Blackout [Import] [Hardcover]

Chris Ryan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2005

 
The new blockbuster from bestselling author Chris Ryan.
 
Blackout -- three cities all lose power. No-one claims responsibility. Fears of a terrorist strike are imminent.
 
Josh Harding is a tough SAS soldier. Yet his disregard for authority has landed him a secondment to MI6's anti-terrorism unit. In the wake of the mysterious 'Three Cities' attacks, Josh finds himself on the way to the USA, on the trail of a pair on intrepid young hackers who are out to try and make themselves a fortune, and who are in grave danger from those who would kill for the secrets they have managed to uncover -- how to control the power of the Western world.
 
But soon Josh finds himself waking up in a ditch bloody and wounded, and with no memory of who he is, how he got there, or how he got hurt.
 
Yet one thing is for certain -- Josh is in danger.
 
Stranded in the Wild West, Josh must rely on his instincts as a soldier and on the kindness of a beautiful stranger in order to escape those who appear intent on tracking him down and killing him -- all for a secret he can't remember. His determination to discover who he is, and what he was doing there leads him into an explosive web of corporate blackmail, deceit and greed -- where the stakes are high and where no-one can be trusted.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The SAS is to Chris Ryan what horse racing is to Dick Francis."
— Boys Toys

"Bone-crunching action... tough and fast-moving."
— Amazon

"Slick, polished and gut-wrenching stuff."
— Irish Times


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

London. Paris. New York. One by one the power systems get swtiched off in three of the world's major cities, plunging them into darkness and chaos.

Is this the greatest terrorist spectacular since 9/11?

Josh Harding, a battle-hardened SAS soldier, is working undercover on anti-terrorist operations, tracking the leaders of al-Qaeda.

He wakes up in a ditch in the wilderness of Arizona. Two bullets have shot up his leg and his neck.

His memory is gone.

And the police are hunting him for murder.

As Josh struggles to recover his memory, and to stay one step ahead of the police, he finds himself drawn into a deadly conspiracy. To stay alive, he must find out who he is, and why he was shot. And who is turning off the power around the world.

Blackout is a terrifyingly realistic story of what happens when technology and terrorism combine.

PRAISE FOR CHRIS RYAN

'Hard as nails' Mirror

'The SAS is to Chris Ryan what horse racing is to Dick Francis' Boys Toys

'Bone-crunching action...tough and fast-moving' Amazon

'Slick, polished and gut-wrenching stuff' Irish Times

'Chock full of military fat to chew on...will keep you awake until dawn' FHM --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Century; First edition (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844133842
• ISBN-13: 978-1844133840
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,211,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story with a lot of twists., July 25, 2006

By 

Eric Giard "sun52tzu" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blackout (Mass Market Paperback)

Another good book from Chris Ryan.

The story line seems predictable but it always adds a new turn of events to the whole story. The loss of memory from Josh Harding brings the effect that we learn the story as the same time he does which brings suspense to the reading. Also, there is always a good amount of gunfight, torture, deaths and our beloved terrorists attack. As usual, the author Chris Ryan, talks about a subjects he knows: the SAS Regiment, terrorism, military slang and adventure.

Overall, it is a nice page-turner book on an overused subject (terrorism) from an author that knows how it is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing concept, disappointing read., June 9, 2006

By 

Øyvind Wallentinsen (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blackout (Paperback)

John Harding, SAS, is called home from a campaign in the Middle East as terrorists are cutting power supply in the USA, rendering three cities in the dark. Upon returning to the States, however, Harding finds himself in a ditch in an alien town with a bullet-wound, amnesia, and a group of assassins hunting him. Rescued by a local girl and her father, John Harding needs to regain his memory while avoiding capture or death, in order to uncover why he is in the town, and how it relates to the recent attacks.

The premise is interesting, but the book fails only in the inaccuracies it makes when it come to research of certain fields (the "cars explode upon crashing, making seat-belts lethal"-myth being my favourite case-of-point), but also in the myriad of unbelievable events that take place throughout the book. There are so many cliché unexpected twists and last-second rescues that all the immersion drains out of the book before you've read even half of it.

So while the characters are believable and varied and the concept is interesting, I do not recommend this book.

2.0 out of 5 stars No man would have survived, August 26, 2010

By 

Wendy J Hanson (Wasilla, AK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blackout (Kindle Edition)

This book was one long torture session. Seriously. Josh had to have been super human to have survived all of the mental/physical abuse and torture he was subjected to in this story. I was very disappointed.