Their characerisation is simple, at times bordering on the cliché (Shannon in particular conforms to the stereotype of the nosy, in-your-face reporter), but always with a touch of something original to keep it interesting. Most of the characters are thoroughly enjoyable perspectives to read. In addition, it allows the tension of the narrative to be ramped up as stories are delivered in intertwining parallel, key threads only connecting at the last moment. Soon, however, you acclimatize to it and realize the strength of the approach is in providing the reader with jigsaw pieces that slowly come together to form a global view. The narrative doesn’t linger on any one character for longer than a few pages at any time, forcing us to jump between perspectives. At first I did find this method of storytelling quite disorientating and couldn’t get into any of the characters purely because I didn’t get long enough to spend with them. Overall there are more than 10 viewpoint characters we follow, which is quite extraordinary in a novel of 437 pages, including snippets from the enigmatic villain’s perspective. The narrative flits quickly between a large cast of characters: Francois Bollard, a French government official at Europol who comes across as a bit of a scumbag at first but reveals his true quality later on Lauren Shannon, an enthusiastic, energetic American reporter staying in Europe Sophia, a resourceful operative at the EU headquarters in Brussels who takes a shine to roguish Manzano. The whole of Europe is losing power, the grid being completely destabilized. Soon, we begin to realize it is not just an isolated incident.

The story starts with Piero Manzano, an Italian programmer and ex-hacker activist, as he is involved in a car crash caused by failing traffic lights. While at times some of the writing in Blackout comes across plain and prosaic, the un-pretentious approach to storytelling becomes infectious and part of its charm.

Full throttle from the get-go, with every chapter bringing a new turn of the screw that raises the stakes even higher, this novel is an exciting delve into a world without power. Originally released in Germany, and a best-seller of over 1,000,000 copies, Blackout has finally been translated into English (by Marshall Yarbrough) and is being published by Black Swan Press. Blackout is one of the few books I’ve read in the last couple of years that lives up to the word “thriller”.

Blackout elsberg marc