Review: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

Title: Blind Spot
Author: Laura Ellen
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Contemporary/Mystery
Release date: October 23rd, 2012
Pages: 336 (ARC)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Publisher
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There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. 

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.

If Roz had never been diagnosed legally blind, she would have never had to be put into a special education class.  If she'd never been put in those classes, she never would have met Tricia.  It's easy to see that the two didn't get along.  In fact, Tricia didn't seem to get along with most people, but she never seemed as though she wanted to.  When she goes missing, she's only the talk of the school for a short period of time, but Roz won't let it go that easily.  It's up to Roz to figure out what really happened the night of Tricia's disappearance.

Very few of the characters in this story were actually relatable to me, but surprisingly, I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Roz is full of angst and with reason, but at times it's a little over the top.  She's mad at everyone because she can't be "normal", constantly being judged by her inability to see many things because of the spots blocking her vision.  Tricia, on the other hand, is a very troubled teen.  The more we read about her, the more we find out what she's had to struggle with.  The entire time I read, she reminded me of Angelina Jolie's character in Girl, Interrupted, and I loved that about her.

Roz still can't remember completely what happened the night of the party.  Her memory isn't cooperating and neither is anyone else who was there to witness what happened, so she has to do some digging.  The reader never really knows who to trust throughout the story, which is why it's so intriguing.  Emotions run high and this quick-paced mystery will keep you holding on until the end.

Blind Spot is well written from the start and the author knows how to keep you on your toes until the very last page.  The book is more about Roz and the people around her rather than Tricia's mysterious death, and I think that will throw some readers off, but I definitely enjoyed the journey.