Blackout by Marc Elsberg

This story documents one scenario that could happen when the nightmare happens of a massive power cut across Europe. It starts with a number of threads and weaves them well together. It follows an Italian as he realizes it is a terrorist attack on the smart power meters. This destabilizes the power grid which takes down most of the grid across Europe. A second attack targets the power plants. This leads to a power cut across Europe that lasts days and the storyline of how they track down the cause and the perpetrators.

It highlights how much society now relies on electricity and the impact of its removal. This ranges from no heating or water (it relies on pumps), no fuel which breaks the supply chain and even to the failure of crops and livestock. It is a really scary situation. The book is well written and illustrates what could happen. It took a little bit to get going but once the scene was set it builds nicely - an interesting, if somewhat scary, thought exercise that I hope never happens.

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Blackout

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