Arrival

The Black #2

by Paul Elard Cooley

The crew of the deep-sea exploration rig Leaguer discovers oil sweeter, purer, and sure to be more easily refined than anything that’s ever existed. To confirm their own analysis of their billion dollar find, a test barrel is flown from the drill site off the coast of Papua/New Guinea to Houston Analytical Laboratories (HAL).

As the unsuspecting scientists at HAL await the arrival of the oil, they ready their lab for what they know is an important job. They’ve seen the test results from Leaguer; this find could make history.

While the barrel is on its way to Houston, an “infection” breaks out on the far-away rig. And as life aboard the rig descends into chaos, the scientists at HAL make their own discovery—what Leaguer found is indeed historic; it just isn’t oil. Instead, they’ve brought up a dangerous organism that could threaten all life on earth.

Trapped in their labs, the scientists must find a way to fight a creature that defies chemistry, physics, and biology.

The Arrival, a parallel story to the Amazon Horror Best-Seller The Black, is a page-turning suspense novel that will fill you with claustrophobic terror.

Now that The Black has arrived, will humanity survive?

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Survival

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2015

About the author

Paul E Cooley is a full-time writer and Parsec Award Winning podcaster from Houston, Texas. In 2009, he began producing free psychological thriller and horror podcasts, essays, and reviews available from Shadowpublications.com and iTunes.

His stories have been listened to by thousands and he has been a guest on such notable podcasts as Podioracket, John Mierau‘s “Podcast Teardown,” Geek Out with Mainframe, Shadowcast Audio, and Vertigo Radio Live. In 2010, his short story Canvas and novella Tattoo were nominated for Parsec Awards. Tattoo became a Parsec Award finalist. He has collaborated with New York Times Bestselling author Scott Sigler on the series “The Crypt” and co-wrote the novella “The Rider” (projected to release in 2014). In addition to his writing, Paul has contributed his voice talents to a number of podiofiction productions.

He has two Amazon best-selling series: The Black and The Derelict Saga.

He is also a co-host on the renown Dead Robots’ Society writing podcast.

Reviews

[RedemptionDenied · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel or paraquel (I had to look it up), which means it runs parallel to the first book.. About three quarters of the way through the first book, a helicopter arrives at 'The Leaguer' exploration oil rig platform, to pick up a test barrel of what they believe to be pure oil - which they then deliver to the Houston Analytical Laboratory for analysis. It's not long after the events on 'The Leaguer' start to unfold, that the Houston Analytical Labs scientists come under attack from an unknown creature.

I enjoyed The Black: Arrival as much as the first book, it was a fun read - and I can't wait to read 'The Black: Outbreak.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arrival (The Black #2)
By Paul E. Cooley
I just finished reading book one which dealt with the horror of the "Black" at the oil rig. This book shows the reader what happened to the sample at the company's lab. It's just as crazy plus they have the CDC involved. Pretty good read.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Arrival was published after The Black, this is not so much a sequel or prequel, but a paraquel, taking place alongside the first installment. While The Black took place on an isolated oil rig, Arrival takes place in the lab that was slated to test the crude from the exploratory drill site. Well, the 'oil' did arrive as promised at the lab, but pretty soon it became apparent that this was no normal crude!

Cooley definitely improved the pacing here, although like its predecessor, he spent some time describing, via character actions and interactions, the actual process of assessing crude oil. Again, I really liked this part but I am a nerd that way; other readers may find it slow going at first. The testing was rushed by PPE, the oil company that performed the test drilling at M2, the deep ocean trench from the first novel. So, a crack team of scientists (chemists mostly) gets the barrel and away we go. The characters were a little more fleshed out as they were only initially a handful. Needless to say, the scientists are first confounded by the 'oil' after they begin their tests and then some of it 'gets away' and all hell breaks loose...

While the testing seemed very authentic and the monster paralleled the one from the first book, the response by the CDC was almost laughable here, although my reaction may be just because I was so disappointed with the CDC during Covid. Here, the CDC rush to the testing lab lickity split like a SWAT team or something! Cooley presented the CDC as uber efficient and tough; alas, in real life this did not prove to be the case when a real pandemic arose. Oh well. We still have no real clue regarding just what the oil monster is-- alien? primitive Earth lifeform? how does it think, etc. You just have to go with the flow here All in all, fun, but not quite as novel as the first. 3 oily stars!!

[Paul Cooley]

my book, so no review

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely, I remembered that I read the first book but not what I thought of it (which apparently I did not love). So I got this one and really liked it. I liked the characters far more in this book and, outside of some repeated weird action words (hissed is used SO MUCH), this was a fun horror book to read.

[BookLoversLife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I was like two chapters into the first book, The Black--when I surrendered and ran online and bought the next two. And yesssssssss, there's going to be a fourth! At the end of the year when I look over all that I've read and survey, I can just say now that the two biggest finds for me have been SL Grey and Paul Elard Cooley. Sure the Downside series isn't perfect and neither is The Black books--but even their stumbles are almost kind of precious.

If I had money, I'd be buying up the rights to this and funding movies based on these books. And it would be so easy! Just spray some black goo around, play some ominous music! Off camera scream, and then just a wedding ring left. Half the time the oil drops in on the witless folks through air vents or pop out of the walls. I have like nothing to criticize. One character jokes about a bad SyFy movie and while the book had many many opportunities to go there--you know cheesy level since we're talking about old God's blood that got mistaken for oil and is being shipped off to a chemical analysis lab in Houston for a report. But somehow it doesn't! And there's even a bratty teen in it! (Who while annoying at the beginning, got in the let's-not-die team pretty fast.)

I like the whole paraquel thing all the books have going on, where the events slightly overlap with one another--and it's such a genius idea for all horror novels I think. Really the books could almost be packaged as 1 huge book, since each are around the 250 page mark but it's better this way. To recap, the oil rig which we last saw had the misfortune to discover that they weren't really pumping "sweet, pure oil" but something with tentacles and teeth that can change form from liquid to solid in almost an instant, destroy anything except glass, steel, and complex plastics, and what they do touch, they clean because absorbing that mass into themselves going from tiny drop to tractor trailer sized scythes of teeth and eyeball stalks.

Since they shipped off the sample right away, we knew from the first book by the panicked "WTF DID YOU SEND US?!" emails they first got, followed by the terser ones from the CDC, and then radio silence, that things were not going well back in America. And lo, the center of this--a midnight lab staffed by a bunch of chemists, a security guard, the IT guy, and a cranky teen who can't decide what console she likes best, and a stalwart executive trying to protect his employees. Unfortunately, one of the characters cut their finger opening up the jar of "oil" and therefore gets infected almost immediately--as they pack them (about to explode into tentacles and teeth) off to the hospital, but still there is a drop lose in the building.

Cooley just writes people well--as in the last book one of the main characters is female, and one of the main scientists trying to stop the oil, with no love affairs, who competently helps figure out a weakness and I only point this out because it's so refreshing to see. The monster is pretty front and center in his books--there's weak resistance in this one from Team B of the CDC sent in to see how it's going in there and quickly become shivering converts. The only thing I finally slightly implausible, even more so than Cthulugoo, is how fast the government response is. That one scientist has practically slapped a band aid on the cut when it seemed like teams were mobilizing in choppers. They had the tent and everything all up and staff all set--can they do it that quickly? If so, kudos CDC.

But nice resolution and I enjoyed how this ended. And what a good idea in something like an apocalyptic thriller--not sure if he'll go that far with this series--so far like a 1,000 people have died but it's also only been like day 4 since they found the oil--I like the focus on the people directly affected first by it too instead of the standard 3 months later fare. Also, the acknowledgements mention how his father is a chemist, so the level of detail and ingenuity of the chemists in fighting back owe a lot to dad. The scientists manage to piece things together pretty quickly and fight back and.. the government takes the oil for its own research, which of course will not go well and bodes future books I think with Maeve & Neil working for it now. Also nice red herring, I went the whole book after the mention at the start how only one guy's keycard works on all the doors since the building is under construction...and he's one of the guys who lived. Totally thought he was dead meat for that fact alone. Nice misdirect!

[Peter Dutcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I didn't think this flashback novel would hold my interest like the first one, but it did! On to the next one!

[BigJohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Black: Arrival is a paraquel to The Black. At one point in The Black, the oil rig sends off a barrel of oil to a lab to be analyzed. This book follows that barrel as it lands in Houston, and kicks off all kinds of shenanigans. If you've read the first book, you have an idea of what kind of things are going to happen. In this story, however, the things happen in a slightly less isolated scenario than the exploratory oil rig.

The setup is a little similar to the second Jurassic Park movie, The Lost World, in which a dino escapes to Los Angeles. The isolated terror of the first story (Jurassic Park/The Black) has a new context in which to thrive (Los Angeles/Houston) in the second story (The Lost World/The Black: Arrival).

As you might expect with this kind of horrific setup, the government has its say in the goings-on. It's not just the private industries that have to deal with this threat, but the larger organizations that have public health and safety in mind as well. This creates some delicious tension that gradually unfolds throughout the story as the fan gets splattered more and more.

The Black: Arrival stands very well on its own, but is a great accompaniment to The Black. They both read very well and very quickly, with suspense and anxiety driving me speedily through both books.

[Jim Lay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cooley's follow up to "The Black" is an awesome, smart read and very cleverly done. "The Black: Arrival" focuses on the Houston testing facility that receives the first barrel of "oil" that comes from the drilling platform featured in the first novel. A fast, gripping read that had me turning the pages as fast as I could. I wanted a little more development of the entity's terror and abilities, but an overall awesome read that I highly recommend. As soon as I turned the last page, I opened the third novel in the series. And unlike a lot of rehash-sequels, Cooley is telling parallel stories in this series that fit together in a seamless and satisfying way.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book #2 in this series and I have to say I'm really enjoying how Mr. Cooley is telling this story. You basically have 3 books that tell the stories of people in 3 different places all affected by the same biological entity that is found deep in the ocean.
It plays in my head much like a movie would. The characters are all really fleshed out, but it doesn't bog the story down.
I'm excited to start book 3.

I would say it definitely conjures my memories of watching The Blob and The Thing.

[Jessica Kormos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun monster book - can't wait for the "The Arrival"!

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Cooley’s, The Black: Arrival, is the sequel to his first novel in the series The Black. This action-packed, fast-paced, suspenseful, sci-fi thriller takes place at a laboratory in Houston (not with those in the boat at the end of the first novel). The novel begins from when the oil sample is picked up on the oil rig and then continues from that point. Not only was this story well-developed and exciting, but I could also see Cooley’s improvement as an author from his first novel.

The novel opens with a helicopter heading to the rig to pick up the sample. While the helicopter makes its way back to the states, Cooley takes the time to describe the preparations being made at the lab. While describing the lab, Cooley pays close attention to the smallest of details, such as the line “The heavy steel door swung open on silent hinges.” Although this line might seem insignificant, those who read the first book will know about the properties of the “oil” and the fact that it decomposes some materials, while others it cannot. Cooley drops these little hints here and there throughout the course of the novel.

Also in these opening chapters comes the introductions and descriptions of many new characters. This can become slightly confusing, especially as Cooley continues to add new characters throughout the middle and end of the novel. He smartly makes all of the characters have different personalities that make them distinguishable from one another, which helps separate them out. Also, the book is a fairly quick read and keeps you hooked, so reading it in large chunks also helps to remember all the characters.

Once the sample arrives at the lab, the tests begin, but only for a little bit before havoc breaks out. Similar to how the first book branches off to the sample being sent to the lab, this book has its own “branch-off” after a lab employee who “...may have been infected by a biological agent... [and EMTs] take their patient to the medical center,” which is the main focus of the third book (Cooley). Once things start going awry at the lab, the story follows a similar structure as that of the first book with regards to the action, but Cooley keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

One improvement from the first book was how quickly Cooley jumps into the action. Instead of waiting until the middle, the action starts much quicker — once the sample arrives at the lab.

However, I did have one very minor issue with the novel. Personally, I thought the chapters were WAY too long. There are 8 chapters through the course of the entire novel, and I think that these could have been broken up more to make the novel seem better organized. I can see where Cooley could have easily done this, as he uses asterisks on an empty line to indicate a shift in scene.

Overall, Paul Cooley’s, The Black: Arrival, was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who read the first novel regardless of if you liked it or not. The change of scenery, new action, and improved writing style make this novel a must-read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nota principal : Esta entrega puede leerse de manera independiente de su antecesora, pero enriquece la lectura previa de The Black #1. Mas que una "segunda parte" es una historia que corre casi en paralelo.

En esta entrega de The Black, la sustancia extraña conocida como "M2" ha logrado llegar a un laboratorio de analisis en Houston . La historia sigue a grupo de personajes entre ellos el personal del laboratorio y ligeramente se habla de la primera novela asi como del personal del hospital donde termina una de las investigadora del laboratorio. Los personajes del laboratorio intentan comprender y detener la propagación de esta entidad destructiva.


La trama se desarrolla en múltiples escenarios, principalmente las instalaciones científicas, donde "M2" demuestra su capacidad para adaptarse a este nuevo entorno y consumir casi todo lo que este a su alcance. Los protagonistas se enfrentan no solo a la entidad, sino también a la desesperación y el caos que genera su presencia, asi como incompresión y excepticismo de las autoridades que intentan contener el brote antes de que sea demasiado tarde.


Temas principales:
Expansión del horror: A diferencia de la primera novela, donde la amenaza estaba contenida en un solo lugar, en "Arrival" la entidad esta dentro de una gran ciudad con la posibilidad de que se extienda rapidamente, aumentando la escala del terror.

Supervivencia y sacrificio: Los personajes deben tomar rapidamente decisiones difíciles para salvarse, incluso si eso significa sacrificarse.

Ciencia ficción : La novela explora los límites de la ciencia cuando se enfrenta a algo completamente desconocido e incomprensible que sobrepasa los conocimientos previos.


Recomendable : Si

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Black: Arrival is a paraquel, that is it runs concurrently to The Black filling in more aspects of the story. It is set on the American side of events at the testing facility where the barrel of oil from the exploration rig in The Black has been sent.

As one can imagine from events disclosed in The Black, namely that there's some sort of cryptozoological nightmare fuel that kills 70 odd people accidentally brought up from the ocean floor that's then sent on to a oil testing facility in Houston, Texas which is later quarantined, there's plenty of action to be had in Arrival.

From the get go it's interesting giving the perspective from the other side of the events which unfolded in the earlier book and as things progress you find yourself flipping through the pages waiting to see how it all goes wrong.

A solid addition to the series.

[M. Sprouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet little read if you like Scfi-thrillers and I do. A lot of likable characters, but they were a bit underdeveloped. That's probably because of the length of the book. Added to it was that most of us had read book one and knew about the black, it seem to take a while for it to get started. Once it got going the action was plentiful and the suspense was there. A diagram of the HAL facility would have helped, but I realized this is self-published (which is great). Some of the descriptions were a little hard to picture, especially toward the end. "Arrival" was good, but had the potential to be a lot better. The whole CDC angle was interesting. Overall, worth your money and more importantly your time.

[Tammy Bulcao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story!💜

I really liked this story. IMO the overall storyline felt a little like book 1 just in a different location. That said, as with book 1, I did enjoy the interesting characters and how each one handled themselves in the face of the Black, if the Black had a face 🤷🏻‍♀️.
I especially liked one part where someone just decided it was time for a smoke 😂.
Mostly I enjoyed the narration. Joe Hempel does a fantastic job voice acting each of these characters.
This is book 2 and can be read as a standalone but the author does leave it open to a possible book 3.
Which I’m looking forward to.
I recommend this book.

#theflock
#firesideaudio
#sistersspotlight

[ScholasticPerturbation · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels a lot like 90's action movies (a bit stupid but entertaining). Some of the choices to give characters depth/personality (one of the scientists apparently is an amateur voice actor who's constantly speaking in Looney Toons) were incredibly annoying. The CDC are represented more like 2D military bad guys than the CDC.

I'm undecided on continuing the series or not. It wasn't terrible but it isn't really very good, either.

[Hendrik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spannend geschrieben, knüpft auf interessante Weise parallel zu den Geschehnissen aus dem ersten Teil an, ist jedoch letztendlich gefühlt 90% Setup und 10% Action.
Wenn man denkt der letzte Kampf geht los, ist es schon wieder vorbei. Das war im ersten Band deutlich besser gehalten, das letzte Drittel fühlte sich wie eine lange Sequenz an.
Hier wurde eindeutig auf den 3. Band hingeschrieben, ohne dass die Geschichte in sich vollständig erscheint.
Das Ende ist sehr abrupt und generisch.

[Peter Germany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. It's well written, and thought through. I like how it ties up to the first book, but you don't need to read the first book to enjoy this one although I'd recommend it. Something I liked in particular was how Cooley isolated the characters, it felt like they were isolated and was believable.

[Jeff Correll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great, fun read. It moved really well. Just sit back and go along for a great ride.
One annoying thing though. For maybe the first half of the book, Mr Cooley has his characters "hissing" this or that sound through their teeth. I found it really annoying. A minor point in a fun read.
Book 3 is already on my To Read pile.

[Dallas Kitchens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first 2 books in this series are awesome, what can i say besides being absolutely freaking crazy about em, you actually learn alot about the oil industry. The characters are written in very tight way, a way to make you feel everything they are going thru. I have my own podcast on the anchor website called horror of your lives. And i will review this book. 4.799 stars out of 5

[FoxieMoxie203 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to work in a clean room for 13 years as a SEMs technician. It was interesting to here his take on the testing procedures
Would have been cool if he had done a EDX or a Fib on the monster. The story was again a meh....in the scary department. Not bad but not awesome. Guess I might buy the next book to see where it ends.

[Seirra Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the second 2 as much as the first. Great incomprehensible creature feature. I love fake science. I love outrunning cosmic horrors. I loved the series.

It's not too involved- the story focuses on the creature and the threat it poses without getting too bogged down with unrelated plot arcs. 8/10 do recommend.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great follow up to the first book. It’s essentially the story happening the same time as the first, and even though you have a vague notion of what’s happening, the author does well to build the suspense before quickly turning into a thrilling horror story of cat and mouse. Again really fun, and I liked the ending!

[Guillermo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I listened to the podcast rather than reading the books (I'll get to them someday, I swear - this explains why it took me so long to "read" the book). Pretty good stuff, I tell you. I'm sure my rating would improve significantly had I not been pestered by things like work.

[Brenda Gill]

Really a great thriller and excellent sci-fi. Crude oil sent to a lab for sampling turns into a horror because the stuff is some kind of living organism that defies all natural physical law. Just great - I'm definitely going to read the other books in the series!

[Scotty Marinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible!!!! magnificent! this series was sold to me as a hybrid blob and the thing inspired apocalyptic series and the first was definitely more blob this book is waaay more thing inspired. its sooo damn good! i read it in a day! please do yourself a favor and pick it up!

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the first a tad slow especially getting stated, but yes I'll read the third as I'm committed now haha

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if I was on a long flight I would have finished it. I was reading it, ... then I stopped.. and I thought "meh" and never finished.