The Dark Net

by Benjamin Percy

'One of the best Stephen King novels not written by the master himself' - New York Times

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The dark net is an online shadowland for criminals to operate anonymously, but when a demonic force begins to hack the minds of its users there is nowhere left to hide.

Twelve-year-old Hannah has been fitted with a high-tech prosthetic that restores her sight, but can't understand why she can now see shadows surrounding certain people.

Lela, an emotionally shut-off, technophobic journalist stumbles onto a story nobody wants her to uncover. A story someone will kill to keep hidden.

A former evangelist, Mike, suffers demons - figurative and literal - and keeps an arsenal of weapons stored in the basement of the homeless shelter he runs.

And Derek, is a hacker who believes himself a soldier, part of a cyber army dedicated to changing the world for the better.

With the virus spreading throughout the net and an ancient evil threatening to break lose on the real world, it falls to these strangers to stop the rising darkness.

THE DARK NET is a cracked-mirror version of the digital nightmare we already live in, a timely and wildly imaginative techno-thriller about the evil that lurks in real and virtual spaces, and the power of a united few to fight back.

• ISBN10: 0544750330
• ISBN13: 9780544750333
• Publish Date: 1 August 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 21 April 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Mariner Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Disclaimer: I am totally obsessed with the TV series Mr. Robot. Not only is it sleek and mysterious, with incredible characters, but there’s something about it that always leaves me totally hooked (also yeah maybe Rami Malek is kinda of cute ahem). From that I ended up playing a couple of hacking-based video games, and then I was offered this book, which felt kind of like perfect timing.

I have read and reviewed work by Benjamin Percy before (Red Moon), and I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, so I didn’t go in with super high expectations. However, to begin with I was quite surprised and was pretty intrigued and drawn into the story. Sadly this did not last very long.

When I picked up this book, I was expecting a high-paced hacker story, full of cool technology. What I actually got was more of a paranormal novel that happened to involve technology. I wasn’t really sure what to make of the supernatural element when it was introduced – basically a virus is being spread via any sort of screen that turns people hostile and incredibly violent, and pushes them to attack and kill anyone around them. There were times where I felt like the hacking and supernatural were completely unconnected plot devices. At this point, my interest in the book started to drop.

Whilst the blurb mentions four main characters, most of the book follows only two. Lela is definitely the main character of the bunch, and she was pretty unlikeable – bossy and selfish. I didn’t care what happened to her, which immediately removed any sense of peril from the book. I also had a bit of an issue with how many times the word ‘rape’ was used out of context. Not cool.

Whilst I may not have enjoyed The Dark Net as much as I’d hoped, it was definitely an easy read. Like Red Moon, Percy writes very well – it was just the story that fell apart for me, with a confused mix of technology and the supernatural.

[Beth C.]

What happens when evil decides to take advantage of humanity's dependence upon electronics and the Internet? When demons use servers to take over Portland, Oregon? In The Dark Net, we find out. It's a hell of a ride, and not a comfortable one.

The book is intense, and verges on straight-up horror with a side of supernatural thrown in for good measure. Only the horror is less the monsters and more the consequences of our screen-addicted society. Once the story gets moving - and that doesn't take long - it moves at a fairly constant clip.

The characters are a diverse lot. A man who used to be famous for what he "saw" in the afterlife. A journalist who wrote about a serial killer and goes back to the scene of his crimes. A young girl, niece to the journalist, who is blind but was recently fitted with new technology to allow her to see - and who sees more than anyone would have guessed. And a paranoid, self-proclaimed "geek". There are a few other characters that come and go, but these are the most constant throughout the story. They are well-written and even though the story is not long and moves fast, there is enough of the characters to have the reader rooting for them.

The book is set in Portland, Oregon - a very techie city indeed. It was cool to read about the various places and things, and the initial mention of Powell's Books is quite long and seems like a love letter to the store. Which of course happens to be one of my favorite things about Portland.

Overall, I pretty much read the book from start to finish. It's not long, and it just sort of pulls you in. I really enjoyed it - and honestly, am a little freaked out about using my computer to type this review.