Dark Tomorrow by Reece Hirsch

FBI special agent, Lisa Tanchik is drawn into an NSA cyber investigation of an attack launched by Russia. She has been tracing a Russian hacker named Natalya X. The FBI believes that Natalya X may be involved in the attack. At CyberCom, Lisa Tanchik is teamed with a Ukrainian computer expert whose own country was attacked by the Russians.

This is a race for time thriller no time can be wasted as things are happening fast and it is up to Lisa Tanchik to put her expertise to the test. She needs to solve this fast before more people get hurt.

It was pulse raising fast pace read. I enjoyed the story and I will read more of this series. If you like cyber crime thrillers then this is a must read for you

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for a free advance copy of this book for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

Fabulous thriller that kept me eagerly turning the pages!! Fantastic characters and plot, could not put it down.

This was a very good cyber thriller that will keep you turning the pages. It is very thought provoking and terrifiying.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Crime Mystery

I have not read book one in this series, but never felt that I was missing anything.

This is a fast-paced, intriguing novel. While it’s about cybercrimes, the computer lingo doesn't overtake the book while still having an authentic feeling.

Lisa is on the hunt for a Russian hacker who is an amazing chameleon. The hacker is supposedly a sleeper agent and we are taken on a ride through both Lisa and this hacker's "relationship."

You will be rooting for the good guys, but still hoping that the fight will go on because you don't want the story to be too short.

The love relationship in the story was not a huge part of the story and somewhat of a distraction.

I really enjoyed this spy novel and look forward to more from this author.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a fast-paced, cyber warfare thriller. It’s a tense, exciting, and gory read. The body count is a little extreme, but I loved the cat and mouse game between the two female hackers.

Lisa Tanchik is a fascinating female lead. I enjoyed the politics of her work as much as her investigation. Natalya X is equally entertaining. There is something of a Killing Eve dynamic between the two women that plays out well. I loved the layers to the story and the smoke and mirrors feel to the book as Tanchik tries to figure out who is actually behind Natalya X’s scheming.

I read this story in January 2020 before the COVID-19 outbreak and the ‘end of the world’ threats seemed a little bit overdramatic at the time. Reviewing it now, the same story seems entirely plausible. I’m not sure what that says about our world today, but the story feels a bit more relatable now than it did a couple of months ago.

Dark Tomorrow continues the story of Lisa Tanchick, the flawed brilliant protagonist from Black Nowhere. Hirsch's knowledge of cybersecurity issues is extensive. In this thriller, he plunges the US into cyber warfare. Russia has attacked us. In deep midwinter our power grids shut down. The precision and savagery of the attack finds key military institutions unprepared to deal. Tanchick has been pursuing an highly skilled hacker NatalyaX, thus she is mobilized. Fighting both her demons of depression and the real threat of economic collapse combined with threats to the interconnected cyber networks Lisa races to find answers. Placing the setting in the depths of winter escalates the tension.

This is a cat and mouse thriller at it's finest. Highly recommended.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC copy from Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer Press in exchange for and unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

FBI Special Agent Lisa Tanchik is on the trail of a cyberstalker/hacker , known only as NatalyaX who is thought to be working for Russia.

An email attachment causes a fatal seizure at US Cyber Command. As a result, the entire East Coast goes dark. Agent Tanchik knows that something bad is happening and no one knows who's behind this sinister plan.

Tanchik plunges into chaos to hunt down the true source of the attacks. Close dealings with shadowy figures both online and off expose her to extraordinary danger as the country teeters on the brink of catastrophe.

This is a well written cyber crime fiction with a solid plot, leading one to believe this could be happening in our country today. The characters are solidly defined. Action is non-stop and it all begins on the very first page and doesn't let up until the very last. The ending was unexpected, and totally satisfying.

Many thanks to the author / Thomas & Mercer / Netgalley for the digital copy of this techno-thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

America Under Attack

This is the second book in the Lisa Tanchik series and I enjoyed it as much as the first one BLACK NOWHERE.

Lisa is an FBI Special Agent specializing in cybercrimes and cyber threats. She has been teaching a class on cybercrime investigation at Quantico when her expertise is needed when malware is introduced into a computer of a CyberCom specialist, ending up killing him by causing a deadly seizure.

She ends up working with CyberCom, which is part of the Department of Defense, and also NSA when most of the infrastructure on the East coast is taken down by hackers.

Lisa believes that a Russian GRU agent with the user name of NatalyaX is behind the deadly attacks.

This was another great (but too believable) story about the cyber intelligence world. I like Lisa's character, even as she deals with chronic depression that has haunted since she was a young girl.

I highly recommend this thriller to anyone that likes spy thriller or stories about cyber warfare.

I received this book from Thomas & Mercer (Amazon Publishing) through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Lisa Tanchik is back in Dark Tomorrow by Reece Hirsch. This is the second book in the series and takes place two years after the end of Black Nowhere. Lisa is continuing her hunt for criminals on the dark web. During her hunt, a massive blackout threatens the country and begins cyber warfare. Dark Tomorrow takes you on a cat and mouse chase until the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for ARC!

That was a pretty slick thriller, well, cyber thriller to be precise. It’s a genre that I really enjoy and this book was right up there. Lisa Tanchik, a cyber security specialist with the FBI is on the hunt for a talented hacker thought to be known as NatalyaX, thought to be working for the Russian GRU. This hacker has brought America to its knees by targeted cyber attacks on key people and critical infrastructure. Everything has been hacked and shut down - the power grid, transportation, cell towers and even implanted medical devices.

Lisa gets seconded to Cybercom, a secret government cyber security setup to help sort out this mess. She gets teamed up with Arcady Orlov. Orlov is a Ukrainian cyber security consultant and has seen this sort of attack before. The Russians used Ukraine as guinea pigs for their planned attacks on the US. He was in America for a conference and had volunteered his services. The Cybercom team learns that the current devastation is just a warm up. In 48 hours an unspecified attack will take out more critical infrastructure and kill untold thousands of people. Lisa and Orlov must work together to identify the target and hack the hackers. Can they stop the attack and NatalyaX? This was really well written, flowed well, was almost plausible and the pacing was great. I really enjoyed it.

FBI Cybercrime Agent Lisa Tanchik keeps busy following leads to locate cyberterrorist NatalyaX. When computer attacks kill two U.S. Cyber Command experts just before an overwhelming cyber event takes down all power on the East Coast, General Holsapple summons Lisa to meet with him. Lisa believes NatalyaX is behind the two murders and works with Ukrainian tech CEO Arkady Orlov to track down who is behind a terrorist plot.

Proof that Russia is responsible for the terrorist attack leads the U. S. President to declare war on Russia officially. Reece Hirsch fabricates an intriguing thriller featuring two strong female protagonists and scary scenes of the East Coast without power, cell phones not working and traffic signals, and public transportation systems down. Chaos reigns.

Mr. Hirsch is a skillful storyteller. And reading his novel while living through the COVID-19 shutdown provides a chilling juxtaposition of fiction with reality. Dark Tomorrow is a compelling read, and thriller fans will want to keep track of Lisa Tanchik’s cybercrime adventures.

4.25 Stars

This is the second book in the Lisa Tanchik series by Reece Hirsch.

The premise: Lisa is an FBI special agent and she is after a Russian sleeper agent who know an uncomfortable amount of intel about her. She is a threat to national security after power grids go down in the dead of winter. She must be stopped.

This story takes place in the midst of a national crisis where different utilities are targeted by the Russians. The book centers around Lisa Tanchik as she tracks this sleeper agent with the help of a Russian colleague.

This book can be read as a standalone but it is a part of a bigger series. It is easy to see how this character can be expanded into more novels apart from this one. She just works. Her attitude is right and it draws us into the drama. This lady is tough with a mind of her own. She is no nonsense and brave. Strangely enough the Russian sleeper agent shares many of these qualities too which makes them a good pairing to go against each other. In the end, you feel sorry for this jaded woman and cheer her on as she stumbles toward an eventual victory.

This is definitely a series I want to continue with. I am totally intrigued!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

This book was really good, I enjoyed reading this book especially since I really enjoyed the first book in the Lisa Tanchik series. It has what I was looking for in a suspenseful mystery novel.

The second in a series and this is one of those series where I would stop here and read book one first. There are some character developments that you will want to read before going into this one. And to spoil my review book one and book two are so good, that you wouldn't want to skip either!

This book returns the reader to FBI Special Agent Lisa Tanchik and with her interesting skillset she is called on because something has infected the entire east coast with power failure and telecommunications are down. She is brought in to help solve who has infiltrated their systems and to help take them down.

It was kind of weird to read this book during the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. I kept shaking my head with understanding the feeling of unrest that the citizens were having without power and phone and losing food supply, it all just felt too close to what i was personally experienced!

I loved all the twists and turns in the book. None of the twists or turns came out of left field and didn't work for the greater plot of the book.

This author can do pacing. I think I read this book in just two sittings because once I sat down to read just a bit, I had read half the book!

I hope there are many more books with FBI Special Agent Lisa Tanchik because I love following her as a character. She is smart but I never feel as though she is over my head. It is written so anyone can understand where Tanchik is getting her clues and her thoughts at each turn. It will be hard to wait for the next one!

Dark Tomorrow by Reece Hirsch is a great read! A real engrossing page-turner and worth the time of a read!!

FBI Special Agent Lisa Tanchik has been chasing a Russian hacker, NatalyaX, on the Dark Web for two years. Lisa is deeply depressed and staving off the debilitating depression with alcohol and Zoloft. When the US is attacked in a massive cyber war, Lisa is transferred to the center of the effort to determine who’s behind the attack. Every new piece of evidence leads Lisa to Natalya, but not who she’s working for.

This has a well-written and unusual storyline and Lisa is a well-defined complex and flawed main character. The rest of the characters are less defined and more stereotypically cardboard. However, there’s not much creativity behind the attack or, indeed, how it is resolved. Regardless, though, it is quite likely any reader will be caught up in the story as it races to the ending, which is cheesy in the same way the ending of “Casablanca” was.

If you like fast-paced stories set in the present from headlines from today’s newspapers, you might want to put this book on your to-be-read list somewhere near the top.

My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an eARC.

This is the second book in the Lisa Tanchik series. Having not read the first one I can say that you don’t need to in order to follow and be engage by the story.

This was a really good book. A really good book! It was interesting from the beginning and had action all throughout.

The main character was very interesting and complex. Something I was not expecting when I picked this book but I was happy with. The secondary characters were just as interesting and well developed.

This is a book that gives you a taste of what a cyber war could lead to and how quick it can be done.

I definitely recommend this book and I cant wait for the next one in the series.. I am hoping there is more coming.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is different from the previous novel and that is partly why it didn't seem as good, plus it just wasn't as good. I liked the tech and the story overall. It also has good pacing and action. Hopefully the next one will be better.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

I enjoyed the first book in the Lisa Tanchik series, but came away from this latest offering let down. Perhaps my memory of Agent Tanchik was wrong, but she seemed more of a hands-on field agent in this latest outing than I remembered the computer hacker geek of the first book being, and it felt wrong. I also found the descriptions of her depression less realistic this time. Not a bad escapist read, but not at the same level of the first book.

It saddens me to write this review… I believe I have read everything Reece Hirsch has written and really enjoyed each book. I had just finished Black Nowhere (Lisa Tanchick #1) on vacation and saw mention of a #2 and went looking on Netgalley where it was available for review. I loved Black Nowhere and found it a great story and good/accurate use of technology for a cybercrime novel. Where this is a #2 I was expecting more of the same but that is not what I got. There is mention of a cyberwar and that the east coast is plunged into darkness as a result but that Is just a fact. There is very little cyber work in the story. There are a couple times she logs onto chat boards on the dark web and one time that she turns malware around to capture video feed but largely the main character does her work as a regular field agent not in the cyber vein. I pick up this genre specifically because the tech piece speaks to me so when it’s missing I am disappointed.
If that doesn’t bother you, this is still a good story and might be worth your time.
#DarkTomorrow #NetGalley

Reese Hirsch takes America into a cyberwar in his latest Lisa Tanchik thriller, Dark Tomorrow, forthcoming May 12, 2020. An FBI special agent, Tanchik is drawn into an NSA/CyberCom investigation of a Pearl Harbor-like attack apparently launched by Russia. She has been tracing a Russian hacker, Natalya X, for the FBI, and it seems that Natalya X may be involved in the attack. At CyberCom, Tanchik is teamed with a Ukrainian computer expert whose own country was attacked by the Russians. Together, they attempt to prove that the Russians are responsible for the cyberattacks, try to stop the ones that have already taken place, and prevent any new ones from occurring,while themselves in grave personal danger. Although the novel starts slowly, Hirsch picks up the pace as the story develops. Sadly, there's no new ground covered here; it's all been done before. Recommended for fans of the Lisa Tanchik series and those not over familiar with the cyber attack storyline.