About the book
Blind Side is a psychological mystery and a thriller –– and so much more. Think Claire Kendall’s The Book of You meets Gone With The Wind with a sprinkling of Pat Barker’s Regeneration. Inspired by real-life events, it’s a tale of intrigue, terrorism and sexual obsession set in London around the time of the July 2005 terror attacks.
The novel explores love and friendship, guilt and betrayal, secrets and obsession. How well can we ever really know anyone? And what should we do if we find out that the unthinkable has happened? A shiver-inducing, debate-provoking thriller that confronts urgent issues of our times and contemplates some of our deepest fears.
Blind Side has relateable characters who will engage your emotions and a plot which (gasp!) won’t require you to suspend disbelief. (In fact, if you’ve ever been friends with someone who likes you a little too much, or fallen for someone you knew you shouldn’t, watch out…) Best of all, you may end up turning the pages till well past bedtime.
“Jennie Ensor recreates an atmosphere of fear and distrust in the capital, particularly in the normally friendly cosmopolitan Finsbury Park, for her first novel Blind Side, an intriguing psychological thriller.” – Peter Gruner, Camden New Journal
“Jennie Ensor’s writing is graceful, poetic, intelligent and captivating. She builds suspense brilliantly, and is a master at dialogue that communicates the accents and personalities of the characters. BLIND SIDE is a wonderful debut, an exciting story about three flawed and fascinating people living in dangerous times.”
— Gail Cleare, author of DESTINED and USA Today bestseller THE TASTE OF AIR
A sample of the 110+ reviews posted on Amazon
“I’ve read some fantastic books this year since far and Blind Side has now joined those already on my ‘Outstanding Books Of The Year’. Hard to believe that this book is a debut. Also hard to categorise, if categorisation is needed or necessary because it has a mix of ingredients. A love story, an obsession, stalking, friendship, the war in Chechnya, immigration, terrorism, health and safety on building sites for immigrant labour and so much more. All blended beautifully into a really fascinating, well written gripping read.” — Mrs Bloggs Books
“The pace and the writing in this book was easy to become caught up in and I read this book over the course of the day without putting it down once. It’s a powerful and engaging novel, thought-provoking and difficult to forget once you’ve reached the end.” — Reviewed The Book
“Blind Side tells a compelling story that grips you in a unique way…” — Keeper of Pages
“An excellent and perceptive debut”— Cathy Ryan, Between The Lines
“…a unique and fascinating read from start to finish” — Joanne Robertson, Amazon Top 500 reviewer, My Chestnut Reading Tree
“I do love a good book that seems to crawl under your skin and make you tingle and this one does just that because it makes you doubt what you think is happening and before you know it you are looking at all the characters in the story through different eyes.” — Susan Hampson, Books From Dusk Till Dawn
“…Blind Side is an absolutely stunning debut from Jennie Ensor; so thought-provoking and profound that every reader will get something different out of reading it. I’m so excited to read the psychological thriller than Jennie is working on next. If it’s half as good as Blind Side it will be a cracker!” — The Book Magnet
“Blind Side is a story that will keep you up until the early hours, totally gripping and full of suspense. A fantastic debut by Jennie Ensor and one I will highly recommend.” — Dee Cee, It’s all about the books
“A compelling love story, beautifully and sensitively written. A gem of a book.” — Jane Bwye
“…puts many other formulaic chillers in the shade. She knows that to really chill the spine you need to care about the prey because their lives are not so removed from our own.” — Simon Miller
“A fascinating story, beautifully written and unpredictable.” — Muriel Canfield
“It truly kept me on the edge of my seat not wanting to put it down for fear I might miss something. The author does a fabulous job of creating characters that are complex yet likeable.” — Trimaze
“Blind Side is a very well written and researched book that delivers a highly compelling and tense read. One that kept me gripped to the end. This is a really impressive debut novel.” — Brad Duke
“This is an incredible novel of love, insecurities, redemption and humanity.
Highly recommended 5*” — Anne Bonny Book Reviews, 25 July 2017
“It conveys the atmosphere of the city following the terrorist attacks and uses them as a way of exploring questions about human nature and the human condition. But the universal themes of post traumatic stress, immigration, love, betrayal, people under pressure and motivation and consequence means this novel will appeal to anyone and have resonance for many, many years.” — BiblioManiac, 15 July 2017
Reviews of Blind Side
Here are links to some reviews – not a complete list.
October 2017 My Secret Library
13 August 2017 Novelgossip
August 2017 TripFiction
July 2017 Bibliomaniac
25 July 2017 Anne Bonny Book Reviews
16 March 2017 Bits About Books
3 March 2017 Terry Tyler for Rosie Amber’s book review team
10 Jan 2017 It’s All About The Books
8 Jan 2017 BooksFromDuskTilDawn
5 Jan 2017 Jen Med’s Book Reviews
3 Jan 2017 Between the Lines Book Blog
13 Dec 2016 MyChestnutReadingTree
26 Oct 2016 Keeper of Pages
19 Oct 2016 Poppy Peacock Pens
12 Sep 2016 One Reader’s Thoughts
29 July 2016 Book Drunk
28 July 2016 The Book Magnet
27 July 2016 The Last Word Book Review
26 July 2016 Cleopatra Loves Books
Buy the book
Blind Side was first published by Unbound Digital as an e-book in July 2016. A paperback edition was published on 28 February 2017. It is available in both e-book and paperback format from the following booksellers:
E-book
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Your local Amazon iTunes
Paperback
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Your local Amazon
Alternatively, order BLIND SIDE from your local bookshop (UK only). BLIND SIDE is stocked in selected London branches of Waterstones, Daunt Books, Blackwell’s and independent bookshops.
Quotes from reviews
Here are further quotes from reviews received from book bloggers and book-related sites since July 2016. For others including the most recent ones, please see the BLIND SIDE page on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com or Goodreads.
“For a debut novel this is a brave topic as [is] the time it is set in, but what Jennie Ensor brings is a thrilling psychological story that I really enjoyed and raced through. If you enjoy a thriller with a number of themes running through the story, then Blind Side is one not to be missed.”
— The Last Word Book Review (full review)
“Blind Side is a superb debut novel from the pen of Jennie Ensor. From the opening prologue to the very last page, I was completely immersed in Georgie’s story as we are transported back to London, 2005 – set before, during and after the 7/7 bombings.
The book opens with a short prologue that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I simply couldn’t read fast enough to find out what had happened. Jennie Ensor cleverly keeps us in suspense as we have a whole lot of story to get through before my curiosity could be satisfied.
…There are so many subjects and issues to discuss in Blind Side, that I think it would be excellent for book groups.
…Blind Side is an absolutely stunning debut from Jennie Ensor; so thought-provoking and profound that every reader will get something different out of reading it. I’m so excited to read the psychological thriller than Jennie is working on next. If it’s half as good as Blind Side it will be a cracker!”
— The Book Magnet (full review)
“The pace and the writing in this book was easy to become caught up in and I read this book over the course of the day without putting it down once. It’s a powerful and engaging novel, thought-provoking and difficult to forget once you’ve reached the end.”
…
“Blind Side both surprised and captivated me. It was tense and suspenseful at times, with some thrilling themes, so I can understand the psychological thriller branding but I think it’s probably going to be a fair bit different to what you’re expecting. I suppose it feels more real and believable, not to mention more human, and I could buy into this story much more than many other psychological thrillers. The book grabs a hold of you instantly with a spine-tingling prologue and it doesn’t let you go physically until the end – mentally not for a while longer as the themes are left there on your mind for much more than 300+ pages. A great debut – and I’m looking forward to reading more from Jennie Ensor in future.”
— Reviewed The Book (full review)
“What sets this book apart is the setting – the story takes place in London in 2005 in the run up to and aftermath of 7/7. Tensions are high and distrust is in the air. Nikolai has links to Chechnya which are hard for Georgie to ignore. Whilst I wasn’t in London during this time, the descriptions of how people felt, their anxiety and constant looking over their shoulder and suspecting people felt very real to me.”
— Once Upon A Littlefield (full review)
“At the heart of Blind Side is a love-story – the classic love triangle of one woman and two men – that explores many issues of relationships and human behaviour ‘love and friendship, guilt and betrayal, secrets and obsession’ but more interestingly, importantly, also ‘confronts urgent issues of our times and contemplates some of our deepest fears’ Indeed, in Blind Side Ensor skillfully combines political and thriller elements, but while the aspects of 7/7 undoubtedly colour the story and heighten the gripping nature they add to the story, not detract like I feared.”
— Poppy Peacock Pens (full review)
“… I found this a unique and fascinating read from start to finish and was able to connect with Georgie immediately and so hoped for an ending for her. It had a well-crafted and well-researched plotline leading to a quite shocking denouement and I would certainly come back to this author again in the future.”
— Joanne Robertson, Amazon Top 500 reviewer posted December 13 2016 on My Chestnut Reading Tree (full review)
“An excellent and perceptive debut which made me think.”
— Cathy Ryan, posted 3 Jan 2017 on Between The Lines
“… The writing drew me in, the descriptions neither graphic nor lacking in detail and the story truly compelling, a prime example of the danger of lies and prejudice.
This book has a little of something for everyone. A psychological element as we follow Georgie’s stalker and wonder how far he is willing to take things to make her love him and believe me when I say that this element leads to a surprising ending. You have a love story, a kind of against all odds relationship between Georgie and Nikolai which is passionate but in the same sense almost sweet. Finally you have well researched history and essence of social commentary which, sadly, is as relevant and fresh today as it would have been back in 2005.”
— JenMed75 Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer posted 4 Jan 2017 (full review)
“… I do love a good book that seems to crawl under your skin and make you tingle and this one does just that because it makes you doubt what you think is happening and before you know it you are looking at all the characters in the story through different eyes. I definitely developed trust issues. This is a very cleverly thought out novel set in 2005 round the time of 7/7 bombings of the London transport system by terrorists. It raises a lot issues and suspicions and the question of how far is someone willing to go for something they believe in either as part of a group or for personal reasons.
I really loved how the author wove these stories together, each being a good story in itself but much more powerful as one. The characters had a real feel about them, I think even more so because none of them were perfect and not always likeable.”
— Susan Hampson posted January 8, 2017 in Books From Dusk Till Dawn
“… as the story kept unfolding I didn’t know who to trust, which made me just want to read even faster. Blind Side is a story that will keep you up until the early hours, totally gripping and full of suspense. A fantastic debut by Jennie Ensor and one I will highly recommend.”
— Dee-Cee posted 10 January 2017 in It’s All About The Books
“I can’t stress enough how good this book is and I hope it has the attention it deserves.
Interesting to see the list of sources used and the list of advisers used for research and patrons who all contributed towards the publication of the book. Without them all this fabulous read may not have seen the light of day. Totally gripping”
— posted March 2018 in Mrs Bloggs Books
Jennie Ensor's Author Website 