Terrorism has become one of the most frightening forms of attack the bad guys can deliver. No innocent is immune, no country in the world safe, and the ability to foresee and intercept these horrific acts is
limited. So what happens if the entire world population can be wiped out due to our dependence on oil and our inability to survive without the complex intricacies of technology?
Erin Neal is the world’s greatest mind in the prevention and correction of oil field catastrophes. He uses complicated concoctions of various bacteria to counteract whatever issue
plagues the problem oil field - but his creations could be turned into terrorist weapons against the oil industry.
Erin is still angry and grieving the death of his extreme environmentalist girlfriend, Jenna. The circumstances of her death and of those with her
remain shrouded in mystery, and none of the remains has ever been found. When oil fields in Alaska and the Saudi Desert
start crashing from a serious and non-treatable bacterium, Erin begins to question where such a destructive and civilization-dooming
tool could have originated.
Erin finally admits to the fact that this bacterium was handmade, hand-delivered, and obviously
deployed in an act of terrorism meant to destroy the whole world at a single
stroke. The real problem is that he is the sole creator of this strain of bacteria, and
that he only ever told one other person about it: Jenna.
The race for civilization’s survival is on. The last, and most deadly, infestation is only days away from being executed by extreme environmentalists craving not only world destruction but world power. The world can never be the same regardless, but preventing this terrorist act is the
only way to assure mankind's continued existence.
Kyle Mills avoids the pitfalls that most large-scale thriller writers succumb to. He has a scientifically complex plot, but he
simplifies it for consumption by the average Joe. His characters are interesting, and there some
humor provides islands of relief from the Armageddon-type doom set upon his characters' fictional world.
The most terrifying aspect of this novel is how realistic it is. With terrorist acts
occurring relentlessly around the world, how long will it take for any one extreme group to target the one natural resource
on which the entire world has become so dependent? The novel details the fantastic
extremes of our oil dependence: heating, air conditioning, imports/exports, pharmaceuticals, refrigeration, transportation, wiring, etc.
Were that resource destroyed, the number of people who would die from starvation, cold, disease, and other relentless consequences
is unfathomable.
If only to see and understand the potential devastation of terrorist acts and
our over-reliance on oil, I recommend this book. While Darkness Falls is only an act of fiction, it is an eye-opening one.
How much - or little - would it take for a radical group to make it a reality?
Highly recommended to readers looking for a great large-scale thriller.