Darkness Falls

To me, the scariest stories are not the typical horror stories involving ghosts, vampires or serial killers. Far more frightening are the tales that could actually happen: tales of environmental or military disaster. That is why Kyle Mills's novel Darkness Falls is scarier than anything that Stephen King could put out. Darkness Falls features the return of series character Mark Beamon after a couple standalone books. Beamon is a former bend-or-break-the-rules FBI agent who is now a bend-or-break-the-rules agent for Homeland Security, particularly the branch that handles Energy Security. When a Saudi oil field starts developing problems, Beamon investigates and drafts environmentalist Erin Neal to assist. Neal realizes that there is a bacteria in the oil deposit that is consuming the supply and threatens the entire field. With a second similar infection in an Alaskan oil field, it becomes quickly apparent that this is no natural event. Neal has been a recluse since the death of his ex-girlfriend, though he soon realizes that reports of her passing were not true. This realization comes when Neal recognizes the bacteria as a variation on one he designed (to clean up oil spills), and that only she knew the design also. Unfortunately, the government also catches on, and rashly decides that Neal is a terrorist and suddenly Constitutional rights go out the door. Only Beamon suspects that Neal is innocent, and meanwhile the real culprit is planning something far more sinister. Mills does a good job at portraying a United States that is crippled by a major oil crisis that threatens the stability of almost all civilization. But then again, Mills usually does a good job with his stories. If you like a good, truly scary (because it could happen) story, Darkness Falls is a recommended read.

Kyle Mills is the master of intrigue in this book. A small but realistic problem in the Saudi oil fields soon escalates into a potential disaster of epic proportions. Studying the bacteria infecting the world's oils supply leads Erin Neal to a place from which he has been trying to escape for the past two years. When he finally comes to grips with who is responsible for the potential this virus has to create chaos in the world's petroleum driven economies, his research folds back on the dead woman he loved. Mark Beamon's departure from the FBI has done little to quell his ability to aggravate his superiors. Chafing against the authority of Jack Reynolds, Head of Homeland Security, when he gets in the way, Mark calls in old favours to break open the investigation . Mills' full complement of characters keeps this story moving through each page. Be prepared to make a weekend read out of this book.

This book is an extraordinary statement about how fragile we are in the balance of international politics. The author presents a timely and frightening warning about over-reliance on the world's oil resources. Miles gives us a scary look at how the West is undermining itself, and how going forward is actually closer to stepping back into a primeval darkness. The quick urgency of the narrative neatly highlights the author's cynical vision of the dark underbelly of the political and mechanistic systems we invent. I found the main characters, Erin and Jenna, to be carefully and realistically constructed, so that I followed every move they made on a very personal level. To me they represent 'everyman', beginning to recognize what they have created, and wondering now how we, as humanity, can undo what we have done. This is a novel with very current themes in this modern age, great for anyone who is following the real-life international intrigue going on around us. I found it to be a riveting and unique thriller, tersely written and nicely put together, with enough physical and mental/emotional action to keep me up late.

Kyle Mills quickly became one of my favorite writers with Free Fall which came out sometime around 1997. His stories are adventurous and exciting and he's very adept at building characters you feel you know almost immediately. Every story is a page turner. In Darkness Falls, Mills turns to his "old faithful" leading man, former FBI Agent Mark Beamon. Now heading up security for the Energy Department under Homeland Security, he's confronted with what seems to be an isolated issue with a major oil well in Saudi Arabia. With the reluctant help of scientist\environmentalist Erin Neal, Beamon slowly begins to believe that the incident is not isolated and is most likely an act of terrorism. In a short matter of time, Neal goes from "assiting" to being the main suspect. The book is fast paced as all Mills' stories are. It's always nice to sit down and read a Beamon story too...catch up on what he's doing these days. I can't help but read these stories and picture Dennis Franz as the elder but wise detective. Hint-hint to Hollywood! I highly recommend this book. After you're done, I would also strongly suggest picking up his other "Beamon" books...my two favorite being Phoenix Rising or Sphere Of Influence.

"Darkness Falls" is a riveting suspense novel by Kyle Mills with all the elements of a story that could have been ripped from today's newspaper headlines. Erin Neal is an expert in the use of genetically engineered bacteria for use in the cleanup of toxic spills. But the unexpected death of his girlfriend derailed him professionally and he took refuge in the isolation of the Arizona desert. Then Homeland Security came and found him. A catastrophic bioterrorist attack using a strain of crude-petroleum eating bacteria on Saudi Arabia's largest oil reserve threatens disaster for the world's fuel supplies. Tracking down the origins of this bacteria leads to Erin's confrontation with a homicidal environmentalist he had thought long gone. Clearly, nothing less that the destiny and fate of the industrialized world hangs in the balance as Erin seeks to halt the spread of this bioterrorist attack. Very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library contemporary fiction collections, "Darkness Falls" is a superbly crafted thriller played out against a backdrop of energy dependence and the possible consequences should every oil well in the world suddenly going dry.