"You want to look like a normal person, act like a normal person"
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Total Blackout follows SIS British agent Jack Tate as he holidays in Camden, Maine, USA. During his time abroad, an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) attack is launched on the USA, plunging the country into darkness. With no communication with other countries possible, and anything relying on even a modicum of electricity required nonfunctional, Tate must find out who launched the attack, and stop them.
For me personally, this thriller took a little while to get into. The start seemed slow, jumpy, and a bit confusing due to the amount of information given in the first couple of chapters. It took me a little while to warm to Jack Tate, but, by about a third of the way through I did find him very lovable, and enjoyed his development throughout the story.
I also really liked the plot of this book. It's very interesting (although complex), and, due to the story being fast-paced, the book drives itself along. I liked the writing, I think it was appropriate for the story, and was the right amount of descriptive for the duration of the book.
I will say that I think there are too many characters in this, especially as some are introduced anonymously at first meet, and then reintroduced properly later in the story. This made some of the scenes very hard for me to follow, and I had to stop and remind myself of who people were before I could continue.
The violence and deaths that happen throughout (and there is a lot) are graphic and descriptive, so it might be one to avoid if you don't like that sort of thing! It really is a brutally illustrative violent thriller, and that definitely put me off in some places - it often felt like the focus was on the action and not on the plot line, sometimes at the detriment of exploring the latter in more detail.
Overall a solid thriller, but not one that blew me away. Conversations often felt a little stilted, and what I imagine is suppose to be a big twist, I saw coming a mile away. If you like more graphic/violent thrillers (as mentioned above), this could be a good choice for you!
Thank you to Alex Shaw, NetGalley, and HQ Digital for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings: murder, graphic violence, death
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