Review: "The Dark Net" by Benjamin Percy

I am really glad I read Dan Simmons’ Carrion Comfort last year, because it informs and makes me appreciate Benjamin Percy’s most recent novel The Dark Net more than I would have if I had not read it beforehand. I am not a mind reader, but a lot of the narrative beats in this slim novel (in comparison to Simmons’ near 800-page epic) reminded me of the narrative beats in Carrion Comfort, easily one of the most perfect horror novels ever published, and once I came to this conclusion early on, I was able to enjoy this book more than I thought I would have. I have not been too big a fan of Percy’s brand of genre fiction. With a few slim exceptions (his title story from the collection Refresh, Refresh being a killer short story), I have found his tales of horror to be a tad bit overwritten and beneath that a little generic. Last year, I read his book of essays on writing Thrill Me, which did exactly as the title suggested, and with his new novel he does more of the same, blending elements of the technological and the biblically evil in fascinating and heart stopping ways and turning the city of Portland, OR into a haven of madness, violence and the epicenter for the very possible end of the world. It should also be noted that this novel at 253 pages is his shortest since his debut novel The Wilding, and in being so, is more compact than the bloated Red Moon, but still is able to color the three main characters as sympathetic and worth your emotional investment. We first meet Hannah, a girl with a degenerative disease that will eventually cause her to lose her sight being fitted with a type of eyeglasses that help her to see, but also heightens her unknown psychic abilities. Her Aunt, Lela, a sort of techno-phobic journalist and social wastrel, uncovers in the ruins of a famous murder site a skull with links to true evil. And finally there is Mike Juniper, whose story and character arc is the most fascinating, runs a homeless shelter and has ties to the mystical underworld of the city, and whose backstory gives him history with the evil that is brewing in the city and the technology of its citizens. While reading like a Dan Simmons’ novel, it has other genre elements too; most notable to me were a few modern horror movies, one being one of John Carpenter’s forgotten gems Prince of Darkness, another story that tried to explain ancient evil in a modern way and a 2006 anthology film called The Signal, whose chaotic structure mirrors what happens when the evil plan at the heart of this book comes to life. I enjoyed this book a lot. From its little scenes of horror (the scene with a young Mike in a hotel room being the best and most effective) to its fearlessness (more than one death will shock the reader) to it’s perfect melding of new and old evil without devolving into a tired social screed, this is a serious horror novel from a writer I have misunderstood for too long.

Rating: 5/5