more depth and authenticity in both character and cultural portrayal. (Inshort I'm hooked.)

I’ll post this review to other platforms (e.g. Goodreads, Fable) once the book is available there.