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Dark Application: ONE
Luke Jeffers is a student at Brafferton Community College in Fort Christanna, Virginia. Like any other college guy, he dreams about Amy, his grade-school crush, and finds time to party on the weekends while struggling to make his meager budget pay his bills. But unlike anyone else, Luke has discovered the secret Department of Defense Application for Remote Kinetics that unlocks a whirlwind of shocking events, and changes Luke's life direction forever.
While working as an intern at a Computer Information Systems research facility, Luke secretly downloads games from the main server onto his smart phone. Unbeknownst to him, Dark Application is also installed on his phone. And once Dark Application is installed on a phone, it can never be removed. Suddenly Luke's life takes on utterly unpredicted changes; he passes his first Chemistry exam, he mysteriously acquires a large sum of money, and he finally gets the girl of his dreams go out with him on Valentine's Day.
Slowly the application sucks him in, and he becomes addicted and unable to put it down. But lurking just around the corner are horrific secrets that land Luke in a world of hurt, and he becomes entangled in a web of murder, lies, and criminal activities that shock the town and lead to his ultimate destruction. Dark One is the technological thriller of the iPhone era that will lead into the next book of the series in The Dark Application Series.
While working as an intern at a Computer Information Systems research facility, Luke secretly downloads games from the main server onto his smart phone. Unbeknownst to him, Dark Application is also installed on his phone. And once Dark Application is installed on a phone, it can never be removed. Suddenly Luke's life takes on utterly unpredicted changes; he passes his first Chemistry exam, he mysteriously acquires a large sum of money, and he finally gets the girl of his dreams go out with him on Valentine's Day.
Slowly the application sucks him in, and he becomes addicted and unable to put it down. But lurking just around the corner are horrific secrets that land Luke in a world of hurt, and he becomes entangled in a web of murder, lies, and criminal activities that shock the town and lead to his ultimate destruction. Dark One is the technological thriller of the iPhone era that will lead into the next book of the series in The Dark Application Series.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2012
9 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
About the author
Brian Krogstad
7 books52 followersBrian Krogstad has had a successful and prolific career as a business development consultant, social media adviser, marketing consultant, and sales expert. Since early 2010, Krogstad has personally advised Criss Angel, the world famous celebrity magician, on aspects of business development, Internet broadcasting, social media, and creative marketing. Throughout his career, he has served as a consultant to various celebrities, publishers, producers, as well as multiple Fortune 500 companies.
Krogstad is bilingual, fluently speaking both English and Spanish. In the past he has lived abroad and worked professionally in Mexico. Krogstad continues to travel to Spain, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, New York, and Hawaii multiple times throughout the year as a business consultant. He currently lives in California.
Traveling to various countries and discovering new cultures has inspired Krogstad’s unique and creative writing style. Essentially living on airplanes and in hotel rooms, he has ample time to research, author, and develop books and articles of his own to be released to the public upon completion.
Krogstad is putting his final touches on his recently released Dark Application Series, a mobile-technology themed series of science fiction, technothriller books. The first book in the series, The Dark Application: ONE, was released in December of 2012 and is currently being converted into a screenplay.
Krogstad is bilingual, fluently speaking both English and Spanish. In the past he has lived abroad and worked professionally in Mexico. Krogstad continues to travel to Spain, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, New York, and Hawaii multiple times throughout the year as a business consultant. He currently lives in California.
Traveling to various countries and discovering new cultures has inspired Krogstad’s unique and creative writing style. Essentially living on airplanes and in hotel rooms, he has ample time to research, author, and develop books and articles of his own to be released to the public upon completion.
Krogstad is putting his final touches on his recently released Dark Application Series, a mobile-technology themed series of science fiction, technothriller books. The first book in the series, The Dark Application: ONE, was released in December of 2012 and is currently being converted into a screenplay.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 30, 2018
While working at a DOD research facility, college student, Luke Jeffers, downloads some games from the facility’s servers to his phone. Unknown to him, the Defense Application for Remote Kinetics (DARK) is also installed on his phone, and he can’t delete it. It’s not long before DARK has taken control of Luke’s life and set him on a path of self-destruction.
Dark Application by Brian Krogstad and Lindsey Waterman is a chilling techno-thriller. Well plotted and well-written. The cliff-hanger ending, though a bit of a cheat, does set the interested reader up nicely for a sequel as DARK continues to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world. My main complaint about the book, though, is that the prologue and the ending don’t match up. I won’t spoil the book by stating why, but there was clearly a situation set up in the prologue that needed resolving, and it never was.
I give the authors three and a half stars for a valiant effort, and a mostly enjoyable read.
Dark Application by Brian Krogstad and Lindsey Waterman is a chilling techno-thriller. Well plotted and well-written. The cliff-hanger ending, though a bit of a cheat, does set the interested reader up nicely for a sequel as DARK continues to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world. My main complaint about the book, though, is that the prologue and the ending don’t match up. I won’t spoil the book by stating why, but there was clearly a situation set up in the prologue that needed resolving, and it never was.
I give the authors three and a half stars for a valiant effort, and a mostly enjoyable read.
January 22, 2013
Synopsis: Sometimes in life, there’s a little moment of weakness. That one moment of temptation. That moment that you give in – nothing too big, nothing too drastic, just… a little thing. Luke Jeffers has that moment. That moment when he’s sitting at a desk in his internship, bored, and something catches his eye. The Dark Application. From the moment it’s downloaded onto Luke’s phone, Luke’s life starts to change. But is it really everything he wanted?
Right. I was going to kick this review off with the kicking. Because there’s a few things that really have to be said, but I’m going to go for a slightly different tack instead.
The product description (below) lists a number of comparisons with other author’s works – including Lincoln and Child’s Pendergast series (one of my favourites), Michael Crichton, and Robert Ludlum’s Bourne books. That’s a mighty strong comparison, and the book in hand had better deliver to match up to those lofty heights.
In fairness, it is very, very well written. Characters are nicely believable – with both friendships and romances having a pleasant ring of truth and authenticity. Dialogue flows nice and smooth. Action scenes are lively and well-paced. Everything flows very, very well.
So, why do I want to kick it?
Two things, really. One minor, one major.
The (incredibly) minor is the inclusion of a phrase I detest in any story: “Just then…”. Yes, I’m being picky. I have to. There’s nothing else there in terms of the writing. No spelling or grammar mistakes. No formatting problems. No use of wrong words. No moments of shout out-loud stupidity. No lack of continuity. Nothing that drags me from the story. It is very submersive, and for the brief time that I read it, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
That’s the major problem. The brief time.
That this book is 100 pages long wouldn’t be an issue. A short story or novella, standing alone, would be fine at 100 pages. True, this could have been padded out and extended, so I applaud the author’s choice in keeping it to a lean number. But to have this as the first book of a proposed series bothers me.
Don’t get me wrong – I want to read more. In fact, I’m very much looking forward to reading more. The ending in Book One sits perfectly. But, 100 pages per book? I’d feel slightly ripped off, and in honesty would want to wait for a collected volume. However, this is a side-quibble, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the writing or the story itself (and so would absolutely not factor into the rating of the book).
And the writing is good. In fact, the writing is great. The concept is a neat one, with the potential for both the book and hopefully the series to make for a great TV series and/or graphic novel. I’d thoroughly recommend it, and can’t wait to see the next volume (hopefully with a higher word count).
Right. I was going to kick this review off with the kicking. Because there’s a few things that really have to be said, but I’m going to go for a slightly different tack instead.
The product description (below) lists a number of comparisons with other author’s works – including Lincoln and Child’s Pendergast series (one of my favourites), Michael Crichton, and Robert Ludlum’s Bourne books. That’s a mighty strong comparison, and the book in hand had better deliver to match up to those lofty heights.
In fairness, it is very, very well written. Characters are nicely believable – with both friendships and romances having a pleasant ring of truth and authenticity. Dialogue flows nice and smooth. Action scenes are lively and well-paced. Everything flows very, very well.
So, why do I want to kick it?
Two things, really. One minor, one major.
The (incredibly) minor is the inclusion of a phrase I detest in any story: “Just then…”. Yes, I’m being picky. I have to. There’s nothing else there in terms of the writing. No spelling or grammar mistakes. No formatting problems. No use of wrong words. No moments of shout out-loud stupidity. No lack of continuity. Nothing that drags me from the story. It is very submersive, and for the brief time that I read it, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
That’s the major problem. The brief time.
That this book is 100 pages long wouldn’t be an issue. A short story or novella, standing alone, would be fine at 100 pages. True, this could have been padded out and extended, so I applaud the author’s choice in keeping it to a lean number. But to have this as the first book of a proposed series bothers me.
Don’t get me wrong – I want to read more. In fact, I’m very much looking forward to reading more. The ending in Book One sits perfectly. But, 100 pages per book? I’d feel slightly ripped off, and in honesty would want to wait for a collected volume. However, this is a side-quibble, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the writing or the story itself (and so would absolutely not factor into the rating of the book).
And the writing is good. In fact, the writing is great. The concept is a neat one, with the potential for both the book and hopefully the series to make for a great TV series and/or graphic novel. I’d thoroughly recommend it, and can’t wait to see the next volume (hopefully with a higher word count).
January 21, 2013
Dark Application by Brian Krogstad and Lindsey Waterman delves into the Information Age of Smart Phones and Applications with a plot so intriguing it will leave you spellbound.
Luke Jeffers is an average college student in Virginia. He spends most of his time just trying to get through life. He daydreams about a fellow student named Amy, but she hardly acknowledges his existence. With the new semester about to begin Luke is enrolled in CIS: Computer Information Systems. Arriving to his first class, he is surprised that it is located in an odd and mysterious industrial area. Confused he enters the building only to find people in military fatigues. He decides to make the most of this experience and begins looking around on his computer. A networked server named DARK catches his eye, but access requires a password. Thinking the application must contain really cool games he downloads it to his cellphone in order to gain access later. This seemingly simple move will catapult Luke Jeffers into a world he never imagined, one where all of his actions are controlled by his Smart Phone. Luke's life begins to spiral out of control with death and destruction abound. Will he ever regain control of his life or will DARK cause him to pay the ultimate price?
Dark Application is a gripping thriller that goes beyond your wildest imagination. I highly recommend reading it and once you start you won't be able to put it down.
Luke Jeffers is an average college student in Virginia. He spends most of his time just trying to get through life. He daydreams about a fellow student named Amy, but she hardly acknowledges his existence. With the new semester about to begin Luke is enrolled in CIS: Computer Information Systems. Arriving to his first class, he is surprised that it is located in an odd and mysterious industrial area. Confused he enters the building only to find people in military fatigues. He decides to make the most of this experience and begins looking around on his computer. A networked server named DARK catches his eye, but access requires a password. Thinking the application must contain really cool games he downloads it to his cellphone in order to gain access later. This seemingly simple move will catapult Luke Jeffers into a world he never imagined, one where all of his actions are controlled by his Smart Phone. Luke's life begins to spiral out of control with death and destruction abound. Will he ever regain control of his life or will DARK cause him to pay the ultimate price?
Dark Application is a gripping thriller that goes beyond your wildest imagination. I highly recommend reading it and once you start you won't be able to put it down.
January 4, 2013
For more of my reviews visit http://losttobooks.blogspot.com
Standing at 26,391 words (100 pages) this book was an incredibly quick read that took only a few hours to read. Even though it was a shorter book than I would have normally like there was a lot of content packed into it.
Dark Applications had a unique, modern and interesting concept as it followed Luke Jeffers when his life started to slowly be controlled by an app he downloaded. There was a lot of action included in the short amount of pages and it did keep you hooked when reading. It made you want to read on and find out what the phone was going to make him do next. The start also gripped me. It intrigued me into what had happened and linked with the ending nicely. I really didn't see the way it ended coming.
However sometimes the book lacked detail and jumped from once scene to the next quite rapidly. Although this didn't confuse me, I would have liked to have had more of a back story and for it to 'show me' with description rather than 'telling me' as I couldn't really connect with the characters as the book stands now. Also I found myself questioning the believe-ability of the plot and whether or not someone would really just follow a message on the phone without question. For me it just didn't seem realistic but maybe that was because of the little description or maybe it needed smaller tasks before building up to following directions.
As well as this the writing did become a little repetitive. I don't mean the story line but rather the sentence structure. Quite often there were occurrence where sentences that followed on from each other started with the same word "She...She...She..." I think the book could use another edit to pick up on this to help the writing flow smoother and not become repetitive.
Overall this was an interesting read that has both good and bad points. It was original, action packed and surprising which was great considering it is such a short book. For me though it wasn't as believable as I would have liked and the lack of detail made it hard for me to engage with the characters. I think this book could be really interesting if it goes through another edit so the repetitiveness is removed and it shows the reader instead of telling them.
Standing at 26,391 words (100 pages) this book was an incredibly quick read that took only a few hours to read. Even though it was a shorter book than I would have normally like there was a lot of content packed into it.
Dark Applications had a unique, modern and interesting concept as it followed Luke Jeffers when his life started to slowly be controlled by an app he downloaded. There was a lot of action included in the short amount of pages and it did keep you hooked when reading. It made you want to read on and find out what the phone was going to make him do next. The start also gripped me. It intrigued me into what had happened and linked with the ending nicely. I really didn't see the way it ended coming.
However sometimes the book lacked detail and jumped from once scene to the next quite rapidly. Although this didn't confuse me, I would have liked to have had more of a back story and for it to 'show me' with description rather than 'telling me' as I couldn't really connect with the characters as the book stands now. Also I found myself questioning the believe-ability of the plot and whether or not someone would really just follow a message on the phone without question. For me it just didn't seem realistic but maybe that was because of the little description or maybe it needed smaller tasks before building up to following directions.
As well as this the writing did become a little repetitive. I don't mean the story line but rather the sentence structure. Quite often there were occurrence where sentences that followed on from each other started with the same word "She...She...She..." I think the book could use another edit to pick up on this to help the writing flow smoother and not become repetitive.
Overall this was an interesting read that has both good and bad points. It was original, action packed and surprising which was great considering it is such a short book. For me though it wasn't as believable as I would have liked and the lack of detail made it hard for me to engage with the characters. I think this book could be really interesting if it goes through another edit so the repetitiveness is removed and it shows the reader instead of telling them.
March 20, 2013
This was my first read from Brian Krogstad (Author), Lindsey Waterman (Author) and Anthony Sturmas (Illustrator)
Not knowing a single thing about the book or authors, it was a freebee on Amazon and reviews were 5 stars figuring I’d give it a shot. With saying that, it wasn’t what I expected at all. These authors are on to something completely different and I actually liked it. Not your everyday read ~
It was a fast paced book, quick read with only 100 pages. I’m looking forward to see where this series takes you as its different and quite unique. Right off from the start it grabs your attention and ends quite surprising.
Luke Jeffers in a college student in Virginia, he spends most of his time just getting through each day at a time. He fantasies about another student who is named Amy. Amy doesn’t even know Luke exits’…..yet.
I couldn’t explain it any better than this other persons review:
REQUOTING: With the new semester about to begin Luke is enrolled in CIS: Computer Information Systems. Arriving to his first class, he is surprised that it is located in an odd and mysterious industrial area. Confused he enters the building only to find people in military fatigues. He decides to make the most of this experience and begins looking around on his computer. A networked server named DARK catches his eye, but access requires a password. Thinking the application must contain really cool games he downloads it to his cell phone in order to gain access later. This seemingly simple move will catapult Luke Jeffers into a world he never imagined, one where all of his actions are controlled by his Smart Phone. Luke's life begins to spiral out of control with death and destruction abound. Will he ever regain control of his life or will DARK cause him to pay the ultimate price? Soon we are thrust into explosions and kidnappings, suicide and the overwhelming mystery of just what is behind all of these rapid-fire changes?
Not knowing a single thing about the book or authors, it was a freebee on Amazon and reviews were 5 stars figuring I’d give it a shot. With saying that, it wasn’t what I expected at all. These authors are on to something completely different and I actually liked it. Not your everyday read ~
It was a fast paced book, quick read with only 100 pages. I’m looking forward to see where this series takes you as its different and quite unique. Right off from the start it grabs your attention and ends quite surprising.
Luke Jeffers in a college student in Virginia, he spends most of his time just getting through each day at a time. He fantasies about another student who is named Amy. Amy doesn’t even know Luke exits’…..yet.
I couldn’t explain it any better than this other persons review:
REQUOTING: With the new semester about to begin Luke is enrolled in CIS: Computer Information Systems. Arriving to his first class, he is surprised that it is located in an odd and mysterious industrial area. Confused he enters the building only to find people in military fatigues. He decides to make the most of this experience and begins looking around on his computer. A networked server named DARK catches his eye, but access requires a password. Thinking the application must contain really cool games he downloads it to his cell phone in order to gain access later. This seemingly simple move will catapult Luke Jeffers into a world he never imagined, one where all of his actions are controlled by his Smart Phone. Luke's life begins to spiral out of control with death and destruction abound. Will he ever regain control of his life or will DARK cause him to pay the ultimate price? Soon we are thrust into explosions and kidnappings, suicide and the overwhelming mystery of just what is behind all of these rapid-fire changes?
February 26, 2013
Uniquely twisted and ever so relevant to the ‘always connected’ world of apps, internet and mobile phones, Krogstad has created a thought-provoking story that will stir the paranoid in every reader. We are dropped into the middle of Luke’s story, and provided a bit of backstory as we see the genesis of the changes, and the insertion of the Dark Application. Soon we are thrust into explosions and kidnappings, suicide and the overwhelming mystery of just what is behind all of these rapid-fire changes?
Incredibly well written, with characters that are easy to relate to, feel natural and have realistic conversations and interactions that never feel forced or overplayed. Action scenes are lively, the story flows really well. It makes sense. It also will make you wonder about those thoughtless moments of “oh that looks interesting” downloads that we all do – and do not necessarily consider the ramifications or consequences of that choice.
At 100 pages, with a perfect stop point, this is a great introduction into a clever techno-thriller that leaves readers thinking about privacy, choices and those seemingly innocent choices we make daily in our social media interactions and with our devices.
I was provided an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review on the Indie Authors Rock promotion at I am, Indeed. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Incredibly well written, with characters that are easy to relate to, feel natural and have realistic conversations and interactions that never feel forced or overplayed. Action scenes are lively, the story flows really well. It makes sense. It also will make you wonder about those thoughtless moments of “oh that looks interesting” downloads that we all do – and do not necessarily consider the ramifications or consequences of that choice.
At 100 pages, with a perfect stop point, this is a great introduction into a clever techno-thriller that leaves readers thinking about privacy, choices and those seemingly innocent choices we make daily in our social media interactions and with our devices.
I was provided an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review on the Indie Authors Rock promotion at I am, Indeed. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
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