This book is shockingly realistic. I can see why previous reviews describe it as an all too accurate possibility of what could occur if there were a cyber attack on the power grids. The risk is there but hopefully preparedness will prevent a radical group from destroying what the "many" enjoy to gain their own utopia. Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

Mark Elsberg, Blackout
ISBN-13: 978-3764504458

Some books are lucky in their moment, and this is one of them. Let me be clear: this is a thriller, of sorts, in the heart of which is Piero, an Italian hacker of renown. Much of it takes place in France. The premise of the plot is that aggressive hackers manage to infiltrate the European energy grid, to shut down at least one nuclear power station, and to bring to its knees the whole western European system: there’s no electricity, trains won’t work, pharmacies can’t get deliveries of drugs (these are supplied by just-in-time couriers in much of western Europe), foodstuffs cannot be delivered, nor can petrol and there are runs on banks. Since hospitals, too, will have no power, patients will die. And they do. But they can’t be buried individually, so mass graves have to be created, using up precious fuel. As in any disaster, plenty of people lie, cheat, steal, and fend for themselves against the rich, the less rich, and, indeed, those who can’t defend themselves.
What saves the day, or rather who, is the hacker, the good hacker, not one of the bad ones, who figures out what it going on and penetrates the attackers’ cyber movements. He keeps getting shot, arrested, clubbed; he has to keep hiding (there’s almost the love of a good woman, but not so’s you’d notice), to make people in high places listen to him, to keep working.
This is a book by someone who has thought a lot about what would happen if this happened, and its melodrama gets to a high pitch and stays there. Alas, some of the events are even more preposterous than a good thriller is allowed; Piero’s resistance to being beaten up, stabbed, shot, doesn’t set him back in ways such injuries must do—a bit too much like the chair broken over the head of the fighters in a saloon brawl; the writing is pretty poor—at least the translation is pretty poor. For a techno thriller, which is what, in the end, this is, it’s pretty comprehensible. Why, though, are so many of the bad characters German?

What if the power went out? What if the power went out in not only your neighborhood, or in your city but in your entire country and then the entire continent? The is the premise of Blackout. Terrorist have infiltrated the electrical grid and all across Europe the power goes out and the power suppliers can't get the electricity back online. It's amazing how much our infrastructure relies on electricity. It is scary to think about what could happen if we lost that one thing, worldwide. It's easy to get annoyed and inconvenienced when we lose power for a few hours or a day.  We get out the candles or go out to dinner and we know in a few hours the electricity will come back on, until it doesn't. This is an interesting thriller with the possibility of an impending apocalypse. One of the things I liked about this book is the main character is not some macho hero that can do impossible things to save the world. The book does jump around a lot from different locations and people and sometimes repeats some of the same themes (food shortages, medicine shortages, transportation issues, price gouging) but overall it is good read and it will leave you with some things to think about.

This book started with a great premise and a "thriller" promise. It failed to deliver on both counts. Although the premise is interesting, the execution was dismally boring. There is NO thrilling action whatsoever. The author did NOT use the "show, not tell" narrative technique. Instead, repetitive telling of the effects of a power grid meltdown were told and retold, over and over ad nauseam. The author skipped around to various cities and countries, all reporting the same malfunctioning of generators and power structures. The book was way, WAY TOO LONG. The perpetrators were not introduced until after the halfway point. By that time, I didn't care. The tedium was painfully disappointing.

"Blackout"

Shivers! I haven't been as paranoid and wanting to hoard my money in the mattress since I read "The God's Eye View"!! This book is all and more as that one.

The amount of research and technical information is staggering. But I believe everyone should read this book and not worry about understanding the tech parts. The human (both citizen and government) reactions to an apocolytic event is worth it all. Loosing power, not just localized but for entire countries make you leary of all the technical advances that have been made in the past 30-40 years.

Dependence on data sharing and computer grids apparently could be devastating. Ask yourself what you would do when the power goes out and the dominoes fall one right after the other. First the power for lights, hot water, cooking, pumping gas, refrigeration; then data hackers affecting the cooling of nuclear reactors, communications between people and nations limited or nonexistent. Next a run on banks that have to limit withdrawals or close....the list goes on. Black market on gas, food, medicine rampant, theft and unrest part of daily life. This after only 10 days.

So, middle of winter, what do you do? Planes, trains and automobiles grounded because no power to pump or deliver fuel. Is this even a plausible scenario? We can only hope that we never have to find out but I think we may be farther into this global wide dependency than we know.

Frighteningly realistic look at a scenario that could happen today. Cyber-sabotage at its worst. A look at what happens when the lights go out. A must read for anyone concerned about what terrorists with a computer might do. (just my opinion.)

Very well researched, and the story moves quickly. There's no shying away from the harsh realities of collapsed social order and government services. I was also really glad to read a story like this from the European perspective, given so many such stories set primarily in the U.S. I was also really glad to read a story about the process of collapse when so many stories just skip from the precipitating event to several months or years later. Well done.

If you want to know about how energy is produced and distributed worldwide, this novel will offer a fascinating insight into that world. It's complex but is well explained here---if a bit repetitiously. Overall, an interesting thriller. Loved all the details on energy production and distribution. A look into that world that is well handled. The characters are OK, the plot fun but filled with a lot of moving around and talking about things happening but sparse on actual action. And a few of the path-crossings and escapes are somewhat implausible. But overall I enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Marc Ellsberg for this copy of Blackout. This book was so terrifying that I was only able to read it in small chunks, although I wanted to stay up all night reading it. It really made me stop and think that a terrorist act like that could actually happen,and how extensive and far reaching the results would be. During much of the book I was near tears, and in shock that something like this could be real. It's been a long time since I was so affected by fiction.

This was not my "usual" type book at all but I have to say, it sucked me in and held my attention. I had a little bit of a hard time keeping the names/people straight but the story line was intense and fast paced and really made you think what if....

This novel felt compelling at first; however, I had a difficult time staying interested in the characters and the story line. Perhaps I have read too many disaster/dystopian type novels in the past year. Although I have travelled in Europe, I still found that the constant changing of locale was off-putting, but perhaps that was because the novel jumped to so many foreign (to me) places. I did find that the writing was top notch and had no issues with the translation.

An electrifying thriller. Originally published in German in 2012, this translation flows flawlessly in English.

Power grids fail across most of Europe's interconnected power grids. One lone Italian IT specialist, Piero Manzano, a good guy hacker, has figured out the initial source but can't get anyone to listen to him. Determined to reach Europol head, Francois Bollard in Hague Netherlands, Manzano joins up with a US reporter to cross countries and borders as civilization returns to survival instincts when food and water run out and the darkness continues for weeks.

Fast paced and very intense. The race to get the power back on before anarchy reigns is very realistic. This book reinforces my stance on nuclear power as not being safe because of spent fuel rods.

What would happen if a group of terrorists orchestrated a successful strike at the technology that operates all electric or nuclear power sources in Europe, causing its power grid to crash? That is the premise of Blackout, and frankly, this book is almost terrifying to read because you realize that such a scenario (maybe not on such a large scale) might just be plausible. Elsberg very deftly goes from the blackout to the horrifying consequences that can be the result of just a few days without power -- and that is just the beginning of this story full of disasters and twists that result in a book that is hard to put down. Can Piero Manzano, a former hacker who has offered his assistance (but is also seen as a potential suspect because of his background and skills), gain the affected nations' trust and find out what's behind the attacks before all of the affected areas become ground zero?

I recommend this book because it really drives home the point of how reliant we are on computers and electricity, and the disastrous consequences of a long-term outage. Are you prepared?

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was originally published in Germany 2012. This book is about cyber attacks on the electric grid in Europe then ultimately the rest of the world. There was a lot of information and a
tmi times it was confusing. For me it was a slow read and that is mainly due to the amount of technical Information. This book is great for conspiracy There were aspect I found very interesting.

The premise was good and scary. There were just too many characters - I felt that many were superfluous to the main story.

I didn't expect this to be as good as it was but found myself unable to put it down. To begin with, it's scary as to how likely we are to see an event like this in our lifetime and it's frighteningly accurate as to how it will all unfold. (though I suspect people will get violent faster).

Do yourself a favor and grab a copy...definitely worth a read.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read this book.

This story was equally chilling and thrilling, it made me think what would I do if I lost all power for days or even weeks. Would there be enough food, how would I find clean water, what about prescription medications?

In this very plausible story hackers methodically plan out the perfect way to destroy the world, take away all the power. And cripple any facilities from starting back up, nuclear power plants start to overheat and explode, it is truly terrifying in it's genius.

The story is told by several people around Europe, the primary character is a former hacker living in Italy that notices a strange code on his power meter. After the power is lost the story continues from there.

I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it for anyone who likes a good thriller.

Marc Elsberg’s novel, “Blackout,” is a must read. It’s timely and accurate in depicting what happens when the power goes off everywhere. The fear of a terrorist attack on the world’s power grids is palpable in all of us and it could be a real possibility.

The author’s diligent research makes his story resonate and shake our innards with its realism. At best, most of us can only guess at all the horrendous circumstances that a blackout would bring to our existence. Elsberg goes deeper than that. He explores the impact on our lives by probing our inner revulsion at death and the unpleasantness that accompanies it. He graphically describes the sensory impacts of sight, smell, feel, and bodily discomfort that accompany compaction with the injured and dying. The loss of social interaction is heartrending. Everyone suffers in the darkness and the will to live fades away. Even those charged with finding solutions discover their mental skills frittering away.

This is Elsberg’s debut novel and he displays an interesting writing technique. The book is mostly snippets of the action taken by the many characters, sometimes a confusing style if improperly applied. But the author’s overall theme of global discomfort is so unsettling it forces the reader to pay attention to the details. Frustration leads to short tempers and progress is slow, but the reader feels the need to keep up with the story.

The first half of the book outlines the many problems that arise in a world without power. The second half presents the gradual successes as they are achieved, including the capture of some of the perpetrators. But it isn’t over yet. As small comforts return to bedraggled citizens it becomes evident that another attack will probably bring the darkness again.

I learned a lot about our fragile network of power grids. There are also riveting discussions of terrorists, their targets, and their methods. I consider this a great book, very informative, and spellbinding in its premise.

In Blackout, insidiously and then in an escalating manner, most of Europe and then the US literally goes black, as one after another, like a cascading domino sequence, the world's power grids inextricably fail. In the scenario presented by Marc Elsberg in this fascinating and terrifying thriller, power grids around the world are linked, not independent entities, sharing power when needs in one part of the world are greater than others, and when surplus power in another country is available. I have not researched this, but it has the ring of truth.

Marco Piero, a charming Italian and hacker for hire, is recruited to help solve the mystery. In the process, he and an intrepid , young, female CNN reporter travel around Europe trying to figure out what's happened. Without giving away much more, when Piero discovers a bug (to put it mildly) in the computer code that runs this complex system of interconnected power grids, the chase is on, and frightening adventures ensue. Meanwhile, heads of state watch in horror as nuclear power plants reach critical boiling points and untold numbers of people and animals - livestock, zoo animals, family pets - die of thirst, starvation, and disease.

I don't usually read this kind of thriller but I am glad I read this one. It is well-written, suspenseful, full of twists and turns, and the characters are believable. Blackout provides a terrifying glimpse into something that is all too real, and definitely within the realm of possible.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post a favorable review.

Sorry, but I don't think I am the one to review this book as I didn't finish. I made it 20% of the way through, but couldn't continue. Nothing is happening! The lights are off! People are cold. So far, there has been nothing interesting, the technical jargon was putting me to sleep, and the last conversation was so juvenile (between Tedesci and Livasco) I decided to stop reading.