The Dark Knight

Wyrd #2

by Nick Cole

The Dark Knight by Nick Cole continues the story begun in The Red King as survivors band together to build a modern-day castle against a tide of dark forces overrunning Southern California. While Frank and Holiday struggle for power, Ash ventures into the night to rescue a lost special needs adult who has unknowingly glimpsed a horrifying future: a future where man is on the verge of extinction and a new predator rules the planet. The Apocalypse Weird is beginning, and it might just be something bigger than anyone ever imagined... or feared. bigger than anyone ever imagined … or feared. Download The Red King, the first book in this series, for free at Amazon.

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Zombies, Fantasy, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Urban Fantasy

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2015

About the author

Nick Cole is a working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being shot, kicked, stabbed or beaten by the students of various film schools for their projects, he can often be found as a guard for King Phillip the Second of Spain in the Opera Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera or some similar role. Nick Cole has been writing for most of his life and acting in Hollywood after serving in the U.S. Army.

Reviews

[Timothy Ward]

#4 - Top Ten Reads of 2015 at timothycward.com

This zombie apocalypse tale is one of the top choices in its field. Check out WYRD #1: The Red King FREE on Kindle. Nick Cole's zombie apocalypse fills the need for zombie fans who want more than just zombies. The Dark Knight continues the story of Frank, an alcoholic who is trying to make up for the mistakes he made and win back his small community of survivors. I enjoyed rooting for him because we can all relate to the feeling of failure and how some refuse to look past that to what good we can still accomplish. My favorite part of this book is the point of view we see through Cory, a teenager with mental disabilities who is heartbroken about losing his daddy, a police officer. His is story is up there with the most heart wrenching I've read. Cory is an outstanding example of a fictional character you come to love. I slowed myself down toward the end because I didn't want to finish and then not have any new scenes with Cory to read.

The Dark Knight is more than just a zombie story with heart, it is also an Apocalypse Weird novel, and boy did this get weird. It became a little bit Terminator there in the middle of Cory's storyline, and at first I thought it halted the pace, but once Cory became involved with the new point of view characters, I enjoyed the added twist of how bizarre this world is. It will no doubt add to the suspense and mystery in future stories. This series is an instant buy and read as soon as the next book comes out.

[Ed Gosney]

Apocalypse Weird: The Red King by Nick Cole was a fascinating introduction to this new shared universe of crazy stories. Multiple authors are contributing, and that is going to keep this series fresh and exciting, as we see the apocalypse from multiple perspectives, writers, and settings. Cole’s novel is labeled as WYRD 1.0 in the top left corner, and on February 23, 2015, Wonderment Media launched five additional books in the Apocalypse Weird universe.

Apocalypse Weird: The Dark Knight, is listed as WYRD 2.0, and after finishing it, I hope we see several more WYRD numbers in the future. If you read 1.0, then you are familiar with Holiday and his associates of people trying to survive in a world gone weird. And while we continue with that community of survivors, it isn’t long until we are introduced to The Dark Knight of the book, Cory, a nineteen-year-old special needs man-child who envisions himself as Batman, The Dark Knight, in these dark days of Apocalypse.

In my opinion, Cory is awesome, and Cole handles him with a deft touch of sensitivity. Part of the drama with Cory is also seeing how others think and react to a special needs person in this terrifying landscape. Are they willing to help out the man-child, or should they consider their own safety above his? And Cory does his best to stay brave in the face of imminent danger by repeating his Batman mantra, “I am Vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman.”

This story is worth every penny. Don’t miss it.

[LordTBR]

Starting exactly where it left off with 'The Red King', The Dark Knight doesn't disappoint. Though the group you are left with only takes up a small portion of this book, the introduction of Cory, a special young man who is searching for his father during the end times, takes this series on a refreshingly new road.
While the world is crumbling around him, Cory uses the guidance that his father gave him in order survive. That, and the fact that he is THE BATMAN. This alter-ego that Cory has associated himself with since he was young, and one that his father introduced him to, becomes his security blanket through all of the evil that comes to surface.
You will not find disappointment in this book, unless you were looking for an entire novel based solely on the construction of the group's "castle". Cory adds not only a very interesting character to this story but a sense of the unknown. Of course, to understand what I am saying means you need to give The Dark Knight a read and find out for yourself. Nick Cole never ceases to amaze and I can't wait to see what is in store in The Lost Castle!

[AnneHope]

I am falling in more deeply into an amazing story with this sequel. I loved this sequel to the WYRD books in the AW world. Nick Cole completely stole my heart with the introduction of his new character Cory. I am a huge terminator fan so loved the tie in here. I didn't think that it could get any better after zombies and really giant footprints, but he proved me wrong in this next chapter in the WYRD story. I find myself anxious for part 3 but plan on re-reading part 1 and 2 right before the next release so I can more slowly enjoy the experience. Nick is an amazing storyteller and this appears to be a great story to be told.

[Colette Chadwick]

The AW series is becoming a favorite of mine.

This fantastic story picks up from The Red King with a few more amazing characters. The interaction among them is emotionally gripping. Cory is our hero, a special needs hero, just because he haphazardly survives. But then again, he is Batman.

I found it is very interesting how this book has three divisions that come together so smoothly, and really is a fabulous cliff-hanger for the next installment.

[Greg Tymn]

I actually dreamed I was in the swamp with Cory last night. Wow. I can't remember the last time my reading carried over into my dreams. When I was seven?

I like where this series is heading. Yes, it plods along at times. 20 pages of descriptive folderol associated with Cory seemed like Nick got stuck at the keyboard and obsessed. And yes, it borrows quite a bit from prior books and movies in the genre. But, the story pulls you along. At least it did for me if I'm dreaming about it.

Overall, I think Nick's "Old Man and the Wasteland" is his best. But AW is pretty good. I look forward to further expansion of this universe.

[Jon]

I'm a little torn on how to rate this one. I enjoy the characters, and I breezed through the story. However, it's awkwardly parsed because there is basically a Part I and Part II without any indication of such. I'd been enjoying the continuation of our neighborhood survival characters from The Red King, but they only make up the beginning portion of this installment until a perspective shift takes the story in a completely different direction. In my view there should be a better mingling of these distinct elements.

That said, I still enjoyed both parts of the book and might as well finish what appears to be a trilogy with one extra short story thrown in. The author introduced some science fiction elements that will hopefully receive further exploration.

And yes, the title is a Batman reference and not just coincidence.

[Karen]

Bring on the Wyrd. I loved this book.The author creates a Wyrd world full of unique characters.The last few chapters were really interesting and were quite unexpected.The links included to "secret" documents were pure gravy.I can't wait to read the next book in the series.I highly recommend this series to every fan of the Sci-Fi and Zombie genres.

[Colby]

Very well done! Great characters and full of action, the Dark Knight lives up to the rest of the AW universe so far. Fantastically written. Nick Cole still has the ability to move his readers, and Cory was brilliant. I haven't rooted so hard for a character in a while.

[Gabe]

It's too early in the morning to get all prosaic about this book. Suffice it to say; I can't wait for the next one!

[Ziggy Nixon]

3.5 stars for the whole series including books 1, 2, "3" (which in comparison to the others I found to be a rather weak novella in the series that apparently also gets called either book 2.5 but also book 3) and 4. I'll figure out some way to rate each book accordingly because I only want to - and only really can - describe them all together as a single unit, despite the changes that occur in style and form and reality and...

OK, first of all: why did I read these? Well, it's my yearly one-week bachelor holiday with the wife and kids off skiing and this beats drinking by myself into a pathetic stupor (plus, that wouldn't be fair to the dog). So: what to read, what to read? Hey, you know what? It's been a while since I enjoyed a good zombie book! But they're all the same! I wonder if there are any books out there that are really unique in the genre? Well, kids, if that's what you're looking for, you found it! Unique. OH yeah.

Cole's writing is a mix of both really awesome aspects (he has an often but not always excellent way with words and I found some blurbs to be immensely quotable) and some less so. Especially in books 1 and 2, the style is very blocky and we disappear for far too long to introduce or follow various characters (see for example, The Cory Bit or The Skully Aside or....). That changes dramatically in book 3 which alternates chapters between the different characters both in the present and in the past. This leads to a much more coherent flow back and forth between various aspects of the plot as well as making the final much more tense and interesting than it might have been otherwise (particularly what with the whole 'well, there goes my mind being blown away' stuff). But I will openly admit that I didn't even stop long enough between ending one book and starting the next to do, well, anything. The series was that much fun. That's got to count for something, no?

Having said that, the only thing I can think of to call the... evolution???... of this series is that it is a total literary clusterf*ck, but, you know, mostly in a good way. I mean, wowzers, does it eventually go off the rails and the road and the sky and the sea, too. This must be what a lot of people refer to as cyberpunk because you are NOT!! going to get answers to a lot of open bits and you are NOT!! going to guess what happens next in a lot of parts. It gets so incredibly weird that by the end you won't know what you've just read nor if you're really done until your kindle just won't go any further.

Yes, the characters in their own ways are fascinating, deeply flawed and sympathetic... but good gods, again, what the literal fudge was all that? There are parts that are so confusing and yet you read on like you're watching some kind of horrible yet equally spectacular train crash! The CGI on this if it ever gets turned into a film would be mind-boggling! But the books read fast, they read fun and especially if you've got Kindle Unlimited (valid for books 2-4 only), why the hell not is my motto. I know it sucks as a motto, but what are you gonna do?

OK, puppy is asleep, I may start drinking anyway.

[Robert Bor]

Sequel to The Red King, part 2 in the Wyrd series.

The weirdness has not subsided, quite the contrary. In part One, fundamental conflict between characters was lacking, but that is no longer the case in this book. Whereas to Holiday, Frank's objection to his character may seem harsh, but fair, something malign lies under the surface. Could Frank have feelings for the same girl? Nice how talking about Spaghetti Aglio e Olio – quite delicious indeed – served as a way to return from a mysterious, collective blindness to seeing once more.

The rest of the book focuses on the slow-witted boy Cory, who first figuratively lives in a parallel universe, and then literally. As he shifts from his zombie-infested world to the one where Skynet reigns supreme, his rigid routine is tested to the breaking point. The description of Cory is endearing, although, truth be said, his story continues for a bit longer than I hoped for. Would have loved to learn more of The Castle and Mr Steele.

[Tom]

Following our zombie apocalypse survivors from the previous book, this story starts out in the construction of their fortress/castle, but quickly focuses on the side story of Cory, a special needs man-boy who becomes "The Batman" as a defense mechanism. The author could have used this character as a thinly-veiled foil or sympathy-grabber, but refreshingly we get a deep look into Cory's hopes/fears/motivations. He's an actual person, and that's terrific. Fun to watch his own instincts and tactics, and how they play out in this universe. Great choice on devoting nearly this entire story to him.

Still a lot of unanswered weirdness here... do we have overlapping universes? Time-travel? Literary and film genres brought to life in some martix-ish virtual reality? I guess I'll just have to stick with it to find out.

[Viktor]

Terrific installment of this series. However, as is the first volume, it is not a standalone story. But this time that caveat comes with a twist, as the main story here is the backstory of another new character. And that backstory is topnotch.

[neal mirin]

Time change

To big of a time change, lost the storyline, lost me as a reader. So much potential. To book one but it did not make it.

[Graham Bradley]

Good book, but I am pretty much done with zombies.

[juanita harris]

Book2

This is a great read,definitely not your ordinary zombie apocalypse.Your going to love Cory,aka Batman,and want him to survive,and find his way home!Very good story!

[David]

WoW what a change I really enjoyed it, and loved how it ended by looping back. It also answered a few questions from the first book. Really can't wait to read the next in this series.

[Will Swardstrom]

With his hand solely responsible for two of the Apocalypse Weird novels thus far, and half of another, it’s safe to say Nick Cole is guiding the direction of the AW stories. With The Dark Knight, Cole ups the ante even farther, introducing new characters we can’t help but root for, and a startling aspect that no one saw coming.

Out of the six AW novels complete so far, Cole’s The Dark Knight (releasing Monday, Feb. 23) is the first sequel in the ranks. Because of that, there is little stage setting for the main group of characters we met the first time out. But, Cole gives us a new character – literally the title character of Cory, who goes as Batman (or The Dark Knight). I’ll come back to him in a moment. The sequel gives Cole a lot of freedom to push the boundaries of his existing characters (which he wasn’t afraid to do back in The Red King anyway) as well as smash the expectations of a sophomore effort.

Back in TRK, Cole gave us the shady figure of Holiday, along with the steady Frank, and the mysterious Ashley. By the end of the book, we find Holiday refusing to accept reality, diving back into his drunken ways, and almost killing his friends along the way. In his wanderings, he finds new survivors and brings them back (and they’ve got their own issues and mysteries as well), but Frank swears Holiday off. The two men who depended on each other and survived due to that trust are done. Frank will not give Holiday any measure of trust, no matter what Holiday does to try to become the hero the group deserves.

While that is playing out, we wander outside of Frank’s newly-built castle and meet Cory. Cory is special. Cole doesn’t ever say what it is that makes Cory special – Down’s Syndrome, Fragile X, or whatever – but it’s clear a person like Cory wouldn’t survive long in a post-apocalyptic world without help. So where has he been the past few weeks as zombies terrorized the city? That’s a twist I’m not going to share, but suffice it to say, I didn’t see it coming. It adds an entirely new dimension for the AW world to explore and I loved it.

Cory is searching for his father, a police officer, who inspired Cory to become Batman, costume and all. Whether searching for diabetic supplies for his neighbor at the nearby pharmacy, or trying to survive a world gone mad, Cory’s safety and security lies in his alter-ego.

I am Batman.

I am the Night.

Cory becomes the Night and survives the horrors of Apocalypse Weird, only to be discovered by Ashley, setting up some potentially exciting scenes in Cole’s third book, already named The Lost Castle.

There is a great story in this book, but at the same time, Cole is teasing us. He is setting the chess board. The titles aren’t coincidental – The Red KING, The Dark KNIGHT, The Lost CASTLE (otherwise known as a ROOK). Cole has a master plan up his sleeve and isn’t willing to tip his hand just yet. There are more moves to be made, some by him, perhaps some by other writers. I can’t wait for the third book, and frankly every book to be put out under the AW banner in the future. The world is being destroyed and I’m having a great time in the process.

[Mike Nemeth]

Nick Cole in his second novel of the Apocalypse Weird series, The Dark Knight embraces convention and kicks it squarely in the face at the same time. He blends at least three genres. The first is zombies: A virus turns much of the population into coughing sickos who then become ravenous for human flesh. A small group of unlikely survivors band together in a condo complex and face their fears and personal demons while realizing the rest of society is falling apart. Meanwhile, Cole tosses in a bit of military thriller as he introduces a group of soldiers who try to pull things together despite horrific odds. This second novel touches briefly on the military angle but focuses more closely on the condo folks who continue to prepare for the shambling dead. They secure their compound and further establish the hierarchy of their new compact society. I read through this quickly. Cole's got something coming, and I wanted to know what he had in store. He's very familiar with formula, but I get the impression he prefers to mess with it. Then it happens. We are introduced to Batman. He's really an autistic kid named Cory with such a touching backstory that when I was immersed in reading it I didn't care about the other plot threads in the novel. Cory's dad is a cop. He raised Cory to be strong, or as strong as a kid who thinks everybody's nice even when they're beating on him in the playground. Cory's mom left. She couldn't handle the responsibility. Turns out Cory loves Batman. And Batman gives him confidence. He's internalized the phrase from the cartoon, "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman." This part of the book is tremendous. Cole's handling of the character shows a tenderness and understanding that I've never encountered. Not that I've read much with autistic protagonists. Cole takes off into another twist, thus giving readers their money's worth for the weird in the title. But I was into it. Cory is an interesting character, and I can picture everything Cole, who says he's a working actor, writes. He doesn't waste words. His prose reveals a gritty landscape and grittier bad guys. But he also pumps a lot of life into his story. This is his best yet.

[Aly Abell]

The Dark Knight is mainly set in the world of The Red King, at the very beginning of the Apocalypse Weird. I enjoyed spending more time with Frank, Holiday, Ash, and the other characters from The Red King. Their varied personalities and skills make the social dynamics uneasy, but together they can make a formidable team. Will they manage to establish a reasonably secure setting to live out their lives in this new, post-apocalyptic world?

We also get introduced to a new major character. Cory is a young man with special needs, frightened by all these changes he doesn’t understand. A fog reminiscent of the mists in Reversal by Jennifer Ellis takes Cory to another point in time. Most of the last part of The Dark Knight is set in the time period that Cory slipped into. It is not a very pleasant time. Will Cory manage to get back to his own time? – unbelievably, the early days of the Zombie Apocalypse seem more promising than the bleak time he stumbled upon by accident. And if Cory returns, will he be able to somehow make the future brighter than the dismal version he glimpsed?

The Dark Knight ends with the reader having a somewhat better understanding of the Apocalypse Weird universe, but there are many questions and threads that still need resolution. Who is Ritter trying to contact – and just who is Ritter? Will Holiday overcome the demons of his alcohol addiction? How will Frank and Holiday resolve their conflict with each other? Will the castle provide enough fortification against the zombies? I am eager to read the next volume in the series.

I received an Advance Reading Copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Philip]

If Nick Cole's The Red King was a sampling of appetisers for the feast that is his version of the apocalypse, then its sequel, The Dark Knight, is a deceptively simple first course that leaves you eager for more and wondering exactly how the chef is going to top it.

The Dark Knight follows on directly from The Red King but after briefly checking in with the groups from that novel, it moves on to the heart and soul of the book - Corey - a special needs adult who finds the courage to face frightening situations by dressing as Batman. And Cory's tale is Nick Cole at his finest.

Within a few paragraphs of Cory arriving in the story, you're rooting for him and hoping he makes it through the zombie apocalypse in one piece. Throw in some spot on observations on how society would treat Cory and a nicely pitched nod to pop culture and you've got a recipe for a great book.

I really enjoyed reading The Dark Knight. It had me hooked from the very beginning and firing up my Kindle every chance I got until I'd finished the story. Now I can't wait for the next in the series.

[Cmoore]

Wow,umm, the Apocalypse Weird meets the Terminator.

Frank and Holiday are back and Holiday is working hard to get back into everyone's good graces after the debacle with the gate. (Haven't read the first book please go get it, currently it is available for free on Amazon)

But this is really a story about Cory. I swear I tried to take my time reading this book, but I just couldn't do it. Cory with luck and good instincts and help from a few people has managed to steal my heart and I can't wait to see where this story is going to take me.

Now about Apocalypse Weird, I love it. I love the format eBook plus easter eggs and that all of the stories are loosely tied together. There is still plenty of stories to keep me happy with 5 books being released on Feb. 23 and 2 more released every month after that. That should give me (a voracious reader) plenty of words until Nicks next book.

[Rose]

This is the instalment where the "weird" in Apocalypse Weird becomes truly apparent. Weird in a "I can't believe he went there and actually managed to successfully pull this shit off" kind of way. We have the zombies and the metal-faced guy at the end of The Red King now merged with a really sweet mentally challenged boy who thinks he's Batman, some time-travel to Terminator-land where Skynet has taken over, and was that THE Randall Flagg? BOOM...that was my mind being blown.

I just have no way to explain the progression of this story without serious spoilers or making you think this must be the most seriously f***ed up book out there. Well, it is a little bit of that but it was also seriously well written. It would have to be to pull all this craziness off and totally make it work.

There was a blurb at the end of The Dark Knight that mentioned the next book - I absolutely must have it. You just can't leave a story like that hanging.

[Trisha]

The Dark Knight is the sequel to the The Red King. It picks up from the end of The Red King, where Frank and Holiday are still at it and the new people are still fitting in. But one night Ash goes out to rescue a special needs kid, Cory, maybe not a kid anymore as he has had to grow up fast especially after the future he has seen.

A really amazing, thought out book with awesome characters and the jump in time with Cory was pretty cool. Cory is a strong kid and maybe that is what I liked most about him he can get through anything, he is vengeance, he is the night, he is Batman, I think he is my hero right now and I can't wait to see how his story ends up. This is really a cool story and I can't wait for the next one especially with narrator Guy Williams reading, the audiobooks have been spectacular. Mr. Williams has wonderful voices for the characters and he sucks you into their world as though you are there, he is a great narrator definitely one not to be missed.