Sunfail

September 28, 2015
In this scary conspiracy thriller from British Fantasy Award–winner Savile (London Macabre), entire cities lose power, birds fall from the air in massive numbers, and dogs go feral and turn Manhattan into “Dogland.” Ex-soldier Jacob Carter doesn’t have a clue what’s behind the chaos, but he follows an armed man into a deserted New York Stock Exchange in time to witness bizarre electronic tampering and murder. From Paris, Sophie Keane, a former comrade of Jacob’s and one of the few who does know what’s happening, leaves Jacob a puzzling message before heading to London. A mysterious group known as the Watchers (aka the Hidden) is pulling the strings behind a carefully and ruthlessly orchestrated series of calamities, and Sophie and Jacob try to cut them. The plot, which includes people bearing ancient Mayan names and a fantastic archeological discovery, may be too over-the-top for some, but others will appreciate what amounts to a clever, if uneven, sociological screed.

September 1, 2015
Poor New York: the power is out, the sun is failing, birds are dropping from the sky, and dogs are running wild. And then there are those mysterious terrorists who have targeted Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton. Armed but alone, subway worker Jake Carter, a Special Forces veteran, hustles around town trying to decipher signs of imminent doom. "Something is about to happen," his ex-girlfriend Sophie calls from Paris to tell him. He hasn't heard from her since she left him more than 10 years ago, after their time together in Afghanistan. An intelligence gatherer for a powerful shadow organization she just quit, Sophie is on the run from an assassin she trained. Corpses abound, including those who dropped dead when their pacemakers stopped, but for all we hear about the Watchers and the Hidden, self-proclaimed warriors and a dark conspiracy that is out to "write the history of the world," we encounter few people other than the protagonists. And there's a lot more talk about the terrible things that are going to happen than actual incident. The writing is breezy, with plentiful pop-culture references (rest assured someone will hum R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It"), but this kind of sketchy scenario seems better suited for one of the atmospheric TV series for which Savile has written (including Torchwood and Doctor Who) than a novel. A hip style exercise that should satisfy his followers, the prolific Savile's latest apocalyptic thriller is too thinly drawn to make many new fans.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2015
In the frighteningly realistic world of Sunfail, a shift in the polar magnetic fields is wreaking havoc on civilization. Birds are falling from the sky; wild dogs are roaming the streets; and sunlight is weakening. As people are trying to cope with the disaster, a series of perfectly timed terrorist strikes has also begun. Did someone know what was coming and are he or she using it to their advantage. Enter Jake Quinn, former Special Forces operative, current transit electrician, and overall hero, who takes it upon himself to figure out what is going on and eventually to unveil a long-developing conspiracy orchestrated by the world's most powerful people. But can one man and his cobbled-together band of experts save us all? With fast-paced action, awesome fight scenes (one between two brilliant female assassins is particularly well done), relatable heroes, and just the right balance between intrigue and plot twists, Sunfail is a fun and exciting read with a wide appeal perfect for fans of complex series heroes like Jack Reacher and Joe Ledger, with a dash of Dan Brown sensibility.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)