Julie, Readers’ Services Coordinator for the County of Lennox & Addington Libraries, recently enjoyed a new thriller that looks at what would happen if a large scale blackout occurred.

“In these dog days of summer brown outs are all too common and even the occasional blackout,” says Julie. “In August of 2003, on a hot summer day the power went out across Ontario and much of the Eastern Seaboard affecting the population from hours to days in some places. Imagine if a blackout happened for Europe in the dead of winter -- Marc Elsberg’s book Blackout does just this.”

Blackout will have the reader racing to the end of the book to find out if the saboteurs will win in their attempt to destabilize the world.

“When the power goes off across Europe, at first controllers think it is a temporary glitch in the system. As outages continues they are baffled by the cause but then a hacker realizes that the blackout was actually not a fluke but caused deliberately. When he goes to the authorities with his findings, they are unsure of whether he can be trusted. With the help of a CNN reporter he goes in search of the culprits so he can prove his innocence before more of the world descends into darkness.”

“This book will have the reader going down many different paths,” she says. “From the cat and mouse game being played by the hacker and the saboteurs, the cover up by the power company who does not want to lose face with the public, and government and intelligence agencies filtering what they know to prevent mass hysteria with the public as well as their own personal families. It also did a very good job of showing how society takes for granted our basic needs of food and warmth and how quickly things break down and the domino effect that occurs when these needs are not met.”

Blackout will have the reader racing to the end of the book to find out if the saboteurs will win in their attempt to destabilize the world,” Julie concludes. “I was racing to finish it not just to find out the outcome, but also because I did not want to have my battery die in my e-reader. You never know if you will have the capability to charge it if the lights go out!”

You can reserve your copy of Blackout by Marc Elsberg in print or e-book formats at your branch of the County of L&A Libraries or online here.