Book Review: Into The Darkness by Doug Kelly

Winner of the 2013 Goodreads Best EMP novel. Dylan Smith was over a thousand miles from home when an enormous coronal mass ejection collided with Earth. The ensuing electromagnetic pulse devastated the power grids of the world and sensitive electronic equipment. Dylan, and a small group of men, must devise a way to return home through a world in which modern technology was abruptly stripped away. During their long journey home, they witness the civilized world transcend into anarchy and are forced to struggle with the morality of the decisions they make to survive. Into the Darkness is a remarkably convincing portrait of ordinary people facing the nightmare of survival in an apocalyptic world. The story concludes in its sequel, Fade To Black.

My Review: 
Dylan is an information technology consultanton on a two week business trip in Montana with colleagues he knows from other offices in different cities when the solar flare hits. First Dylan sees the Northern Lights and then the transformers explode, sending the power out. Faced with no working vehicles, Dylan, Richard and Kevin decide to buy rafts and use the Missouri river that runs through their cities to get each of them home. It is going to be a long journey and not everyone that they meet can be trusted not to do them harm.

We are introduced to four men at the start of the book but the solar flare which fries the power also fries Henry's pacemaker and kills him. It is that event that convinces Dylan that they need to get moving and try to get home. A colonel at the hotel tells them what to expect in the coming days and weeks and Dylan decides that going by river will keep them clear of roads and most people, giving them a better chance of getting safely home. They are able to get the supplies they need at a sporting goods store beside the river and set out on their journey. I liked the idea of the river trip as something a bit different from just following roads and finding trouble in every town they pass through.

Dylan is Mr Take Charge Guy from the moment the solar flare hits and it is his idea to go by river. kevin is also pretty capable and from the beginning, Dylan toys with the idea of bringing Kevin and his wife to live with his family, thinking about safety in numbers and the fact that Kevin lives in the middle of a city which is much more dangerous to survive in. First they have to get to Omaha and rescue Mary before continuing on to Dylan's home in Kansas City. Dylan decides to reluctantly offer to take in Richard, who lives in St Louis. I liked the Colonel who we meet a couple of times. He is your typical military man and prepper though his men have some real asshats amongst them. We also meet Beth, a young mother with a baby who is also trying to find a way home and the men decide to try and help her.

Richard is the steriotype fat useless loser that you get in a lot of apocalypse books. He eats nothing but junk food, has no clue about anything survival related and gets out of breath after a short walk. It is clear that Kevin and Dylan aren't great fans of him and he is a constant liability on the trip, almost losing the rafts early in the trip by not securing them. He refused to conceal his tent when they camped which of course invited trouble for them all. Every time a bad decision was made, it was Richard who had done something stupid again. It did get a bit frustrating. I get that he was fat and unfit but that doesn't mean all fat people are stupid! I'd have liked to have seen him redeem himself instead of what happened.

There was a reasonable about of action in the book, with the events as they camped along the river, the run in with the military and the dangerous trips into towns to get supplies. There were areas of tension and overall I did like the story well enough. It was how inconsistant Dylan was that did annoy me. At various times on the trip he was happy to shoot people without a second thought when he felt it was called for yet when he confronts the people who neglected and starved his kids he doesn't shoot them? The rancher did not deserve what Dylan did but those hurting his kids got away with it? I found that really annoying. I also didn't like the spiteful comments he made to Mary about her religious beliefs. I think it made him look like a bit of a bully and he should have left her to get on with it if she took strength from it.

Overall I found it a decent and entertaining read but I don't think I'll be reading on with book two as I have other series that I'd want to read before this one. 

Read January 2019
3 stars.