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A review by carolpk
Blackout by Marc Elsberg
The Hook - We’ve all been there. We depend on it, yet we take it for granted, electricity. In my head I can hear the sound I make when I lose power, the dread I feel that it could be hours or even days without, and the elation I feel when I hear the whir of my home coming back to life. I still remember the Northeast Blackout of November 1965, when my neck of the woods suffered an outage for thirteen hours. Though awful just for the magnitude of this event things can and have gotten worse. Living in the country brings new challenges when we lose power, sometimes for days. Water and toilets become the big issues. I rarely complain about the cost of electricity. I hate to live without it but love to read disaster fiction when the scenario presented is plausible yet still only happening on paper in the imagination of a good author.
The Line - ’The biggest challenge, however,’ Dienhof continued, ‘is that we don’t know hat we’re looking for. We’re searching in the proverbial haystack, but we have no idea if we’re looking for a needle, a tick, of a mushroom.’“
The Sinker - When the power went out at first it was just an irritation, an inconvenience. You know how that is. You’re in the middle of something that requires juice, lights go out, heats off or air-conditioning depending where you live, devices need charging, have to rummage for something to eat, and the worst, no TV. At first it’s almost fun, like a camping trip when you’re a kid, or perhaps you’re happy to disconnect from all that input for a few hours. Then the few hours become a day, then two, and then…What was at first a nuisance becomes devastating. As time goes by your world without power becomes a nightmare. The community that initially was all willing to pitch in and help, sharing food, and other commodities, now must focus on their own survival and that of their families. Survival, that’s the name of the game. It’s a disaster and the government is not talking even if you had a way to communicate with them.
Blackout is this and so much more. What begins as a simple power outage in Eastern Europe soon becomes the shutdown of electric grids across much of the world. In the first days the US, Russia and China are up and running. As is the norm the US is doing all they can to provide aid, but soon they too go dark. Who’s responsible? It’s apparent this is no fluke and someone; most likely a group, possibly terrorists or even a world power is messing with our lives. No one has prepared for the reality of this meltdown.
Marc Elsberg begins his award winning (Science Book of the Year" entertainment in Germany) in 2012) with a singular event that soon is seen to be a deliberate plot against all of us. He interweaves the science and technology with the strategy of the leaders of key countries as they seek solutions. We also follow a few story arcs of what’s happening to some of their families but hear little of the ordinary citizenry. It wasn’t so much the individual characters that interested me but the fate of the world.
There is reference to looting, to bedlam and more we can imagine. That’s the power of this book, the shear excitement in reading, feeling and thinking about the ramifications of this situation from the comfort of our armchairs.
At first the narrative device of telling the story in POV from the Eastern European bloc, quickly moving back and forth between these, was making it difficult to keep things straight. I went back and re-read some of this and soon was caught up in and couldn’t put the book down.
Along with the usual acknowledgements Elsberg has included an afterword with enlightening information about his research and reaction to his fictional work. Be certain to read this. These references provided further thought and additional reading material.
Blackout was first published in Germany and was released June 6th in the US. Edelweiss, Sourcebooks and Author, Marc Elsberg granted me the opportunity to read an advance copy. I couldn’t resist.
The Line - ’The biggest challenge, however,’ Dienhof continued, ‘is that we don’t know hat we’re looking for. We’re searching in the proverbial haystack, but we have no idea if we’re looking for a needle, a tick, of a mushroom.’“
The Sinker - When the power went out at first it was just an irritation, an inconvenience. You know how that is. You’re in the middle of something that requires juice, lights go out, heats off or air-conditioning depending where you live, devices need charging, have to rummage for something to eat, and the worst, no TV. At first it’s almost fun, like a camping trip when you’re a kid, or perhaps you’re happy to disconnect from all that input for a few hours. Then the few hours become a day, then two, and then…What was at first a nuisance becomes devastating. As time goes by your world without power becomes a nightmare. The community that initially was all willing to pitch in and help, sharing food, and other commodities, now must focus on their own survival and that of their families. Survival, that’s the name of the game. It’s a disaster and the government is not talking even if you had a way to communicate with them.
Blackout is this and so much more. What begins as a simple power outage in Eastern Europe soon becomes the shutdown of electric grids across much of the world. In the first days the US, Russia and China are up and running. As is the norm the US is doing all they can to provide aid, but soon they too go dark. Who’s responsible? It’s apparent this is no fluke and someone; most likely a group, possibly terrorists or even a world power is messing with our lives. No one has prepared for the reality of this meltdown.
Marc Elsberg begins his award winning (Science Book of the Year" entertainment in Germany) in 2012) with a singular event that soon is seen to be a deliberate plot against all of us. He interweaves the science and technology with the strategy of the leaders of key countries as they seek solutions. We also follow a few story arcs of what’s happening to some of their families but hear little of the ordinary citizenry. It wasn’t so much the individual characters that interested me but the fate of the world.
There is reference to looting, to bedlam and more we can imagine. That’s the power of this book, the shear excitement in reading, feeling and thinking about the ramifications of this situation from the comfort of our armchairs.
At first the narrative device of telling the story in POV from the Eastern European bloc, quickly moving back and forth between these, was making it difficult to keep things straight. I went back and re-read some of this and soon was caught up in and couldn’t put the book down.
Along with the usual acknowledgements Elsberg has included an afterword with enlightening information about his research and reaction to his fictional work. Be certain to read this. These references provided further thought and additional reading material.
Blackout was first published in Germany and was released June 6th in the US. Edelweiss, Sourcebooks and Author, Marc Elsberg granted me the opportunity to read an advance copy. I couldn’t resist.