A very scary read. A Stephen King for the digital age.

Now I already knew that there was a Dark Net, and I knew something about what happens there, so for me, this story just extrapolated its possibilities.

As it says: "Everything is Code", Everyone is Code". And just as computers and humans have viruses so in this novel they have worked out how to transfer a computer virus to a human. A dark and deadly virus. A lot of death then ensues.

I am not really a horror story person, I avoid them usually including all the post-apocalyptic stuff, but take computers and add networks and I get interested. I wouldn’t say that I loved the writing style, but the story itself was compelling in the battle between light and dark, and the premise that All Souls Day is the easiest day for Dark to escape into the world. I would have thought All Hallows Eve - the night before, but all the various religions agree that it is this time of year that the skin of the world is thinnest for things to ‘break through’ and for death to enter.

Lela as a character was interesting in a semi-disgusting way - her obsession with getting into print. But Hannah one empathises with, and her final destination is different and interesting.

When this starts you think it's all about the interwebs and technology and maybe involving the silk road but then it starts getting weird and supernaturally evil as they both combine and everything goes to hell.

It's a well written and gory action packed slap of a story with some awesome characters and as you get more and more into the story it makes you think about how much time we spend online and how attached we are to our phones and then other shit kicks off in the story and you think 'that'll never happen!' but then another part of your brain goes 'yeah but what if it does?' and then you can't sleep.

One more thing before I wrap this up and that is that you have to love a book where not only does a character saying 'Happy accidents' remind you of the great Bob Ross but 'Space dad' is used to describe God.

That is all.

*Huge thanks to Benjamin Percy, Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

Petrifying! A mind fuck of absolute devastation that is at each and everyone of our finger tips. Life become a darker place by knowing about this book alone.

This one is a bit hard to review. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was enjoyable. It is more of a supernatural meets technology type story. Great for October. Recommend to horror fans.

Please note: I did not finish this book.

Life is too short to sit through books you're just not enjoying, so I stopped this book around 40% in, which I felt was a fairly good try knowing it wasn't for me from around the 10% mark. Described as a thriller that focuses on cyber space, the dark net and in general, the technology we are privileged to be able to have today, I was really excited for this book.

If you have ever seen Black Mirror, I predicted it would be a twisty, futuristic but harrowing novel version of that. However, I just couldn't get into the numerous characters that we were being told about, I couldn't follow what was going on and I just felt flat out bored when reading this book.

That doesn't mean this book was bad or terribly written, but it just wasn't for me. Something about it just didn't interest me and I had to give up. I would highly recommend reading other reviews of this book before deciding whether or not to read it, as my personal opinion may be very different to that of others.

From a really misleading synopsis, this story turned into something entirely different on reading, and I'm still not sure how to define it.

Dark Net focuses on four main characters. Hannah - a 13 year old girl who has recently been given the gift of sight via a bio mechanical eye that allows her to see more than the average person. Lela, Hannah's maternal aunt and news reporter who found fame exposing the life and crimes of a local serial killer named Tusk. Juniper, at first a seemingly innocent man who helps the homeless and vulnerable, but on closer inspection is something a little more sinister. And Cheston, a college dropout who earns a living providing 'internet real estate' for those looking to keep their secrets hidden.

The premise to the novel is something that transcends several genres. At first it appears to be a mystery thriller, as Lela uncovers a supposed conspiracy surrounding the old apartment building of the serial killer she originally ran a story on. As Juniper and Cheston enter the story, it turns more into a horror with fantasy elements. It really was like no other novel I've read.

From a personal perspective, I found the elements with Juniper the most interesting. I liked his interactions in 'downtown' Portland, including The Oubliette Club (loved that name) and his complex relationship with Sarin and the turf wars. I liked that he was also multifaceted as a character. He was ambiguous in that he wasn't 'good' or 'evil' but a mixture of the two, in direct comparison to the 'dark net' which is distinctly evil.

The 'Dark Net' referred to here only really starts to make an appear about 40% of the way into the novel, but really only truely establishes itself in the final chapters. Before this, there is a lot of character and world building as we established what Lela is investigating, what Juniper 'is', who Cheston really works for and what Hannah can actually do. These events all happen separately, and at times the chopping and changing between characters made it difficult to follow. However, as the stories started to tie together, the story became easier to understand.

I think what feel short for me was Lela. I found her really irritating, like an unapologetic busybody and I could feel no emotional connection to her at all. To the point where when she first encounters the hell hounds, I wasn't bothered whether she lived or died. I often wanted to skim the sections in the book relating to her, which would have become harder to do as she became a more predominant protagonist near the end. I would have preferred the novel without her.

Overall, this was a really intriguing read - if a little confusing at times.

Fun thriller with a little bit of everything. Religion, supernatural, technology, technophobes, a cool dog, awesome goggles.

I really enjoyed this book. It's chock full of demons and biblical-type apocalypse along with cyber threat. It tells the story of the battle between the light and dark, this time being fought in Portland and being waged on the internet. The first half really reminded me of Constantine, with certain individuals being able to see demons and secret battles going on all the time. Benjamin Percy inserts little nods to some of the past offerings of demon battle, which I enjoyed and his prose is really efficient. There are passages where the narrator speaks directly to the reader, which I thought was a clever touch. The second half deals more closely with cyberspace and the potential threats we face on a daily basis. This was quite chilling as it made me realise just how unprotected most of us are from this kind of attack. While the first half was more my cup of tea, I enjoyed the second half too as the pacing was such that it just carried me through. I think this world has real potential for more instalments and I will definitely check out Percy's back list.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a book that turned out to be different from what I expected it to be, it is more fantasy and horror than a straight forward technological read. Set in Portland, Oregon, Lela is a luddite workaholic reporter, with a remarkable dog, Hemingway, writing for The Oregonian, always looking for that exclusive story with the help of Josh. Her niece, 12 year old Hannah is blind but finds herself fitted with The Mirage, a trial experimental device that allows her to see, and gives her the gift of seeing the dark shadows of evil. Mike Juniper runs the homeless shelter, The Weary Traveller, he is a man who came back from the dead to became a lucrative evangelist, contracting terminal cancer only to be saved by Sarin. Derek is a cyber genius hacker, akin to Anonymous. Lela, Hannah, Mike, and Derek with the help of Sarin, Lump, Josh and Hemingway find themselves working together to battle demons and all the ancient evil darkness that spills out through the dark net to wreak horror in Portland.

Lela is investigating an odd company, Undertown, which has purchased The Rue Apartments, on which there is precious little information. Finding red right hands at a macabre murder scene, just like those at the crime scenes of serial killer, Tusk, but he is a dead man. Lela finds herself on a construction site taking pictures of the men working there, and escapes with the relic of a deformed skull. This brings dark forces on her tail, and endanger the life of her sister, Cheryl and Hannah. Roaming the streets of Portland are strange hounds. Lela, Cheryl and Hannah find themselves at Mike's place under the misplaced idea that they have found a safe place only to encounter death and destruction. In a story that takes in astral travel to fight demons and efforts to close the open doors that feed the never ending horror, we see Mike once again return from the dead, as this group of people, and Hemingway, are willing to die to put an end to all the overflowing darkness threatening to destroy the world through the dark net.

This is an entertaining read with a technological side that really comes to the fore in the latter stages of the novel. Benjamin Percy has put together a great set of eccentric and weird characters, along with the child, Hannah, wise beyond her years, adding a new and pivotal front to the ancient battle between the forces of light and dark in the world. There is plenty of suspense, tension and thrills to keep the reader enthralled and gripped. The epilogue sees the possibility for most of the characters to return in a potential sequel. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.