This book grabs you right from the prologue as Joe Ledger asks a series of questions, including: Where were you when the lights went out? That's the question isn't it? Where you suddenly reminded that civilization and the comfort of infrastructure is just a garment that we wear? Did the sudden dark remind you that all of the things that we expect to be there for us are fleeting? You were absolutely sure someone was going to come and fix it right? Then there was a moment when you realized that the lights weren't coming back on, that maybe they wouldn't, that maybe they couldn't...

Despite the book title and the prologue, in typical Jonathan Maberry fashion the plot turns out to be far more complicated than just the threat of a permanent power outage. The teased power outage from the prologue is merely a side effect of one of the bigger plot lines which cover multiple major threat vectors. For me, this made the book more complicated than it needed to be; however, each of the threats is very unique so there is something for everyone to get hooked on no matter what your tastes. Even though it is the eight book in the series it still offered plenty of new challenges for Joe Ledger and the DMS to overcome.

When all the trouble starts things are not going particularly well for the DMS. Due to the events of the prior book there is a new President in power who has pushed the DMS to the sidelines after a series of failures has tarnished their reputation. The juicy cases are now handed over to the CIA and Joe Ledger finds himself a mere spectator as the world starts to crumble around him. All the regular characters in the series are back and Mr. Church even gets to show off a side of himself that hasn't been seen in a long time. There are some very impactful plot points for a number of the characters and one does wonder what the long term side effects there will be from such events.

Even though I would have preferred a more focused story, this one was entertaining from cover to cover and was definitely one of the better books in the series. Joe Ledger's world is a scary place and once again we are shown that although Joe is one of the good guys he is not a nice guy. Ray Porter stays on top of his game with another excellent audiobook narration and I am definitely looking forward to the next installment in the series.