Mark Hitchcock/Alton Gansky

Dear Readers,

I have read many of Alton Gansky’s books.  Each one I have read has been an adventure and an interesting read.  I think my favorites are still the Madison Glenn series, but several of the others have been very good also. 

8 Minutes to… Digital Winter by Mark Hitchcock and Alton Gansky was not high on my list to read and yet it was one I kind of kept looking at.  The story line intrigued me even though I knew it was going to have an end times slant to it.

America’s military and government are put on high alert when power girds around the country start going off.  Both coasts are experiencing blackouts and major cities all over are starting lose power.  When the power comes back on with little or no explanation, they start to think the danger has maybe passed.  But who or what caused it?

When the power goes out again it is across the world.  Who has the ability to do that?  What terrorist group has the technology to wipe out power across the board?  Jeremy of Cyber Command is put on the job to find it out.  The problem is, with little or no power how do you find a cyber-attacker? 

I am not sure I could put a finger on what I like the most about this book, but the characters are interesting and believable.  The story line is something that has been talked about many different times and ways in America.  Our power grid is vulnerable to attack.  In recent weeks we have all watched as a huge chunk of New England went without power for days on end.   It was a struggle for them even with the rest of the country able to support them in different ways.  Can you imagine what it would be like if the entire country, if not world, was suddenly thrown back to the 1900’s?  There are very few people that would be prepared for something like that.  Where would we get food?  Gas?  How about jobs?  Would we still have them?   I work in a bookstore; I can’t say that it would be my top priority to get here each day. 

I guess that is why I liked this book; it made me think through things that may never happen, but what if?

Happy Reading