The Dark Net

“Thrilling . . . one of the best Stephen King novels not written by the master himself. . . . The setup promises furious action, and Percy delivers, like [Richard] Matheson, like King. . . An awfully impressive literary performance.”—New York Times Book Review “Masterful crafting . . . a horror story for our times.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune   The Dark Net is real. An anonymous and often criminal arena that exists in the secret far reaches of the Web, some use it to manage Bitcoins, pirate movies and music, or traffic in drugs and stolen goods. And now, an ancient darkness is gathering there as well. This force is threatening to spread virally into the real world unless it can be stopped by members of a ragtag crew, including a twelve-year-old who has been fitted with a high-tech visual prosthetic to combat her blindness; a technophobic journalist; a one-time child evangelist with an arsenal in his basement; and a hacker who believes himself a soldier of the Internet.             Set in present-day Portland, The Dark Net is a cracked-mirror version of the digital nightmare we already live in, a timely and wildly imaginative techno-thriller about the evil that lurks in real and virtual spaces, and the power of a united few to fight back.   “This is horror literature’s bebop, bold, smart, confident in its capacity to redefine its genre from the ground up. Read this book, but take a firm grip on your hat before you start.”—Peter Straub

The Washington Book Review

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Minnesota Book Award finalist An Indie Next Pick An iBooks Most Anticipated Mystery & Thriller Selection A Powell's Books Staff Pick An Amazon Best Book of the Month, Mysteries and Thrillers "A rare cyber thriller that will keep your eyes focused as you turn pages breathlessly."

Crimespree Magazine "Of all the things that The Dark Net is, the greatest is that it’s a Blob-swallowing thing...if you’re into Benjamin Percy’s work, you’ll love this, and if you don’t even know who Benjamin Percy is, this book will make you want to devour his other books."

“Percy’s greatest strength- and he has many- has always been his world building…those who only know of Percy’s work through his meteoric success in comic books will find THE DARK NET to be the perfect crossover work to his novels. Action packed, fast-paced, and incredibly imaginative, THE DARK NET is yet another feather in Benjamin Percy’s cap.”

The Lewiston Tribune "Fast-paced demonic cyber-thriller...Percy keeps it suspenseful and compelling from the first page. The authentic Portland, Oregon, setting with a pivotal scene in Powell’s Bookstore is also a draw. Think twice before accessing this on an e-reader, unless you think can handle the extra layer of terror."

“Maybe you've read it before. But you haven't read it like Percy can write it.”

Kirkus "Percy’s blend of cyberpunk-style sf and occult horror is a perfect combo for summer chills."

"Percy takes the darkest conspiracy theories you can imagine and makes them the stuff of nightmares....humankind is held responsible for its irresponsibility, paying the price for all the convenience we take for granted, for our obsession with the digital world...the message is effective and scary...there's something undeniably creepy about the thought that your smartphone can possess you. A gory cautionary tale."

Dean Koontz

“Written in vivid, often lyrical prose, but with exhilarating comic-book energy, THE DARK NET is a megawatt defibrillator to the reader’s heart. Quirky but very human characters confront an explosive emergence of the supernatural into our world, in this imaginative, spooky, swiftly paced tale threaded through with dark humor.”

a fast, fantastic, throat-punch of a read.”

“THE DARK NET kicked my ass with its deft mash-up of both blackhat hacker culture and black magic. Percy reveals an upgraded, rebooted battle between good versus evil

About the Author

BENJAMIN PERCY has won a Whiting Award, a Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, an NEA fellowship, and the iHeartRadio Award for Best Scripted Podcast. He is the author of the novels The Ninth Metal, The Unfamiliar Garden, The Dark Net, The Dead Lands, Red Moon, and The Wilding; three story collections; and an essay collection, Thrill Me. He also writes Wolverine and X-Force for Marvel Comics. He lives in Minnesota with his family.

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