Blackout

by Chris Ryan

 
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.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Military Fiction, Action, War, Ebooks, Terrorism

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Colin Armstrong (b. 1961), usually known by the pen-name Chris Ryan, is a British author, television presenter, security consultant and former Special Air Service sergeant.
After the publication of fellow patrol member Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero in 1993, Ryan published his own account of his experiences during the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1995, entitled The One That Got Away. Since retiring from the British Army Ryan has published several fiction and non-fiction books, including Strike Back, which was subsequently adapted into a television series for Sky 1, and co-created the ITV action series Ultimate Force. He has also presented or appeared in numerous television documentaries connected to the military or law enforcement.

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 1 out of 5]

A painful experiance from front to back. Amateur writing, childish dialoge, and predictable story. I usually hightlight my books with intersting quotes, worth while information or generally parks of the story i would like tonread again. I have 5 highlights from 420 pages of this book, which was reference to how badly written it was so i could remind myself how bad stories can be told. With the name Josh aprearing ever other sentence. I.e Josh felt like this, Josh walked here, Josh couldnt beleive.... It got beyond funny and down right insulting that Chris Ryan could publish something as a creditited Auther with such obvious lack of care, effort, variety and it felt respect for his fans. I have read 4 of his books so i was looking forward to another. Needless to say it may be a while before i allow Chris Ryan redemption, it was that bad.

[Zoe Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve seen some really bad reviews about this book but I actually really enjoyed it. Not read a Chris Ryan before and would never normally choose this type of genre to read. It was a great introduction to Chris Ryan and I will definitely read more of his books!

[Sean C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Weak, unrealistic plot. Total lack of believability. Previous reviews are outright lies.

[Guy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Those rating this above 2* need help!

I have read most of Chris Ryan's books and they vary from good to fantastic.

However this book is awful. I've still got about 60 pages left and will finish it, but it is so bad I thought I'd have a look on here to see if other readers thought the same!

We have a main plot of someone/group turning off the mains in the worlds major cities. Then we have "Josh" losing his memory. Instead of wrapping this up in a few chapters, we get the whole book of Chris trying to make the plot work by the main character trying to remember things, characters who have no motive to still be involved helping him (or could there be twist to look forward to?!!), vague clues, and random events which just help make this book become a total mess.

Even the main characters involvement in the wider plot is just so vague and ridiculous its hard to read.

You can see Chris has proof read the book, found flaws in elements that his character should not be able to remember, and tried to bend the book into place.

Then we have a GPS bearing based on the tracks off a CD... sweet Jesus its terrible.

Possibly the worst book I've ever read - or attempted to read.

[Marcus · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a while now I've been picking Chris Ryan's books whenever felt the need to schratch the urge for some good 'special ops' yarn. Usually Ryan delivers exactly that - nice feel of special ops, some professionally sounding dialogue, likeable 'operators', mariginally plausible plot, some sex and you have yourself a nice little book. This time around however, Ryan failed me rather miserably. Paper-thin characters, and what's even worse, a plot that barely holds together all the way to the end and without a shred of plausability. It's still readable little novel (if you don't mind occassional 'oh, come on, seriously?'-reaction), but in my opinion it's the author's worst effort among the those of his books that I've read so far.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly different book from Chris Ryan this time, still alot of action and the cringing sex scenes but this time not fighting in Iraq (I know there have been others). Set in the USA Josh wakes up with no memory but with two bullet holes instead and is instantly running for his life. Where is he, who is he, whats he doing here and most importantly, Why are there alot of people trying to kill him?



4 Stars

[Suyash Agrawal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts well and seems impressive till one finishes its prologue. Thereafter its an albatross hung around one's neck sucking all energy and time for weeks. Weak plot, predictable climax, immature writing and has everything that a good book doesn't.

[Leanne Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Chris Ryan book recommended by a friend. Great plot and fantastic twist - I didn't see that coming! couldn't put it down

[RickyB]

2.5 stars.

[Ray Theron · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are solely for the tensely woven plot and the well-crafted action sequences. Sadly, for an ax-military who should know better, Chris Ryan commits some serious and basic factual errors, the most glaring of which is his main character Josh building "landmines" out of shotgun shells amazingly left behind in a sheriff's office in 1924, some 80 years earlier than the action of the novel and, even worse, making bombs strong enough to mangle steel and tear limbs off people out of -- wait for it-- glass bottles filled with 80-year-oldheating oil and nails! Clearly Ryan hasn't even the most basic knowledge of chemistry (and neither does his editor, nor it would seem does either of them have access to Google.

As regards the twists and turns of the plot, they are mostly good, but the denouement close to the end is amateurish and unconvincing.

No, this is by far not Ryan's best, and I actually feel cheated having spent three days reading it when I could have been spending time with a worthwhile book.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm, unrealistic story line even compared to the usual in this genre. I'd of expected this to be aimed at teenagers if it wasn't for the graphic description of torture...which each time Josh somehow bounced back from.

Very predictable ending regarding Kate/Marshal. I tried to avoid this conclusion when Kate was introduced but after Marshal viciously assaults a police officer and after a so called over protective father ( Marshal ) warns him to stay away from her sexually, he seemed unconcerned with her venturing off with him on a deadly mission. The only conclusion you can come to is that they're part of the conspiracy. In fairness, I did not expect Azim to be a double ( or triple ) agent but after the prior 26 chapters I was barely interested for this to do anything for me.

I mean this is worth what i payed, 50p from a charity shop. Other users have vouched for Chris Ryan's legitimacy as a decent captivating writer so I'll see with the next two books of his I have.

[Jen Rum · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Court martial me. Or, give me a medal" - this book is one man's mission to be as macho as possible, all the while making silly decisions, seeming to not care about tactics or the broader implications of his actions.

I particularly enjoyed:

- When Josh was identified as a soldier initially by his physique rather than his tattoo. "He's a soldier. I'd recognise those tight abs anywhere" - (not what Marshall said but very much the energy of what he said)

- When Josh pranced into a police station and gave shocked Pikachu when his actions had consequences.

- Ryan's articulate description of women: Boobs, hair and tight clothes.

- When Kate said "what are you doing, you idiot" to Josh, I felt that.

- Triple agent. It gave that one spiderman meme.

1 star for writing, 5 stars as a book to turn your brain off to.

[Steve822 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I respect the author for what he has done in his military life. I wanted a bit of escapism, easy on the brain but didn't get past page 104 as the book descended into a video game. Hero has lost his memory Jason Bourne like but the beautiful Kate (why is the woman always beautiful but vulnerable but likely available) calls him by his first name during one passage. It jarred. He then decides to break into a rural police station in a one horse town but fools said Kate that he just going out for cigarettes, secreting a gun and a grapling hook (!) about his person. As he triggered the police station alarm it then descended into farce with snipers and helicopters trying to take him out. The shooting was terminated by the sound of me throwing the book down.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm

I have read 95% of Chris Ryan books, this, in my opinion is nowhere near aa good as some of his others (even as a standalone) didnt take long to get in to, but it is wrote a lot different to most of his others, less 'shoot em up'.

It took a little bit to understand what was going on, quite a few gaps in it. One paragraph the house was 200 miles away, the next paragraph he was 50 yards from the house.... no explanation of how they got there

[Praveen Kumar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books sucks. Very amateur writing and a shallow plot. And the protagonist in this book goes through a lot. All along the book he will be tortured by almost every people and the next thing he will be doing is having sex with someone. Thank god I didn't buy this shit. Save your money and buy something worth your money.

[SarahClements · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
For my first Ryan book where the setting was in a warzone, it was pretty good. I do prefer the warzone kinda scenes but this was still fascinating. It gave me a better insight on the military and the role it plays in the world. The plot twist were kinda predictable. The characters attitudes were a little basic but all the same the realism was done very well.

[Gary Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much focusing on the bad side of being a SAS hero, a lot of the time is spent with the main character being tortured or otherwise in pain.

A case of less James Bond and more Rambo. Still enjoyable, though, even though one or two of the twists were a bit obvious.

It must have been good, as I read it in one day!

[Kelly Hine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this one a book of two halves… the first was hard to get into, not much action and seemingly went on for a while with not much happening. The second burst into life and had some great baddies. Kate was an obvious “twist” at the end that I called a fair few chapters prior but didn’t see Azim coming!

[Pat M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many preposterous situations that our hero miraculously overcomes-severe torture involving electric shocks, beatings, even snake bites etc. I didn't mind the premise involving computer hacking but the rest was mostly comical. OK twist at the very. An obvious giveaway to the identity of one of the bad guys is in Chpt. 6 (page 97 of the paperback copy).

[Tjerk Valentijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced entertainment, written by a man who clearly knows about special forces. Plot is quite transparant and I started noticing that the good guy gets the life kicked out of him every couple of pages. But a good holiday read anyway.

[Christopher Dodds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was enjoyable to read, full of action suspense well written characters and story arcs and some surprising twists that I did not see coming but was great to discover them as they happened. Chris Ryan is a great author and it really does show that he knows what he is writing about.

[Robert Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blackout

The was a great book to read because it had everything in it from hard ship to getting back at who done it back to hardship again . I would like to know did he get his son and Tracy back

[john reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant !!

A great! Non put down book it was so well written that I was out breath at times
The story was full of non stop action.
As well as brilliant twists and turns right to the very end I look forward to reading the next Chris Ryan book !!!

[The Villan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good easy read. Though I was amazed that the hero wouldn’t obtain a weapon(s) when he had the opportunity considering he’s special forces Or even pick them off someone whom he just killed that was shooting at him ! (Especially when he doesn’t have a firearm himself).

[Floor · Rating 1 out of 5]

When the second quote on the back of a "No. 1 bestseller" is from Boys Toys, and the third from a random Amazon review, I guess I should not have had any expectations..

[Paul Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual reading material but you can’t knock it until you’ve tried it. It started off well, a promising thriller, but dipped in the middle and the finale wasn’t good enough to bring it back.

[Sarah Verso Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very predictable and seemed to go on for a lot longer than necessary

[October Pixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Plot really thickens..and then the twist.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve read many of Chris Ryan’s novels before and seem to remember liking them, but this one is so full of plot holes that I’m going to keep it in my kitchen and use it as a colander!

[Alan Welch · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot has more holes than a leaky sieve and the action sequences are ludicrous.