First, the good: this book was written well. Parts of it were more like violent poetry than novel.

But that brings us to the not-so-good part, like the totally random sex scene that starts with this: "God," he said, "I just want to unzip you out of all this filth you're covered in." Or one of the final fight scenes where one character "proceeded to express himself with bullets better than he ever had with words."

From the very beginning the book was one huge tragedy of pointless deaths. This book was HEAVY STUFF, MAN. The supervillians were like a psycho wolfpack, like a gang of suicide bombers. Humanity, expect for a few of the main characters nobly fighting onward, showed itself at its chaotic, infighting worst. I didn't like any of the characters. In fact, I'm not sure I liked the book. But... somehow it's haunting, it stays in my head. Now that I've finished and can step back to look at the entire arc, it's staggering. And it's only now that I realize this was the second book in the series. Maybe I would have liked it more if I had read the first one?

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read and review!

Good action thriller with government created super human soldiers. The programme was stopped but someone has started again and looks like they going to create havoc. The race is on to try and sort the problem and stop the project for good. This is an action all the way book, making it very easy to read as well as exciting. There is no flowery type language bulking it out, its just action. This is my kind of book and excellent for our current unprecedented situation, substituting a real disaster for a make believe one. It helps to while away some hours whilst in isolation breaks you away from news updates. Just remember its not real.

This was hard to get into at first and I almost stopped reading it but I am so glad I did not. This picks up and has a very interesting story line on Government human experimentation with some great characters. Fast paced and action packed. I look forward to reading more from this Author.

The Dark Continent could be an ominous book to read during the lockdown and the global pandemic. It is the kind of book that alarms you when your life is going smoothly. When you have a lot to lose, but reading it now, it suffers, it loses in shock-value.
But that only applies to the second part of the book. The beginning is an intense, action-packed thrill ride; I haven't read action scenes like this in a long, long time. The premise is that humans are genetically modified into powerful fighting machines on a decommissioned oil rig of the Coast of Alaska. It is all very Karl Malus, and it made me miss Jessica Jones. Because the gene enhancement to their physique is so extreme, only the truly degenerate can withstand it— stonecold killers, and psychopaths. The 15 on the oil rig are all death row prisoners. Now before one of the most destructive prison breaks ever described happens, wheels are set in motion to get our three protagonists involved in the plot. This is the part of the book that blew me away. Karl Lyons works for the Cia and is looking for a lab in China where they perform the same experiments.The Chinese adventure is so entertaining that I would read a whole book only about it. Tom Reese, in the meantime, a genetically modified subject, the protagonist of the first book in the series, Prometheus man, the only still alive from his batch, is in Canada on the run from the police with his girlfriend, Silvana. Yet, again another sensational chase scene ensues. And Dr. Azamor arrives on the rig and meets the villain of the story Kronin in Clarice Sterling, meeting doctor Hannibal in extremis scenes.
But then the men led by Kronin, escape with a plan to destroy the world as we know it. And the book turns incredibly Dark. And endlessly violent. Firing off from the premise that if civilization is threatened, people go back to the notion of kill or be killed. This The Road horror version fell flat.
This past period we have watched how people behave in an emergency, and I don't see much evidence supporting the notion that we will all turn into savages. Maybe if I had read The Dark Continent before the pandemic, it would've been swept up into its nightmarish vision, but I didn't buy the second part: so unbelievable first part and not believable second for me.

Fascinating and absolutely chilling story that beautifully illustrates all that can go wrong when science is exploited for nefarious purposes. It's one of those books where it's difficult to stop reading; you just want to "finish one more chapter"...but then you go on to the next. Highly recommended.

*My thanks to the author and publisher (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. It's greatly appreciated!*

Tense and full of high-thrills, this is one book that will keep you reading until the very end. When I was not reading, I was thinking about reading. A page-turner if there ever was one, this is one to read during the day, unless you're like me who loves punishment because if you read this at night, you'll be up until 4 am just to finish it. Scott Reardon was an author unheard of to me, but his writing ability has automatically shoved him onto my list of auto-read authors.

This dystopian science fiction novel has the CIA creating supersoldiers out of criminals. They are the only ones whose ethics can allow them to follow the harshest kill orders. But of course, this also means they may not obey their masters – the classic Frankenstein dilemma. So they decide to not only kill, but cleverly destroy the American society through attacking the exact infrastructure weaknesses we have. In the end, the hero is able to finally win, but it’s partially pyrrhic, since the time to get real society back may be decades. A very scary book, since it wouldn’t have to be done by supersoldiers – it could be done by smart terrorists. But worth reading for the lessons.

A bit difficult to get into in the beginning but once you become familiar with the author's style, the story becomes engrossing. Recommended for fans of apocalyptic science fiction.

The below 3-star review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday, Amazon, and Goodreads on 4/28/20:

I picked The Dark Continent up as a comfort read. An apocalyptic novel in an apocalypse is a funny kind of comfort read, maybe, but that isn’t why I picked it up. I didn’t pick it up because it is speculative fiction; I picked it up because it is a thriller. I don’t read enough thrillers. The great thing about thrillers is that, as a genre, they tend to be extraordinarily well paced and make good use of suspense. They are the prototypical page turners. And, in a time when I haven’t been getting much reading done, I wanted a book that would encourage me to keep turning the pages.

As a comfort read, The Dark Continent succeeded, even if the subject matter is pretty dark and the book frequently grisly. It is ultimately pretty unbelievable in places and the plotting a little thin. It wound up being an enjoyable but disposable, popcorn read.

The Dark Continent is an Ubermensch story—the sort of thing famously done in the Khan arc in Star Trek, the Bourne movies, and Stephen King’s Firestarter. There is a coherent sub-genre there, although I don’t see it being called Ubermensch stories elsewhere and I don’t know what else to call it. It has its rules and conventions, and no rule more binding than this: all attempts to create a superman will end in tears. There can be only one exception, and his name is Steve Rogers.

The Dark Continent is the sequel to The Prometheus Man. I haven’t read that one. The Dark Continent works well as a standalone. The earlier attempts at producing an Ubermensch had just one success—Tom Reese. He is living in hiding at the beginning of The Dark Continent. But they have started trying again, this time with serial killers on a shuttered offshore oil rig off the coast of Alaska. Predictably, things go wrong on the rig. Predictably, the killers escape and begin causing mayhem. Predictably, Tom Reese is the only one who can stop them. All of this is predictable, but none of it is unwelcome.

One of the first things the men do is knock out the power grid for the eastern United States, triggering the apocalyptic portion of the book. Which was my main problem with the book, to be honest. It is here that the pacing starts to betray the story. These elements of speculative fiction would have been well served by more speculative fiction-style worldbuilding. The journey from functioning electrical grid to almost complete societal breakdown happens in a blink of the reader’s eye, robbing it of much of its potential effect.

More effective worldbuilding with the setting happens before all that. The Dark Continent is (very) near-future science fiction. A character describes a world in which “the stock market was at all-time highs, yet half the country seemed to be out of work.” Which doesn’t sound all that strange. A vicious terrorist attack—in which two dozen men appear, kill almost 900 people, and then disappear—turns the criminal justice system vicious. Although saying that “a year after the attacks, one in every four men had a criminal record” doesn’t quite land with the impact intended. By age 23, roughly half of black men and two-fifths of white men in America have been arrested. Maybe Reardon meant new arrests within that year? Or criminal records for college graduates? I don’t know how much of that is in the first book or directly affects it, but it makes me want to read that first book more.

Also very effective is the man who rises to lead the escapees and serve as the main villain in the book, Kronin (most of the others, though, are unmemorable). The copy compares him to Colonel Kurtz and Satan from Paradise Lost, but Kronin really reminds me of the Judge from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. He has same creepy inhumanity and omnipresent malevolence (and is appropriately Nietzschean, given the sub-genre).

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of The Dark Continent via NetGalley.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this e-Arc. Will read more from this author in the future. See star rating for my review.

I didn't entirely vibe with this book, but it's not entirely its fault. For one: I didn't realize this was part of a series when I sat down to read it. That alone felt jarring, but then the beginning felt just a little dense for me. It slowed me down, on top of trying to catch up with the first book's important points, and I just never quite found a rhythm. I can't tell which had more of an impact upon my reading experience, so I'm not going to blame the book. Thanks so much for an opportunity to check this out! I might try again after reading the first one haha.

Really enjoyed this book and wasn't bothered at all by the fact that I hadn't read the first book in the series.

I do wonder however what my reading experience would have been like had I read this back in February when I downloaded it. Certainly getting around to read it during a pandemic made the experience a lot wilder. I could tell that this whole current situation is depressing me when I found myself thinking, "That Kronin guy makes some valid points."

Some of the big picture thoughts in this book--that humans often mess with things they ought not to and never fully are able to deal with the consequences, that the United State is thiiiiiiis close to falling apart and lapsing into lawlessness and chaos, that the forces of evil always seem to come out of tragedy unscathed--all hit a bit too close to home for me at this moment in time.

Otherwise, this was a great story that moved along quickly. Both Tom and Karl were compelling characters (that didn't jump off the page at first--this book took a beat to get into) that I came to care about deeply. The doctor, on the other hand, felt a wee bit underdeveloped. I thought we'd have more adventures on the oil rig, so I was surprised when the book opened so wide in scope, but I enjoyed the ride after I had adjusted.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The book continues the story started in Prometheus Man as a dark part of the US government continues the process of artificially augmenting humans to create advanced weapons. The characters are interesting, both carryovers and new, and the action seems to never abate. The plot introduces a new wrinkle, as the experimental subjects are drawn from convicted murderers who have been sentenced to death. The style of writing makes for easy reading, and the unrelenting action keeps the reader engaged. The story shows great imagination as the author weaves events of the present into the narrative. By the end, the author has made a significant comment on the state of human nature.

The Dark Continent by Scott Reardon

**I have received this eARC from NetGalley and Aspen Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank You to both!**

Description

Government researchers are attempting to enhance the human body, but they change the men into something else instead. Led by a mysterious figure who evokes Colonel Kurtz and Satan from Paradise Lost, the subjects escape and bring the United States to its knees.

Only two men can stop them, Tom Reese and Karl Lyons. Tom and Karl will have to cross an America on the brink of collapse. And at the end they’ll experience the horror of the dark continent.

Review

First, Wow! What a ride. I was kidnapped from the very first chapter into a world of action, unimaginable man made horrors. Very well written and thought provoking for sure.

From what I understand this is the second novel in a series, Prometheus being the first. However I had no issues picking this up to read it without knowledge of the first.

If you are into horror, apocalyptic, scientific, psychological thriller then this is the book for you!

A lot of gore and murder! Violence towards many and very graphic. Trigger warning if you are sensitive to graphic scenes.

4 star Review.

I liked the premise for this book, so much so that I purchased the first in the series, 'The Prometheus Man'. Note that it's not imperative that you read The Prometheus Man first, as the stories are quite self contained.

In ‘The Dark Continent, experiments are being conducted on an oil rig off the coast of Alaska to enhance humans beyond what is thought is possible. These test subjects were once inmates of death row, and when they escape the oil rig, they proceed to drag the United States into darkness.

It’s left to two men to defeat the band of criminals. Tom Reese is also an enhanced human, unique as he is the only person in the past to have survived the side effects of the experiments. He is teamed up with CIA Agent Karl Lyons, who, in The Prometheus Man was tasked with tracking and capturing Tom.

This book is split into two parts. The first part is very reminiscent of the first novel, it feels like a Robert Ludlum novel, no doubt a similarity that has been levelled at the novels numerous times before. The two parts act as a view of both pre and post ‘reset’ - before and after the USA has been crippled by attacks on the energy grid.

The second part of the novel feels almost like a horror story, where parts of America have degraded into something almost unrecognisable.

There were some parts of the novel which didn’t seem necessary to the plot at all, almost like they could have kicked off the plot for book three, if ever there is one. There were also a lot of strange turns of phrase in the latter half of the book, which suggested that Scott Reardon may be less accustomed to writing horror.

I think this novel would benefit more from deciding which way it wanted to go at the outset, nonetheless it was still entertaining.

Review for 'The Dark Continent ' by Scott Reardon

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Aspen press.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. It definitely won't be my last!!! It is the second book in the 'Prometheus Man' series. I haven't read any of his other books and this can definitely be read as a standalone.

THE book is written in 2 'books' with some chapters a few pages long and others just one which is ideal if you just want to read 'one more chapter', in my case this never happens.

I picked this title from NetGalley a while back and when I first reread the blog I thought why on Earth did I pick this book? I was actually dreading reading it and thought well I'm going to hate this book and it will drag. Omg did it prove me wrong!!

From the explosive beginning to the fantastic end I was completely sucked into the storyline. I absolutely loved it!!

It is very well written with excellent descriptions and the characters are fantastic, strong and compelling, I couldn't get enough of them. If you have ever read Stephen King's 'The Stand' you will know what I mean when I say Kronin reminds me of Randall Flagg!!

It is ram packed with violence, gore, action, suspense , tension, murder, I could go on!! It was very fast paced and action packed, I flew through it.

THE story is told mainly via Ellen, Tom and Karl so you get to 'see' everything that is going on through their eyes.

THE plot reminded me of a mix of Stephen Kings 'The Stand', 'The Bourne identity' 'Hannibal' and '28 days later' all rolled into one book of madness.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book to fans of action, horror, suspense, crime, gore, horror, dystopia, I could go on!! If your looking for a fast paced book this one is for you!!

I would LOVE to see this turned into a movie!!!

436 pages

Free on kindle unlimited or 99p to purchase on kindle. I think this is an extremely good price for this book!! Grab a bargain while you can!!

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From the beginning, this book kept me on the edge of my seat, turning the pages! Although this is the second book in the series, reading the first was not necessary. Very enjoyable!

The Dark Continent by Scott Reardon is a great read! A real engrossing page-turner and worth the time of a read!!

This book wasn’t my cup of tea, however, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book. The Dark Continent is a gruesome, twisty book about fifteen death row inmates who join an experiment. However, the implications of this experiment have dire consequences. I wasn’t sure what genre to place this book in. It had sci-fi, horror and dystopian elements. I thought this added to the uniqueness of the book.

I struggled to connect to the characters and the storyline. I felt like it pulled me this way and that with all the killing and it took away from the storyline. If fast paced and violent books are your thing, this one will be right up your alley, but it wasn't one I could get into it.

This novel is a mixture of science fiction, medical horror and what appears to be dystopian fiction.
It would be a disservice to give away too much of the storyline - but simply it is a Frankenstein story set in current times. Man, in the persona of the military, attempts to create the ultimate warrior - fails and succeeds spectacularly.
The ending is spectacular battles in both the physical and psychological realms- and leaves open the possibility of further investigation in the political ramifications of the success!