For a variety of reasons – illness, lack of concentration, addiction to Battlestar Galactica – I have only managed to read one book this week! And I just finished it a couple of minutes ago 😲.

Blackout by Marc Elsberg

The book is Blackout by Marc Elsberg and here is the blurb:

One night, the lights go out across Europe. The electrical grids collapse on an epic scale and unleash a devastating chaos in the total blackout. And unbeknownst to the general population, nuclear reactors are starting to overheat…
When a former hacker and activist who knows a thing or two about infiltrating networks starts investigating the cause of this disaster, he soon becomes a prime suspect. As threats to the United States start to emerge, he goes on the run with a young American reporter based in Paris, racing desperately to turn the lights back on. Because if they stay off, tomorrow may be too late.

I gave the book four stars on Goodreads, although that may have been rather generous as there are some quite considerable flaws, especially the almost interminable and numerous political meetings with too many characters to follow. Anyway, this is my short review:

A very exciting thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Fast-paced and gripping, it takes the idea of what could happen if large parts of the world lost electric power. The consequences of this disaster are well thought out. My only gripes are that I became irritated by the very short chapters, although this structure could be said to add to the pace of the plot. Also, the character development was sketchy. Probably unavoidable with such a large cast!

I am now feeling very excited as a new book by one of my most favourite authors has arrived on my book pile, thanks to Younger Son who picked it up from the Library for me: John Connolly’s The Woman in the Woods. I cannot wait to start reading it and I will give you my verdict next week.

The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly

Happy reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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