Cynopolis

Nightscape #2

by David W. Edwards

A former countercultural radical starts a thought-virus that turns Detroit’s dogs feral and its underclass into jackal-headed beasts. Abandoned to their separate fates among hordes of monsters, the few surviving humans must find a way to elude the military blockade preventing their escape or defeat the virus at its source—before government forces sacrifice them all.

Genres: Horror

358 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2015

About the author

David W. Edwards is the writer, director and producer of the feature film "Nightscape," author of the novels "Nightscape: The Dreams of Devils" and "Nightscape: Cynopolis," and co-songwriter/producer of the progressive rock concept album by Project Nightscape, "To Sin Against Our Mercies." He attended the University of Southern California’s prestigious screenwriting program and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English Literature while working for a variety of Hollywood production companies. He’s the founder and former CEO of a successful high-tech market research firm, and a former two-term state representative. He currently lives in Oregon with his family.

Reviews

[Jaffa Kintigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worst of infections can take advantage of the most minute of a body's weaknesses--when the system breaks, it breaks down completely. In this Lovecraftian horror novel, an apocalyptic infestation stirs in the dystopian wound that is Detroit. After generations of neglect and exploitation by institutionalized racism and capitalism, the citizens of Detroit have become vulnerable to expansionist whims of ultra-dimensional alien godlings bent on chaos and infiltration.

The 3-day Battle of Detroit sees hundreds of disenfranchised citizens shape-shifted into jackal-headed killers and hundreds of thousands killed as the government stumble-bumbles its reaction to the scourge. Third-person narration following a cross-section of the populous: native Detroit cops Swain and Rollie; immigrants from Iraq, eastern Europe and Thailand; junkies, dealers, strippers, ex-cons, homeless, ex-60s radicals, and gangbangers; and a small non-profit dog rescue team.

These in-depth character arcs are interspersed with second-person vignettes of personalities glimpsed and/or taken over by the godlings:

Anger: the signal waveform of the slum deeps, disordered and disordering. Its corrupting vibrations excite your hacklesenses. You're a creature of anger now--an anger borne of injustice and generations old. There's no why or wherefore, no personality to plumb. The profounds of civilization stand for nothing. You've been created anew and more hotblooded: a flicker-fusion of man and animal and god. . . Those insulated rich would know the judgment due. Assured in their superior means, in their thoughts and Sunday virtues, they regard their luxuries as marks of steady character, not luck, no, never birth nor circumstance. Those are excuses for the poorer sort. Ah, to consider their haughty delusions gives you an ache in the back of your throat.

The novel is a high action horror-thriller with supernatural underpinnings. But the heart of the novel rests in the all-too-human characters acting out of luck and instinct. Some favorite characters include: Malee, the gun-loving, survivalist, Thai immigrant, stripper-girlfriend of a cop; Khonsu, the ex-60s radical, ex-con, ex-addict, now homeless and selling Black Power books from a defunct press to make ends meet; and Teyo, the Hispanic ex-Marine now working the dog rescue team despite crippled limbs and accompanying pain.

I received my copy of this novel directly from the author through bookreviewdirectory.wordpress.com.

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detroit has been beaten to submission and is in its lowest point in history. This is the perfect time to release a virus. This virus turns dogs into crazy, feral animals and humans into jackal-headed beasts bent on destruction. Follow along with several people as they try to survive the victims of the virus and the governments lacking plan that kills more innocent people than the infected ones.

I loved this book. There is lots of action as we follow along with several people as they are trying to stay alive. They are trying to not run into the military that will end their lives and trying to stay away from the infected. Detroit has been beaten down and just like a rundown body, introducing the virus was almost too easy. The government was behind the ball and by trying to save the people made the infection worse along with taking out survivors.

If you are looking for a great dystopian, thriller look no further. This is a great story and one that you need to add to your shelf. I will definitely be looking out for other books by David W. Edwards.

I received Nightscape: Cynopolis for free from Worldwind Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.