Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English
Categories
Horror & supernatural fiction

THE DARK NET

Benjamin Percy

Hell on earth is only one click of a mouse away

The Dark Net is real. An anonymous and often criminal arena that exists in the secret far reaches of the Web, some use it to manage Bitcoins, pirate movies and music, or traffic in drugs and stolen goods. And now an ancient darkness is gathering there as well. This force is threatening to spread virally into the real world unless it can be stopped by members of a ragtag crew:

Twelve-year-old Hannah -- who has been fitted with the Mirage, a high-tech visual prosthetic to combat her blindness-- wonders why she sees shadows surrounding some people.

Lela, a technophobic journalist, has stumbled upon a story nobody wants her to uncover.

Mike Juniper, a one-time child evangelist who suffers from personal and literal demons, has an arsenal of weapons stored in the basement of the homeless shelter he runs.

And Derek, a hacker with a cause, believes himself a soldier of the Internet, part of a cyber army akin to Anonymous.

They have no idea what the Dark Net really contains.

Set in present-day Portland, The Dark Net is a cracked-mirror version of the digital nightmare we already live in, a timely and wildly imaginative techno-thriller about the evil that lurks in real and virtual spaces, and the power of a united few to fight back.

Benjamin Percy is the author of THE DEAD LANDS, RED MOON, and THE WILDING, as well as the story collection REFRESH, REFRESH. He also works for Detective Comics and writes the Green Arrow series with artist Patrick Zirchner. As a screenwriter, Ben has projects in development for TV at Starz, Fox TV, and Asylum Entertainment.

Available products
Book Published 2017-08-01 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Comments

Written in vivid, often lyrical prose, but with exhilarating comic-book energy, THE DARK NET is a megawatt defibrillator to the reader's heart. Quirky but very human characters confront an explosive emergence of the supernatural into our world, in this imaginative, spooky, swiftly paced tale threaded through with dark humor. Dean Koontz

Benjamin Percy is one of the most gifted and versatile writers to appear in American publishing in years. . . . His prose has the masculine power of Ernest Hemingway, but also the sensibilities and compassion of Eudora Welty. His writing is like a meeting of Shakespeare and rock 'n' roll. . . . and what a ride it is. James Lee Burke, bestselling author of Feast Day of Fools, Heaven's Prisoners, and Neon Rain

Percy's blend of cyberpunk-style sf and occult horror is a perfect combo for summer chills. ('Summer Escapes' special)

[THE DARK NET] allows its palpitating, adventurous heart to lead the way at all times... While most techno-thrillers put a lot of emphasis on the technological part and forget to thrill, Percy offers healthy doses of both, and the result is a novel that keep you turning the pages instead of checking your phone, and that is the highest compliment you can pay a novel these days.

Portugal: Top Seller

In this fast-paced demonic cyber-thriller, Percy has a sinister take on the deepest parts of our digital lives: much of who we are as living, breathing humans is actually being infiltrated by every device we touch . THE DARK NET can get gruesome, and the body count is high, but Percy keeps it suspenseful and compelling from the first page. The authentic Portland, Oregon, setting with a pivotal scene in Powell's Bookstore is also a draw. Think twice before accessing this on an e-reader, unless you think can handle the extra layer of terror.

Editor's Choice, November 5, 2017

"The Dark Net" is, at least on its crowded surface, one of the best Stephen King novels not written by the master himself. (...) The setup promises furious action, and Percy delivers, like Matheson, like King. ...an awfully impressive literary performance.

Benjamin Percy's THE DARK NET channels the spirit of your favorite sprawling and epic, 1980s horror/thriller novels into a tightly paced, nasty, unrelenting twenty-first-century nightmare. An addictive and frightening read. Paul Tremblay

Percy takes the darkest conspiracy theories you can imagine and makes them the stuff of nightmares....humankind is held responsible for its irresponsibility, paying the price for all the convenience we take for granted, for our obsession with the digital world...the message is effective and scary...there's something undeniably creepy about the thought that your smartphone can possess you. A gory cautionary tale.

Benjamin Percy's distinctive brand of horror fiction...is on full display in The Dark Net. The novel blends aspects of techno-thrillers with supernatural horror for page-turning results. Percy is no stranger to unlikely genre fusions, but The Dark Net's idiosyncratic brew is particularly enticing.

Percy is a really a gifted writer who has a special talent for introducing the fantastic into reality, and that's what he has done here. This is fast-paced, imaginative entertainment.

Beautifully written, as extravagant as the night sky but way more cool, The Dark Net demonstrates Benjamin Percy's soft-footed yet industrial-strength imagination, storytelling mastery, deep curious infatuated humanity, and his total willingness to throw himself off one narrative cliff after another. This is horror literature's bebop, bold, smart, confident in its capacity to redefine its genre from the ground up. Read this book, but take a firm grip on your hat before you start. Peter Straub

France: Editions Sonatine/Super 8