In The Dark Net paranormal technology meets an evil-fighting squad. The book is about unlikely characters coming together to fight evil. This evil comes in the form of technological threats as well as supernatural demons. Yep. I imagined the story would be completely different based on the description of the book, I thought it would be more of a technological thriller like Digital Fortress by Dan Brown but is more like a horror-fantasy book from Stephen King. The book is narrated from differen...

Let's talk about truth in advertising.When I first looked at the title, It seemed pretty self-explanatory. The Dark Net. I am quite aware of what the Dark Net means in relation to the internet. The blurb at the back of the book didn't sway me any other way. My expectation was one of a William Gibson influenced tech thriller mixing the perils of cyber culture with the terrors of the supernatural. Now THAT would be a novel!It was not meant to be. Whenever a disappointment like this happens, I am w...

I wouldn't call this terrifying, but it was very good entertainment. A good mash up of techno thriller and supernatural thriller with a nod to zombie novels. Dryly humorous in it's knowing use of horror and comic books narrative structures. Glad to have stepped outside my comfort zone to read this one.

Silly me, I thought this was supposed to be about the dark net.2.5

Book reviewed by Stacey on www.whisperingstories.comThe Dark Net was one of those books that I read the synopsis and was eager to read. Unfortunately, I got the book at the same time as I was reading another book to do with the cyber world and had to wait until I’d finished that one before I could start this one. I didn’t want to get the two muddled up.Upon starting, I quickly realised that I wasn’t going to fly through it like I thought I would. I read the first two chapters twice as I found my...

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.A modern take on the classic demon / horror / apocalypse story.So, I went merrily diving into this book, expecting it to be a thriller about the more sinister side of the Internet. Not so! In fact, it's a horror story, filled with nasty demons, satanic rituals, and plenty of blood and guts. Not my usual thing - but why not, I thought? Let's give it a go.For the most part, this was an entertaining read. Hannah is a tw...

This is a book that turned out to be different from what I expected it to be, it is more fantasy and horror than a straight forward technological read. Set in Portland, Oregon, Lela is a luddite workaholic reporter, with a remarkable dog, Hemingway, writing for The Oregonian, always looking for that exclusive story with the help of Josh. Her niece, 12 year old Hannah is blind but finds herself fitted with The Mirage, a trial experimental device that allows her to see, and gives her the gift of s...

In the future the fight between good and evil will be over the internet. Demons will lurk there in order to capture your soul. This is the entertaining premise of the latest novel by Benjamin Percy . The author has also written for DC Comics in the past and he uses that experience to good effect in the description of his larger than life characters. I loved all of them ,Cloven in particular. What a nasty, creepy and evil piece of work. A slim novel but a big book ! You'll see what I mean when th...

“The Dark Net” is not the book that I was expecting it to be. In some cases, that would be a bad thing. In the case of Benjamin Percy’s latest novel, it is decidedly not. Without giving away too many about the novel or the directions Percy takes his story, I’ll just say this: “The Dark Net” is not as straightforward as the book’s synopsis would have you guess. There’s a lot more here – both narratively and thematically – that one might expect from Percy, who in novels like “Red Moon” and “The De...

This book was okay. The entire book reads like a movie but I found it really hard to connect with the characters. I felt nothing for them so when a few of them died I just didn't care TBH.I loved the gore though. The book did creep me out a couple times but I kept losing track of what was happening. Maybe it's because the entire book reads the same way. I felt that there was no buildup to a scene and no change of pace everytime something creepy happened. Which is why it took me a month to finish...

I really think that the synopsis for this book is not up to scratch! Although, yes, the synopsis is what initially drew me to this book, after reading it I can say that the book is WAY better than the synopsis would make you believe!This book tackles the subject of good and evil, with references to demons and black magic… which I didn’t get at all from the synopsis! I was expecting this to have a much deeper involvement with the dark net, what’s on it and how it’s used. While yes, there is t...

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.Whoever wrote the synopsis for this novel may have done it a disservice as it was not what I expected. Within the first half there is a paragraph or two that has a cyberpunk flavor and seems to follow said synopsis, but on the whole the first half of this novel is dominated by more traditional Percy plot devices. In other words good old fashioned supernatural elements with a hint of creepiness.Percy having matured and mastered his

I don’t usually read horror. This was horror with a technological bent. I couldn’t take it seriously but I did enjoy it.

Reading this book was like riding a somewhat shoddy rollercoaster. You get on, and at first it's exciting, but after a while you realise it's similar to one you rode a while ago, and that one wasn't very good. Then you decide that, since you can't get off the thing, you may as well try to enjoy it anyway. And in the end, although it's not a great experience, you have to admit that you had a certain amount of fun.The Dark Net reminded me why I usually avoid this type of lurid fantasy-horror: to m...

Ask someone in Portland where the Hadal District is, they’ll look at you funny, say they don’t know. Every city has a place like this. A place unmapped. A place where the GPS goes dark. A place people don’t go, except by accident, and then they’ll drive fast to escape it.Horror is not one of my favourite genres, and The Dark Net is unlikely to satisfy those who crave it; the chill-factor here is low and unlikely to rob anyone of sleep. It tell of an ancient war of dark forces, named “Shadow Peop...

The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy is an imaginative, fast paced, paranoia fueled ride! Mr. Percy jumps right in at page one. He knits together a mish-mash band of characters to save the world. A do-or-die for the story kind of reporter, a 12 year old blind girl, a man on his second life, and a woman who has lived hundreds of lives all come together to fight the big bad. An evil so dark and deep it will give you the willies. The violence is gory and brutal, but also rather cold and detached. We are

Living on Mockingbird Lane in a haunted neighborhood, it is safe to say I am not easily scared. There was the time I heard a tap, tap, tapping in the wall of my house. I tore open the wall to discover the grinning skeleton of a walled-in construction worker--yawn. There was the time I took my date to Inspiration-Point and when I returned home I discovered the bloody hook from an escaped maniac’s hand dangling from the car door—ho-hum. And yet another time I was babysitting the Baumann twins when...

Cleverly horrific. Full review to follow in a featured post near to publication.

Boy I really really wanted to like this book. There were a couple reasons for this. For one thing, I really enjoyed the interview with the author on the "This is Horror" Podcast. I found Percy to have lots of interesting takes on writing and the plot to this novel sounded interesting. I thought the concept was one that could be really cool. The fact that it was set in Portland a city I miss didn't hurt either. I WANTED to like this book, and yet I didn't. Now there are levels to disliking a book...