Dark Digital Sky by Carac Allison (Dark Pantheon #1)
Dark Digital Sky is the first book in the Dark Pantheon mystery series by the author Carac Allison. I received the book through email from the author with a request to read and review. I didn’t have much information to go on, as it was shown neither on Amazon, nor on Goodreads. So when I started reading the book, I had no idea what it would be about. At all.
Soon I noticed though that I kept reading without stopping. Reading while eating breakfast, lunch and in bed before turning in to sleep. The topic interested me – very much so! A private investigator who knows his way around computers, servers, terminals, hacking and anything else you can imagine (or not) about someone being so well versed about the pc and online world.. A person who knows his way around FPS games the way the book’s main character, Chalk, knows, has my full attention. But more on that later.
Chalk (real name Chaucer) is an ex-FBI agent currently a PI who makes loads of money from his private work. He charges exorbitant fees from his clients, but he always delivers. His two main specialties are cults and digital forensics (hacking included, of course). His personal success is overshadowed by two main problems: a bipolar disorder which he keeps in check with medication, which he takes 3 times a day, more if necessary, and the fact that his son is not living with him. He has a bedroom ready for the son to move in as soon as he arrives. Whenever that might happen.
The story starts simple enough. A Hollywood over-wealthy personality contacts him with a request to find his 3 sons that he’d fathered through a sperm bank many years ago. He is dying and wants to meet his sons before it is too late. Chalk takes the money and the job, which turns out to be rather easy to do.
The first half of the book follows Chalk finding and investigating the three brothers, using all sorts of gadgets and underground online sources to put the brothers under surveillance. Once this job is done, he is not so nicely fired by the Hollywood mogul, which only makes Chalk go investigate some more. Especially when he finds that the three brothers have been recruited by a sadistic terrorist who wants to change the face of the very country they live in.
And this is where it really gets interesting. The story enters the fields of military paranoia, veterans who are instigated against their own people, computer games that are in fact related to the military and the terrorists.
The plot is coherent, moves along pretty fast, the suspense is all there and the writing is nicely done. Now I have to admit that this kind of thriller will appeal more to the folks who know a bit about computers, love techno-thrillers and don’t have anything against military FPS (first person shooter) games like Battlefield, Call of Duty and Planetside 2. And speaking of games – I felt a bit left out, as the game that I’m mostly playing these days is Planetside 2, which was not mentioned in the book at all, while its main competitor games were. Boo…
The more I read the book, the more intrigued I became. I realize that the author really knows his online stuff. Hacking, p2p torrents, watching movies online, underground auction sites (yes I Googled the one mentioned in the book, but sadly it doesn’t seem to exist), Darknet, online gaming…I was in digital heaven 🙂
If there is anything negative to say about this book, is this – at times I felt like Chalk got his way too often without finding much resistance from anyone at all. Any person interviewed by him – be it a grandmother, policeman, a fugitive or a thug, would speak with him freely, without much prompting, which was strange, as human nature is not quite so liberal in opening up their mouths and secrets to any stranger so easily. But for keeping the fast pace of the story, I’ve got to admit, it worked quite well.
Overall I quite liked this book. It might not be a literary masterpiece like Shakespeare’s or Hemmingway’s work (but then again, which technothriller is?), however it fits in its niche quite snugly, being a geeky technothriller for the 21st Century readers who love to be entertained by reading about some of their favorite techy subjects. Which are mine as well.