Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills
A Riveting Thriller About Sabotaging the World's Oil Supply
What would you do if gas were suddenly $6 per gallon, if you didn't have oil to heat your home, and food from all over the country couldn't make it to your grocery?
Maybe you work at home, use natural gas to heat your home, and shop at local markets -- so you think that you'd not be affected by a shortage of oil. Think again. The all-too-real scenario that Kyle Mills depicts in his new novel, Darkness Falls, describes a 35 percent reduction in the world's oil production, a situation caused by various oil fields, in Saudi Arabia and Alaska, being sabotaged with oil-eating, genetically-engineered bacteria -- bacteria that can't be killed by any known agent.
A World without Oil
In Kyle Mills' new world, the United States' car-dominated society will come to a crashing halt as gas becomes more difficult to get. There will be government-imposed gas rationing to save enough gas for ambulances and other essential services. Stores unable to get merchandise will have to lay off employees. Employees who can't get gas to drive to work, will have to quit their jobs. The basic necessities -- food, heat, shelter -- will become of sole importance to a society that has forgotten all that our forefathers knew about survival.
Erin Neal
One man, a renegade bio-engineer, called by all a genius (albeit a strange and idealistic one), has the knowledge and the connections to solve this crisis and prevent any more oil fields from being destroyed. However, Erin Neal is maybe the one person in America that won't be greatly affected by the oil shortage. He grows his own food, lives in a remote part of Arizona, and generates his own energy. He also has secrets and people in his past that he'd like to protect from government scrutiny.
Darkness Falls is a fast-paced, very readable thriller with a disturbing premise. The characters, from Dr. Neal to the Homeland Security Energy Chief who attempts to recruit Neal, are flawed enough to be realistic and interesting. It's a novel that will leave you thinking about it long after you've finished reading.
About Kyle Mills
Kyle Mills is the author of eight novels, starting with "Rising Phoenix," which also features Mark Beamon. The son of an FBI agent, Mills has lived all over the United States, including Oregon and Washington DC, and has a unique insight into life inside the FBI. He and he wife, both avid rock-climbers, live in Wyoming. He writes a blog on his Web site.
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