Very well researched, and the story moves quickly. There's no shying away from the harsh realities of collapsed social order and government services. I was also really glad to read a story like this from the European perspective, given so many such stories set primarily in the U.S. I was also really glad to read a story about the process of collapse when so many stories just skip from the precipitating event to several months or years later. Well done.

If you want to know about how energy is produced and distributed worldwide, this novel will offer a fascinating insight into that world. It's complex but is well explained here---if a bit repetitiously. Overall, an interesting thriller. Loved all the details on energy production and distribution. A look into that world that is well handled. The characters are OK, the plot fun but filled with a lot of moving around and talking about things happening but sparse on actual action. And a few of the path-crossings and escapes are somewhat implausible. But overall I enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Marc Ellsberg for this copy of Blackout. This book was so terrifying that I was only able to read it in small chunks, although I wanted to stay up all night reading it. It really made me stop and think that a terrorist act like that could actually happen,and how extensive and far reaching the results would be. During much of the book I was near tears, and in shock that something like this could be real. It's been a long time since I was so affected by fiction.

This was not my "usual" type book at all but I have to say, it sucked me in and held my attention. I had a little bit of a hard time keeping the names/people straight but the story line was intense and fast paced and really made you think what if....

This novel felt compelling at first; however, I had a difficult time staying interested in the characters and the story line. Perhaps I have read too many disaster/dystopian type novels in the past year. Although I have travelled in Europe, I still found that the constant changing of locale was off-putting, but perhaps that was because the novel jumped to so many foreign (to me) places. I did find that the writing was top notch and had no issues with the translation.

An electrifying thriller. Originally published in German in 2012, this translation flows flawlessly in English.

Power grids fail across most of Europe's interconnected power grids. One lone Italian IT specialist, Piero Manzano, a good guy hacker, has figured out the initial source but can't get anyone to listen to him. Determined to reach Europol head, Francois Bollard in Hague Netherlands, Manzano joins up with a US reporter to cross countries and borders as civilization returns to survival instincts when food and water run out and the darkness continues for weeks.

Fast paced and very intense. The race to get the power back on before anarchy reigns is very realistic. This book reinforces my stance on nuclear power as not being safe because of spent fuel rods.

What would happen if a group of terrorists orchestrated a successful strike at the technology that operates all electric or nuclear power sources in Europe, causing its power grid to crash? That is the premise of Blackout, and frankly, this book is almost terrifying to read because you realize that such a scenario (maybe not on such a large scale) might just be plausible. Elsberg very deftly goes from the blackout to the horrifying consequences that can be the result of just a few days without power -- and that is just the beginning of this story full of disasters and twists that result in a book that is hard to put down. Can Piero Manzano, a former hacker who has offered his assistance (but is also seen as a potential suspect because of his background and skills), gain the affected nations' trust and find out what's behind the attacks before all of the affected areas become ground zero?

I recommend this book because it really drives home the point of how reliant we are on computers and electricity, and the disastrous consequences of a long-term outage. Are you prepared?

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was originally published in Germany 2012. This book is about cyber attacks on the electric grid in Europe then ultimately the rest of the world. There was a lot of information and a
tmi times it was confusing. For me it was a slow read and that is mainly due to the amount of technical Information. This book is great for conspiracy There were aspect I found very interesting.

The premise was good and scary. There were just too many characters - I felt that many were superfluous to the main story.

I didn't expect this to be as good as it was but found myself unable to put it down. To begin with, it's scary as to how likely we are to see an event like this in our lifetime and it's frighteningly accurate as to how it will all unfold. (though I suspect people will get violent faster).

Do yourself a favor and grab a copy...definitely worth a read.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read this book.

This story was equally chilling and thrilling, it made me think what would I do if I lost all power for days or even weeks. Would there be enough food, how would I find clean water, what about prescription medications?

In this very plausible story hackers methodically plan out the perfect way to destroy the world, take away all the power. And cripple any facilities from starting back up, nuclear power plants start to overheat and explode, it is truly terrifying in it's genius.

The story is told by several people around Europe, the primary character is a former hacker living in Italy that notices a strange code on his power meter. After the power is lost the story continues from there.

I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it for anyone who likes a good thriller.

Marc Elsberg’s novel, “Blackout,” is a must read. It’s timely and accurate in depicting what happens when the power goes off everywhere. The fear of a terrorist attack on the world’s power grids is palpable in all of us and it could be a real possibility.

The author’s diligent research makes his story resonate and shake our innards with its realism. At best, most of us can only guess at all the horrendous circumstances that a blackout would bring to our existence. Elsberg goes deeper than that. He explores the impact on our lives by probing our inner revulsion at death and the unpleasantness that accompanies it. He graphically describes the sensory impacts of sight, smell, feel, and bodily discomfort that accompany compaction with the injured and dying. The loss of social interaction is heartrending. Everyone suffers in the darkness and the will to live fades away. Even those charged with finding solutions discover their mental skills frittering away.

This is Elsberg’s debut novel and he displays an interesting writing technique. The book is mostly snippets of the action taken by the many characters, sometimes a confusing style if improperly applied. But the author’s overall theme of global discomfort is so unsettling it forces the reader to pay attention to the details. Frustration leads to short tempers and progress is slow, but the reader feels the need to keep up with the story.

The first half of the book outlines the many problems that arise in a world without power. The second half presents the gradual successes as they are achieved, including the capture of some of the perpetrators. But it isn’t over yet. As small comforts return to bedraggled citizens it becomes evident that another attack will probably bring the darkness again.

I learned a lot about our fragile network of power grids. There are also riveting discussions of terrorists, their targets, and their methods. I consider this a great book, very informative, and spellbinding in its premise.

In Blackout, insidiously and then in an escalating manner, most of Europe and then the US literally goes black, as one after another, like a cascading domino sequence, the world's power grids inextricably fail. In the scenario presented by Marc Elsberg in this fascinating and terrifying thriller, power grids around the world are linked, not independent entities, sharing power when needs in one part of the world are greater than others, and when surplus power in another country is available. I have not researched this, but it has the ring of truth.

Marco Piero, a charming Italian and hacker for hire, is recruited to help solve the mystery. In the process, he and an intrepid , young, female CNN reporter travel around Europe trying to figure out what's happened. Without giving away much more, when Piero discovers a bug (to put it mildly) in the computer code that runs this complex system of interconnected power grids, the chase is on, and frightening adventures ensue. Meanwhile, heads of state watch in horror as nuclear power plants reach critical boiling points and untold numbers of people and animals - livestock, zoo animals, family pets - die of thirst, starvation, and disease.

I don't usually read this kind of thriller but I am glad I read this one. It is well-written, suspenseful, full of twists and turns, and the characters are believable. Blackout provides a terrifying glimpse into something that is all too real, and definitely within the realm of possible.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post a favorable review.

Sorry, but I don't think I am the one to review this book as I didn't finish. I made it 20% of the way through, but couldn't continue. Nothing is happening! The lights are off! People are cold. So far, there has been nothing interesting, the technical jargon was putting me to sleep, and the last conversation was so juvenile (between Tedesci and Livasco) I decided to stop reading.

Imagine a world were terrorists take down electricity...terrifying! Mananzos hacker skills come in handy when teying to put the world to right again Good book, although sometimes a little hard to keep up with so much going on. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Good story and decent read. I had to stop trying to remember all the characters (many) and just focus on the story before I started enjoying the book. Once that was done I enjoyed the book.

As a novel Blackout has problems (moves from one city to another with minor characters who may or may not appear more than once), *but* as a prediction of what might happen if the electric grid failed across most of Western Europe--as a detailed conjecture of the domino effect on the infrastructure--Marc Elsberg has created a frightening scenario of how society might fall apart if the lights go out.

I've read other books about the immediate and long-term effects that would result with the loss of the electric grid; our current concept of life could so easily be completely altered by an EMP, an intense solar super storm, or a cyber attack on the electric grid. Everything from communication, to transportation, to the food supply, to sanitation, to medical services--depend directly or indirectly on electricity.

Blackout begins with an auto accident in Italy when a blackout cuts all traffic lights. The main character Pietro Manzano is injured, but in comparison to at least one other victim of the accident, Pietro injuries are minor. At the time, everyone believes the blackout is temporary, a huge inconvenience, but temporary--at worst, a day or so.

Before long, however, disturbing news begins to flow in (while communication is still possible)--Italy is not the only country to experience the loss of electricity, all of Western Europe is under attack. The source and purpose of the attack may not be clear, but unless something can be done to halt the damage, the end result can be hypothesized. Countries from Norway to Spain scramble to get their grids back online before it is too late.

Hospitals are almost immediately overrun with accident victims, surgeries and treatments are suspended or carried out under primitive conditions as generators fail from lack of fuel; food supplies that need to be kept cooled spoil rapidly; large dairy farms that depend on automatic milking systems see animals die in pain from infections in their udders; pumps don't work at gas stations--problems and connections multiply and expand.

Perhaps most frightening is the inability to keep nuclear fuel rods cooled. One failure of a nuclear plant is dreadful, but how many nuclear plants are there in Europe where the novel takes place?

Yikes! Glad this was a novel!

Source 2011-- nuclear power plants in Europe


In 2015, I read Ted Koppel's nonfiction Lights Out which looks at some of the consequences of a failure in the electric grid in the U.S. It was a fascinating, informative book, but pretty discouraging. The world's dependence on electricity is so thoroughly embedded that a large scale failure of the grid would be devastating.

Meandering on--why do so many of us love post-apocalyptic (from a named or unnamed event) and dystopian novels? Even zombie novels reflect our fear of a catastrophe that wipes out most of civilization and of man's determination to destroy himself one way or another--through war or environmental damage or political/religious fundamentalism.

Back on point. Blackout was published in Germany in 2012 and the translation is now making the rounds in the U.S. While I thought the novel could have been better, Elberg's vision of the chain reactions that would result in the event of an electric grid failure of even short duration will make you realize how fragile our civilization is. And I think that was his point.

Read in April. Review scheduled for May.

NetGalley/Sourcebooks

Techno-thriller. June 6, 2017. Print length: 450 pages.

"To borrow a phrase from Britain’s MI5: ‘We’re four meals away from anarchy.’"

This look at a very possible future disaster was first published in Germany in 2012. Translated by Marshall Yarbrough, it will soon be available in English, at least in the U.S.

Many long years in the planning, terrorists hack into the vast electrical supply system, starting in Europe, and the electrical supply grids across Europe fail, leaving millions of people without electricity. And without electricity, you don't have lights, heat (oh, and this is in the freezing temperatures of winter), water, food supplies, fuel, medicine, hospitals, the means to cool down nuclear reactors. Basically, the affected populations are thrown back centuries - without even the survival skills our ancestors had to live.

One man, Italian Piero Manzano, who is a former activist/hacker, works with Lauren Shannon, a CNN camera woman who has been working out of their Paris, France office, on trying to find answers to turn this mega disaster around.

Meanwhile, the attack is pervasive and soon hits areas outside of Europe. And multi government law enforcement, military and political agencies work together on crisis management and to stop the terrorists.

The story is told in short entries, skipping from city to city and country to country across Europe. I didn't mind this method of storytelling but I did feel the book was a bit repetitive and could have been quite a bit tightened up.

It is scary and it feels like it could actually happen. The author is able to impart to his readers the sense of urgency in fixing this catastrophe and the long-lasting effects, even when fixed.

I received this book from Sourcebooks Landmark through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Great read from start to finish. Having been in Computers for many years I found the section where the author explained a few inconsistencies especially gratifying. Thanks

>pdf will not transfer to Kindle hence I was not able to read or review this title