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Summary
Summary
Erin Neal has been living a secluded life in the Arizona desert since the death of his girlfriend and he isn't happy when an oil company executive comes calling. A number of important Saudi wells have stopped producing and Erin is the world's foremost expert in resolving just these kinds of complications. As far as he's concerned, though, he's left that world behind. Not his problem. Homeland Security sees things differently. Erin quickly finds himself stuck in the Saudi desert, studying a new bacteria with a voracious appetite for oil and an uncanny talent for destroying drilling equipment. But worst of all is its ability to spread. It soon becomes clear that if this contagion isn't stopped, it will infiltrate the world's petroleum reserves, cutting the industrial world off from the energy that provides the heat, food, and transportation necessary for survival. Erin realizes that there's something eerily familiar about this bacteria. And that it couldn't possibly have evolved on its own.
Author Notes
Kyle Mills was born in 1966. He moved around a lot as a child because his father was an FBI agent. He graduated college with a degree in finance and worked in a bank before becoming a writer. His first book, Rising Phoenix, took eight months to write and was published in 1997. His other works include Storming Heaven, Sphere of Influence, Fade, The Second Horseman, Lords of Corruption, Robert Ludlum's The Ares Decision, and The Immortalists. His title Robert Ludlum's the Utopia Experiment made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2013. His books, The Survivor, co-written with Vince Flynn, made The New York Times bestseller list in 2015 and Order to Kill, also co-written with Vince Flynn, mady the New York Times besetseller list in 2016.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Masterful thriller writer Mills returns to his series hero, former FBI agent Mark Beamon (last seen in 2002's Sphere of Influence), with a pulse-pounding apocalyptic scenario that is terrifying in its plausibility. Maverick environmentalist Erin Neal has become a pariah after his provocative book angered both conservationists and conservatives, and a recluse after the death of his ex-lover, eco-terrorist Jenna Kalin. His solitude is interrupted when Beamon, now the head of energy security for the U.S. government, tracks him down to stop a disaster: the destruction of the world's major oilfields by bioengineered bacteria remarkably similar to ones Neal himself considered designing. The bioweapons have already infected the major Saudi sources of oil, and the impact on the U.S. economy makes the identification of the terrorists and a plan to stem the spread of their microorganisms the national priority. While such plots are a dime a dozen, Mills's meticulous research, pacing and carefully developed characters make this variation particularly convincing. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Erin Neal, acknowledged expert on analyzing and preventing oil-field disasters, has recused himself from a world that rejected his advice on runaway energy consumption. Isolation in the Arizona desert also allows him the dubious privilege of self-pity. But now someone has mutated his controllable oil-eating bacteria, which were used to clean up spills, and infested the world's primary oil fields. Former FBI agent Mark Beamon, a well-paid, do-nothing official in Homeland Security, is directed to recruit Neal for damage assessment and development of an antidote. Neal participates under protest but provides a chilling prognosis: 30 percent of the world's oil is at risk, and the possible development of an airborne strain of the bacteria would send the planet back to subsistence farming. Mills, the standard-bearer for doomsday thrillers, offers another entry that is as disturbing as it is entertaining. His villains are ecologists whose initial idealism has morphed into destructive zealotry, and his heroes are as flawed as they are convincing: Beamon, who's been featured in other Mills thrillers, is a seen-it-all character who hasn't seen anything like this, and Neal is a bitter, lonely, perpetually grieving scientist, a nearly broken man trying to summon one last burst of strength. Mills has done it again: another up-all-night read (with nightmares to follow).--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2007 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
Erin Neal has been living in seclusion since his girlfriend's death and he isn't happy when an oil company executive comes calling. Some important Saudi oil wells have stopped producing and Erin is the world's foremost expert in resolving these matters. But he has left that world behind. Homeland Security, however, sees things differently. Erin quickly finds himself stuck in the Saudi desert studying a new bacteria with a voracious appetite for oil and an uncanny talent for destroying drilling equipment. But worst of all is its ability to spread. It soon becomes clear that if this contagion isn't stopped, it will infiltrate the world's petroleum reserves, cutting off the energy that provides the heat, food, and transportation necessary for survival. As the threat becomes more real, Erin realizes that there's something eerily familiar about this bacteria. And that it couldn't possibly have evolved on its own... Excerpted from Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
