This is the sequel to The Coming Darkness and sees the return of previous hero Alexander Lamarque
‘He had known from the very first that what they shouThis is the sequel to The Coming Darkness and sees the return of previous hero Alexander Lamarque
‘He had known from the very first that what they should all fear was Darkness.’
Alex is hailed as a hero, the man who saved the world. We are in a broiling dystopian future, with Lamarque having promised to mop up the remnants of the conspiracy that ended in the coming darkness. Where others see success, he sees threat but with his new found celebrity, his life is leaking into the public domain and he wants to exile himself from that.
‘In the 2030’s the two degrees of average global temperature rise thought to be manageable are anything but that.’
This book makes you feel on edge throughout and I LOVED it! It’s not just the action, which twists and turns and ratchets up the tension as you read but it’s the climate aspect, set in 2037, it shows us a world I don’t recognise, not just the technology but the effects of climate change and this is the scariest part of the book.
‘Could the new web videos promising a ‘Coming Storm’ indicate that some kind of controlling intelligence persisted, more potent even than the dead traitor?’
As well as Alex, we also follow Mariam and Amaury who were with him in the first book. Each have their own story arc and part to play and Mosse threads their stories together with ease.
‘This was, perhaps, the last moment of quiet at the eye of the coming storm.’
I could feel my pulse rising as I read, as the full horror of what was unfolding I read faster and faster, all coming together in a chilling and thrilling climax! I cannot wait for the next book already!...more
Paris 2037, Alexander Lamarque of the French external security service is searching for eco- terrorists. He has learneThe Coming Darkness - Greg Mosse
Paris 2037, Alexander Lamarque of the French external security service is searching for eco- terrorists. He has learned to trust no-one, not his lover, Mariam or his old mentor Professor Reynard. He follows a trail of child murders, a coup in North Africa and extraction of its leader under fire, a sequence of events including his mothers infection with a novel virus which ominously threaten to spiral out of control. Whilst always at the edge of his vision is The Coming Darkness, someone wants to destabilise the controls that protect the world from climate change and Alex may be the one man to prevent chaos and destruction taking over.
A dystopian future comes knocking and it’s a bit scary. This book made me feel on edge with Covid and the Climate Emergency it seems it could become our reality. Quietly seething with tension which builds through the book, it is dark and astoundingly bleak. Alex is troubled, there are so many secrets, it felt like a twilight darkening world, each event taking us spiralling further toward the centre of a dark web. This is next level Tinker Tailor crossed with the Night Manager, addictive, brutal and oh so good!
‘I don’t mean that I have no sense of the future. I mean I see ‘a nothing.’ An absence. A vast loss.’
I didn’t know who to trust, even Alex himself, Mosse cleverly manipulates the reader into seeing one thing only to blindside you the next with a truth. This is a dark and brooding dystopian thriller with intelligent and complex characters. Add a twisting plot which gathers pace and we have a truly chilling and fantastically executed novel with a superb ending!...more
‘Sweet good natured ten year old boys became men, and men couldn’t be trusted.’
Men are under curfew, tagged and not allowed ouAfter Dark - Jayne Cowie
‘Sweet good natured ten year old boys became men, and men couldn’t be trusted.’
Men are under curfew, tagged and not allowed out after 7pm. Women are safe, women are free, women hold the power, no longer afraid to go out after dark. The world has been changed. A woman is murdered late at night, but how could it be a man when a tag is a solid alibi? Isn’t it?
Wow! This book just totally turned my world on its head. The way we live and how we think. I was gripped from the first, chilling, thought provoking and uncomfortable to read, but utterly brilliant and compelling!
It feels near future, a bit dystopian in nature, everyone has a ‘slate’ which your whole life is on, it’s frankly terrifying and although it is set in the UK in my head I was in the USA, not sure why - probably because of the Handmaids Tale vibes. The women’s POV’s in this book are all at different times in their lives and we see their responses to the curfew, moulded by their experiences, the effect on the men in their lives and the changes it brings to their futures. It is twisty, unnerving and tested my opinions, some of which changed as I read this.
It threw up a lot of interesting issues and I had some really good chats with my husband about this and a ‘what if’ scenario as if this were to happen!
A brilliant read which I really enjoyed and tested my comfort levels for sure!
✩✩✩✩
Thanks to Laura at Cornerstone, Penguin and Jayne Cowie for my copy of this book and spot on the tour...more
This is simply one of the best books I have read this year. It was not what I expected but I absolutely loved it.
We meet RutThe Stranding- Kate Sawyer
This is simply one of the best books I have read this year. It was not what I expected but I absolutely loved it.
We meet Ruth and Nik, two strangers stranded on a beach in new Zealand, with nothing and no-one except a beached whale, which dies in front of them. There has been a global apocalyptic event that has annihilated Europe with destruction on a scale never witnessed before. They manage to survive with the whale as their protector and so begins their story of strength, survival, grief and love. It is written from two timelines Before and After. We turn back to Ruth’s life Before and the choices she made that led her to NZ and her survival contrasting with the After and how they build a relationship and survive.
This story is just so vivid and spellbinding. In the beginning of the After I felt as raw, confused and sad as Ruth. I could feel the white noise in my ears as I was reading, in the aftermath of the end of the world all white, burnt and radioactive. It was quite frightening and thought provoking. I thought the use of the Whale as their protector was genius - a large, imposing, gentle creature and symbolic of the dying world. Using this animal was very poignant to how we are treating our planet now and was a klaxon sounding as I read.
The contrast between Before and After is striking and has a cut glass clarity to it which I loved. It really showed how ‘head in the sand’ people can be and that all our choices have consequences. It was difficult to read the Before alongside, as although we are aware of the After, it still created a panicky sense for me to find out how we got to there.
I loved the characters and how they developed over time. Ruth grew into herself, quite selfish at the beginning, angry yet fragile. But became a very strong woman, I think initially surprised at her own capabilities, I really felt quite connected to her. I felt like I settled into a gentle rhythm reading this, living with them as they build a new life, the simplicity of living, shelter, food, birth - the natural cycle really spoke to me. A return to original people, hunting and gathering, the innate instinct to survive and the joy of oral storytelling - this I really loved, sharing joyful moments and what it is to be human.
This was an entrancing story, showing the real fragility of our planet but the strength that can be found in the darkness moments. A powerful tale of love, loss and survival. An absolute must read!
‘Power doesn’t care who uses it’ • I picked up The Power by Naomi Alderson second hand as I felt I should read more women writers and the cover was so s‘Power doesn’t care who uses it’ • I picked up The Power by Naomi Alderson second hand as I felt I should read more women writers and the cover was so striking and Constructivist inspired. • It is the story of what the world might be like if women had the power in every sense of the word. It is set as a historical novel from years in the future looking back and questioning how women have come to dominate. Girls initially discover that they have electrical power and can touch, control and kill with this and awaken it it older women. Society is turned on it’s head as men realise that have lost control. It follows 3 women and 1 man and how they find, develop and adapt to Power through global revolution, religion, drug smuggling, love and a very differently imagined future to our own. • The Power for me is an outstanding novel. It really threw up some uncomfortable truths about power, influence, greed and how cruel humans really can be. It was thought provoking and difficult at times to read with graphic descriptions of murder and rape which were quite disturbing. I have quite strong feministic tendencies and it made me question some of my own assumptions and that some of the things happening to the men in this book still happen to women today. • Overall a gripping, twisting, dystopian page turner, very absorbing and thought provoking and I would highly recommend.⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️...more
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