Review: “The Dark Net” proves terrifying

In Benjamin Percy's new novel, 'The Dark Net,” malicious code isn't limited to our devices anymore. Instead, it can leap from those devices into our very minds.

In a recent piece for the website Literary Hub, Percy identified five books that are important influences on 'The Dark Net,” among them the seminal masterwork 'Neuromancer” by William Gibson and the Philip K. Dick classic 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” The mark of both novels is in evidence in Percy's effort as the internet becomes a place that can be inhabited, paranoia is rampant (and justified), and the mechanisms by which this strange, horrible new world operates remain obscure - to readers and characters - even as characters learn to wield new powers for good or evil.

Percy's techno-thriller/horror novel - in which modern technology blends with ancient evils of supernatural origin - also seems to take a cue from Dick and Gibson in terms of length. While many literary genre novels (Justin Cronin's 'The Passage,” Percy's own 'Red Moon,” and Stephen King's 'The Stand” come to mind) could double as doorstops, 'The Dark Net” is significantly shorter and more briskly paced.

Two factors contribute to that pacing. First, the book's omniscient narrator frequently gives the reader information that isn't available to any of the characters, moving the story along with a technique that isn't as common as it once was. Also, Percy uses concepts that might be said to come from our collective bag of horror symbols. They serve as a kind of shorthand and allow the story to move forward quickly without lengthy passages devoted to back story and explanation of the seemingly inexplicable.

'The Dark Net” is a novel of the moment. It's scary because it knows how much we rely on (or perhaps are addicted to) our technology and imagines how that might be our undoing.