I loved the cover of this book. The plot line is very creative and interesting. And while at times it was engaging, I did not enjoy this book. The pacing was choppy and the resolution of some of the storylines and characters was far too abrupt. Far too much time was spent on certain parts and not enough on others. Thank you to NetGalley and Aspen Press for granting access to this book. I will post this review today to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page @thatreadingrealtor.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I had stopped reading this at exactly the 50% point, I would have rated it higher. The 1st half of the book was more of a SF/Suspense/Horror combo, and I was generally entertained. Dialog was a bit weak, but the story was interesting.

Part Two just went screwy, completely off the rails with a now apocalyptic/mad man trying to destroy civilization. The 2nd half just didn’t gel, and all the never-ending, gruesome killing, unbelievable plot events (I can suspend disbelief with the best of them but come on) and lack-luster dialog became tiring. Overall, disappointing.

This was a perfectly okay boys’ own action adventure with sci-fi feels, which then turned into a fast paced dystopian gore fest. I liked it but as a piece of time passing entertainment. I suspect I may not be in the target audience for this one, since the focus is very much on the typical male action hero type I have grown so tired of rather than plumbing the depths of character interaction in dangerous situations. Fun but by and large not one that rocked my world.

When I requested this book I didn't know it was a sequel. I found the first half pretty confusing and tedious but about halfway through things go absolutely insane and the story becomes really interesting. This is a quick read because it becomes difficult to put down. I hope there will be a sequel, and I need to go back and read Prometheus man

The synopsis made this book seem like a low rent takeoff on The Passage so I was intrigued. The Dark Continent is dark just as the title describes. ‘Noir’ might describe it better. I would have preferred the author spend more time on the characters rather than long blow by blow of fights and guns. But it was fascinating how quickly society breaks down in a crisis, how much of our humanity we might be willing to give up to survive.

WOW. .... jump on board for a high-octane roller coster ride. Reardon provides a relentless and exhilarating narrative that propels in breakneck fashion. Although this is a second novel entailing the concept of enhanced humans it can be enjoyed as a stand alone because the appropriate backstory is seamlessly woven into the fabric of the tale. A black ops government project is taking place on an isolated oil rig off the coast of Alaska. The goal is to medically enhance the human body to achieve the ultimate killing weapon, The researches "wisely" choose 15 death row inmates (serial killers and other dregs of society) to be their guinea pigs. For some weird reason they thought they could control these man made monsters. Kronin is the mastermind of these mutants who cleverly engineers an escape from the rig. Their goal is solely to wreak havoc and mayhem on the entire country . They are able to destroy enough power grids to bring the country to its knees. In cinematic fashion, Reardon describes with nightmarish reality of the toppling of our infrastructure , leading to chaos and pushing society into a primitive state. Two men are charged with the last hope to bring down Kronin and his monstrous crew..... Karl Lyons, accomplished CIA operative and one of many behind the original implementation of this disastrous program and Tom Reese, the only enhanced individual who was not a criminal .... and, retained the desirable enhanced abilities.
Thanks to NetGalley and Aspen Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof of this page-turner in exchange for an honest review. ( at readersremains.com )

The plotting in this book is superb and the action is engrossing. It functions incredibly well as a standalone for being the second in the series.

This book has all the elements of a great post=apocalyptic read - collapse of society, armed mobs attacking survivors, no food, water, etc. It then mixes in a sci-fi dose of artificially modified superhumans that get loose and create massive amounts of havoc. Usually I give these kinds of reads five stars but this one didn't quite warrant that status. There were a few problems. One scene that comes to mind is where one of the main characters "empties is gun" at the baddies and then moments later shoots one of them. How he did this with an empty gun is not explained. I assumed he picked up another weapon and used it but there is no explanation. There were other glitches like this. They didn't negatively impact my reading pleasure overall. It is still a good story and there is grist for the next book mill at the ending.
Dark Continent is actually the second book in a series but you don't need to read the first book to follow the story. The author provides enough background information so the reader can connect the dots. Even with the few inconsistencies, I will probably read the next book in this series.

Nice solid read. Action-packed story with good plotting and characterization. For readers who enjoy dark and moody novels.

My thanks to Aspen Press, Scott Reardon and Netgalley.
I haven't read the first book in this series, and I was afraid I'd be lost. I wasn't. Reading Mr. Reardons first book Prometheus man, or whatever, just isn't necessary. Believe me, if it was, if be gripping about it!
This story was the bomb diggity! I had a moment about 20% in where I thought to myself "what the hell?" I do sometimes find books that I find I cannot suspend all rational thought! This is one that I told myself, Lisa Noell, just remember you like zombies! That worked! The "subject's" were completely outrageous! It shouldn't have worked at all, but it did! It worked so well that I was actually feeling it! I never recommend book's to my g.r. friends, but...this is something that I know certain g.r. friends would like!
Besides the crazy stuff that goes down, the 2 main characters are people that you will love. As usual, I try to never talk about the "what." I'll just tell you go right now, that I was not even satisfied from the ending. Sure, maybe some are. I'm not! More please, Mr. Reardon!
This is one of those off kilter books that I would encourage all of my odd friends to read! I actually enjoyed the crap outta this story. Also, I'm looking for more of anything from this author! I very seldom say that...but, bring it on!

I have not read the initial novel that precedes this one.

Reardon portrays a horrifying resemblance of the near future filled with sadistic men and conspiracies galore. If I had to use two word to describe the book, they would be shocking and violent. The reality in the story is one that Reardon convinces you is possible and that could happen at any moment in our own reality.

The characters seemed flat for most of the story. It was disappointing how unoriginal Tom was. Karl and Kronin were the only two that held my attention and I feel more like Karl was the main character when he was not. I lacked the usual care for the characters that I normally have in most books with this one. The book moved so quickly I felt that the characters were often left behind.

The story moves at nonstop, breakneck speed. Chapters only last a couple of pages and the flow reminded me of World War Z. If you enjoy dark, (and I'm not kidding here with the dark) brooding, dystopian stories that show humanity at its worst, you will find an original and terrifying story with this book.

When I first started The Dark Continent I was instantly reminded of Justin Cronin’s The Passage Trilogy: homicidal convicts used for government funded scientific testing but instead of turning the men into vampire-like creatures, these convicts were turned into uber-soldiers. The leader of the convicts in The Dark Continent is named Kronin, which I presumed to be a compliment to Justin Cronin, but now I wonder if it was just a coincidence. The beginning grabbed me and I was in page-turning mode. Three different narratives, a deadly group of sci-fi warriors immune to pain and like to tear their victims apart, an escape off an oil rig, and a very detailed plan to destroy the United States.

It sounded good, it was good, and I was enjoying it until about 50% into the story. At this point, the narratives grew less detailed in telling their side of the story. The dialogue became more stilted, and forced. Events were rushed. More arms are torn off. More heads are crushed. Kronin seemed to know an awful lot about energy substations and military strategy than your regular run of the mill convict on Death Row. One of the characters dies in a horrific car crash/explosion and it merited a single paragraph with absolutely no emotion from the other characters, which really surprised me. And then there were the typos; they seemed to grow incrementally until the last quarter of the book was littered with them. And the number of grammatical errors made me wonder if an editor was even involved.


Apparently this is the second book in a series, but I had no problem diving right into The Dark Continent; it was trying to stay afloat throughout the entire book that was my problem.

A story told in two parts. The first segment deals with a U.S. government project to create perfect soldiers. These men will have many of their senses and bodily reaction times artificially enhanced to build an unbeatable warrior. Experiments to develop the soldier have not as yet been successful with the first creations all dying due to the chemical nature of the treatment applied. And, due to the failure of treatments to volunteers the experimenters have decided to use death row inmates as unwilling subjects of the treatment.
The second part of the novel begins when the ocean going platform used for the experiments is destroyed by a major storm. The incarcerated men, all in individual cells use the damage done by the storm to break out of their cells and begin attacks on mankind throughout the center of the United States. Two men are deemed perfect to take out the escaped prisoners. The first is Karl Lyons, a CIA operative and a character from the author's first book. The second is Tom Reese, a man that has undergone the experiment to enhance his talents and the only one that has survived it and is living a normal life accompanied by his girlfriend and lover.
The second section of the book is a series of almost superhuman actions by the escaped enhanced prisoners which result in massive destruction and wholesale slaughter of anyone standing in opposition to them. Their overall plan seems to be to take over the U.S. and it is apparent that they are almost unstoppable in their attempts to do so due to their enhanced physical capabilities. This section of the novel brings a series of extremely violent but well described killings of their perceived enemies by the now super warriors. The author uses graphic descriptions of tearing people literally into pieces. While these actions are meant to show what the enhanced soldiers are capable of they might not sit well with many readers who could very well be turned off by such horrific actions vividly described.
I am a firm believer in the use of literary license in writing a novel, but I must comment that this book stretches the boundaries of use of the technique. It does not inhibit the reader's ability to like the novel, but between the violence and the seeming ability of the enhanced individuals to take down armies of troops coming at them with all the modern weapons possible at their disposal does require more than the normal stretch of imagination.

Entertaining book with lots going on. Lots and lots of action keeps this book going. Part of a series, but books don't need to be read in order, which was nice because I read this one before I knew about the other.

WOW! This book just blows me away. I knew that it was number 2 in a series, but its a stand alone title on its own.
The government "enhanced" death row inmates...for what reason? Not sure. But it was fascinating to read.
Then they go rogue and break out of their prison...an oil rig.

They want to damage the country...for what reason...no sure...to cause anarchy?

But they have not counted on Tom....another enhanced individual that still has a soul.

The author does a great job at moving the plot along. The characters were a little wooden, but not enough for me to put down the book.

However, some of the story needed a little work...what happened to the lady doctor? Will that be covered in book 3?
Why did Kronin want chaos? Why did some of the enhanced death row inmates have violent seizures and die (2 of them died this way) and the rest didn't?
In the end, it has the beginning of a great story, but there was some plot holes.

Overall I would say this book is 3.5 stars.

When I got this book from Netgalley, I didn't know this book was a second in a series. At the beginning of the books, the author mentions you can read this book without reading the first of the series. However, the first 30% of this book referenced Prometheus and it was a little confusing to know what was happening since it was more or less a continuation of that book. Thus I would rate the first 30% as 2 stars.

The rest of the book is crazy different than the beginning. Once the death row test subjects get off of the Alaskan rig, the apocalypse begins. The test subjects decide to destroy the United States along with killing anyone that gets in their way. The way they take it down is by destroying all the substations leaving the country with no power. I love a good apocalypse book with some insane gore. I rated this section 4 stars.

The end was not my favorite since the book wasn't wrapped up with a nice bow. It is left with a hanger, which means you will have to read book three in the series. Boo.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC!

My review was posted to my Goodreads account.

I really wasn't sure about this book because it started out with a lot of action and violence. I kept reading and yes, there was more violence, but I got caught up with the characters and the story line. Non stop action and not the ending I thought I would find. It was good.

I was hoping this would be REAL creepy, and it definitely delivered.

The first part is Jason Bourne, horror-movie style. The second part is a gory manhunt through the post-apocalypse that reminded me almost of zombie fiction, even though there were no zombies. The only part that left me unsatisfied was that there seemed to be some kind of deeper point to Kronin's musing and Tom's inner struggle, and I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Although quite gory and brutal, I found this to be readable and enthralling. Government research involving stem cells to create super soldiers inevitably goes wrong. Characters are well defined and likable, so all in all a pretty good read, except as stated above a lot of brutality.

I thank Aspen Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Dark Continent in exchange for an honest review.
I haven't read the preceding title, The Prometheus Man, as I was assured it was not necessary for understanding and enjoying The Dark Continent. I agree with that statement. I read a fair number of thrillers dealing with science run amok, corruption in high places, and stalwart individuals bucking the odds. The novel started off like many others in the genre, but quickly forged its own identity in characterizations and situations. Then, in the second part, we see the whys and wherefores of its title and the true focus of the book. (Most thrillers would have stayed on the oil rig, resolving the central conflict there.) I enjoyed Scott Reardon's rather matter-of-fact descriptions of horrible acts and momentous events. (You know, "Did I just read that?") Well done!