Reviewed by Rinn on
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.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 August, 2017: Finished reading
- 20 August, 2017: Reviewed