Customer Reviews

Black Monday

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What would happen if a super-bug infects the nations oil leading to massive economic breakdown, looting, and paralyziation of the nations's military? Reiss explores this premise in Black Monday, a thriller about corruption, human greed, and human perseverence.

I really enjoyed the premise of this novel and many of the characters.

***Mild Spoilers***

I did find myself mildly put off by the first part of the book which describes a hitman gruesomely killing someone in a casino. The same hitman commits several murders during the course of the book including murdering children. There is also a semi-graphic scene of torture which I found rather disturbinng. I found the graphic quality almost made me stop listening. I don't mind thrillers, sex and violence but I don't need the details.


***End Spoiilers***

The hero Gillette is interesting but a tad superhuman. Not only is he an ex-gang member, but he is a super-scientist of the ludlum variety, who can out-shoot, out-ski, and out-snowmobile the badguys at a moments notice. He also has 2 hot women lusting after him. Fine, but a little fantastic.

4 stars. The ending was a bit over-the-top, and I could've done without the graphic murder, it didn't add anything in my opinion.

This book had all the ingredients for a great read. A terrifying plot, visions of an apocalyptic America, a ruthless assassin and the mysterious master mind lurking in shadows. This potentially fascinating story however gets lost in the authors uninspiring writing. The novel seems to be very scattered. Reiss uses flashbacks way too often and at the worst times. I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that as Gillett is getting shot at, he finds the time to reflect on his mentor's lessons and how they molded him into the person he is. This happens through out the entire book as it seems to be the author's only device for developing his characters and it gets old quick. There also is not much explanation about the virus that attacks oil, or the motives behind the villain's use of it which leaves the end a little unsatisfying.

There are however some positives to the story. After all, a bacterium that renders oil supplies useless in today's over dependent society is a scary and timely scenario. There are some gruesome chapters which illustrate the complexity of civilization and how easily it can brake down. The scenes of chaos and destruction are well described. The way that governments deal with social breakdown is frightening. It also sends a tremendous message about our dependencies not just on oil, but on anything capable of destroying us should it disappear. Is it a far fetched plot? Probably, but lets not forget that this is a work of fiction. This is a "what if" book and as long as the reader starts with that question in mind it will be at the very least a quick entertaining read.

BLACK MONDAY starts with a great "what if" premise: what if the Western world was suddenly deprived of the use of all of its oil? Unfortunately, Reiss doesn't really deliver on the promise of this idea.

In this novel, Reiss goes into familiar territory: within a few weeks of the oil disappearing, he imagines a post-apocolyptic world arising in the United States where Americans, stripped of all their modern conveniences, become violent and cannibalistic. I've seen this type of world before, in novels like Stephen King's THE STAND and Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. There is nothing new about Reiss's own attempt, which falls well short of what's been done before.

The major flaw of this novel is the flat characterization. Reiss just isn't very good at creating characters that are distinct and memorable. The square-jawed hero of this book is a virtual superman -- and not the least bit interesting. Most of the dialogue is bland and colorless. There's a lot of action in this novel, but you don't care about any of the key characters, so the suspense level is close to zero.

BLACK MONDAY isn't exactly terrible, but I just didn't find it very engaging. Other than some interesting scientific information about how oil is used and refined, there is little about this book that stands out. I would give it a pass if I were you.

Black Monday

As others have written, the plot (oil eating/crapping bacteria) was interesting but during the course of the novel, our main character aka SUPERHERO manages to fight entrenched bureaucrats, discover the means of infection, and foil the evil plot, while being a good father, husband and neighborhood block leader. By the end, everyone Good becomes a Better person and a few neighborhood nasties get their just desserts. The waffling US President probably isn't going to be reelected and the world economy; after ditching the US dollar as the world reserve currency, gets all better in a paragraph and a half. Hurrah!

My sentences have become on running and more incoherent as I realize the time I wasted reading this tripe.

Oh, another thing. A submarine captain and a couple of blue jackets rowing ashore in a rubber dingy would not conduct a snatch and grab of the EVIL Mastermind on foreign soil. That's what we have SEALS for.

R. Scott Reiss' debut novel, "Black Monday", is compared on the book flap to a 'Crichton-like thriller'. It is ironic that I am reading this book the week that Mr. Crichton passed away. This only shed more light on the fact that "Black Monday" falls far short of anything worthy of Crichton-like standards.

The premise is significantly terrifying and timely - the world's oil supply being destroyed by a virus known as Delta-3. The prediction is made that within 50 days of this catastrophic event - the world will be reduced to rubble with all of earth's inhabitants destroying each other in the resulting panic. While this premise makes for a good movie plot (and the rights have already been sold to Paramount) it makes for a disjointed story with the jumpy style of Reiss' narrative. It is difficult, at times, to keep track of all the characters and to know what is a flashback and what is happening in real time.

Nice try - but this is not even close to "State Of Fear".

Suspenseful except for the last two chapters of the book then it moprhs into a predictable Hollywood ending. But that's okay, I suppose, because this is a work of fiction (where anything is possible even mundane endings) and most people would rather conclude this story the way the writer did. It got a little bit corny in the end.
I enjoyed the book and although there will be criticisms about the author's alarmist views on our oil dependence, I really did not read it to get any scientific premises on that topic. I bought the book for one simple reason: for entertainment. "Black Monday" was worth it. If you're looking for factual researches on oil-eating bacteria then you've got the wrong book! If you just want to be entertained, then this book will do just that.

This has got to be the Da Vinci Code of recent Science Fiction and thriller offerings: It's over the top. The protagonists are good, larger-than-life, almost super-human and improbably lucky; the bad guys are bad, have some strange hang-ups and idiosyncrasies, and get what's coming to them sooner or later; it's rollicking good fun, suspenseful, chilling at turns, a page-turner from the get-go. No wonder a major motion picture studio has already optioned the book.

The "code" in this present-day disaster novel isn't arcane symbolism, musty crypts, lore or manuscripts, but DNA with a truly twisted genetic sequence that must be cracked before this petroleum-eating bacteria --unleashed among the world's oil fields-- throws our planet and its peoples deeper into chaos, rioting, anarchy, cannibalism, arson and worse.

What is this bacteria? Where did it come from? Who let it loose and why? Was it a terrorist or fringe group with a grudge against the West? Is there anything that can be done to stop it, let alone save Earth's supply of refined crude from the poisoned petro fields?

Those questions and more arise in this swiftly-moving, deftly-handled novel that could have taken its premise from Anderson and Beason's 1995 book "Ill Wind," also predicated on a petroleum-eating bacteria run amok. But "Black Monday" is head-and-shoulders above "Ill Wind," more polished, a much better read in my opinion --and one you won't regret.

Some elements are formulaic and predictable and there are wild coincidences and conveniences clearly inserted for the author's convenience rather than the sake of a convincing story line, but what the heck? This is the earth-bound equivalent of "space opera" Sci-Fi; rooted in some hard science, the human elements always outshine the catastrophic backdrop of the rampaging bacteria: Love, lust, angst, greed, avarice, selfishness, brutality and man's inhumanity to man --it's all here in colors blended just skillfully enough to entertain rather than glare.

Forget the odd typo or two, forget that protagonist Dr. Gregory Gillette (Commander, USN), a former gang member-turned physician/scientist has two beautiful women (one of them his wife) lusting after him, an entire neighborhood trusting him and a world depending on him. Never mind that he's impossibly good-looking and can brawl as well he can embody the ideal tender parent in almost the same paragraph.

Open this book, sit back and enjoy the ride, the twists and turns through the murk and mutiny that are the legacy of a post-petroleum world, one in which there is hope as well as desperation.

Warning: Some scenes of violence may unsettle certain readers, e.g. graphic murder.

The world is stunned when a microbe devastates oil. Gas generated transportation no longer exists beginning an urban isolation. Computers fail once their batteries run out as electricity no longer is produced. Food supplies to the big cities end. Government fails soon afterward as street gangs rule small territories. None of the leaders who whined about foreign oil dependency understood how deep the globe depended on this commodity until the pandemic disaster began

Still some government agencies continue to try to solve the calamity before the point of no return. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Greg Gillette seeks a cure to the pandemic disaster which he believes he will obtain faster if he can find ground zero where this microbe was initially unleashed on an unsuspecting oil guzzling planet than hiding in his lab. He knows time is running out on mankind, but he fears he is stretched too thin to complete either of his missions.

BLACK MONDAY is an exhilarating thriller based on how intrusive oil is in everyday life well beyond gas for a car so that if something destroyed the supply, humanity would be devastated. The story line is fast-paced as the clock ticks with the likable desperate hero scurrying around the countryside seeking clues as to what happened. Though a bit of petrol science especially how the microbe works would have enhanced the tale, fans of 100-octane save the world novels will want to read this thrilling saga that will make a terrific action movie as already planned.

Harriet Klausner

This is a very good book on many levels. But the most important thing about it is that the author uses a make believe senario (oil eating bacteria) to do very quickly, what humankind is actually doing slowly (consuming the earths oil reserves). The breakdown of civilization is rapid, and deadly. For those of us who believe that world oil depletion will shortly make the Great Depression look like the good old days, the depiction of the downward spiral seems real, and right on target. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Definitely recommend this for those who like apocalyptic stories. This and
One Second After by William R. Forstchen. Love it!