Blackout
When the lights go out one night, no one panics. Not yet. The lights always come back on soon, don't they? Surely it's a glitch, a storm, a malfunction. But something seems strange about this night. Across Europe, controllers watch in disbelief as electrical grids collapse. There is no power, anywhere. A former hacker and activist, Piero investigates a possible cause of the disaster. The authorities don't believe him, and he soon becomes a prime suspect himself. With the United States now also at risk, Piero goes on the run with Lauren Shannon, a young American CNN reporter based in Paris, desperate to uncover who is behind the attacks. After all, the power doesn't just keep the lights on--it keeps us alive.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
9mentions
9people
2016–2025years
44% recommend56% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- My favorite reads of the year:
- Futu.re by Dmitry Glukhovsky (author of Metro 2033 series). Interesting take of how life would look like if humans became immortal.
- Blackout by Marc Elsberg. A semi-realistic depiction of a 2-week long blackout in Europe caused by a terrorist attack.
- Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larson. Murder mystery in Sweden. Really enjoyed the setting.
- The "Blackout" novel comes to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(Elsberg_novel)
- I'll just drop this book recommendation here, which I found to be an interesting read during this pandemic: Blackout: Tomorrow Will Be Too Late (2012) Marc Elsberg
- There is a great book with this exact topic called „Blackout“ by Marc Elsberg. Highly recommend!
Edit: Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FCQLSPC
- Anyone read Blackout[1]? So it begins. Both countries completed (or almost completed) their smart meter rollout…
- A book painting such a picture is "Black Out" by Marc Elsberg ([1], [2]). I can wholeheartedly recommend it, as it points a pretty scary, yet plausible scenario and is a proper thriller as well.
Its plot takes mainly place in Germany, so it's written with a Europe-centric view and I'm not sure how well that translates to the US. However when looking at the brittle electric grid in parts of the US, I believe such attacks could be even worse there.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(Elsberg_novel) [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Blackout-heart-stopping-techno-thrill...)
