Book Review: The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy

I’ll be honest, the only reason I picked this book up is because on the front cover it claims to be ‘one of the best Stephen King books not written by the master himself’ (that’s from the New York Times). Being a sucker for a King novel (I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next one), I was practically obligated to give it a go. And I have to say, I’m really glad I did.

‘The Dark Net’ starts off reading like it’s going to be something like that one story in ‘VHS 2’ where the guy gets a bionic eye implanted and starts seeing ghosts - who, once they know he can see them, start being able to interact physically with him and … well, you get the idea. Instead, it quite quickly picks up much more sinister tones, with seedy underworld organizations working through the underbelly of the internet, an occultist serial killer and strange supernatural occurrences weaving into the narrative and creating a story from elements that really don’t feel like they should go together, but somehow they do. The major characters drop in and out of the story, with all of them integral but none of them quite stealing all the spotlight. I would have liked to see a little more of the two or three ‘bad guys’ who were all brilliantly described but didn’t get much page time. However, that’s just me, I love a good villain!

In places it does remind me of a Stephen King novel - specifically ‘Cell’ and ‘The Stand’. I can’t say much more than that without spoilers, but suffice to say I think the blurb on the front cover was quite apt.

A very enjoyable read, and I’ll certainly be looking out for more of this author’s work!