Sometimes after I've read a novel that seems like part of the plot is taken from the headlines or a new scenario on a topic of current political and/or social media debate I like to turn to the copyright page to learn when the author brought the story to our attention. In this case, the original copyright date was 2007 and the paperback edition I read came to publication in 2009. That's the moment for today's WoW!

"The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations perceived as supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The initial nations targeted were Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States with the embargo also later extended to Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa. By the end of the embargo in March 1974, the price of oil had risen nearly 400%, from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally; US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or "shock", with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy. Odd–even rationing allowed vehicles with license plates having an odd number as the last digit (or a vanity license plate) to buy gas only on odd-numbered days of the month, while others could buy only on even-numbered days."

I remember the the odd-even fuel rationing quite well as I was student teaching Spring Semester 1974 and every day I drove a different car to my school destination as the school was approx. 40 minutes NE of my parents' home. As the travel included driving on a major highway where there were many gas stations accessible from the north- and south- bound lanes I could easily decide which line to wait with either my father's car or mother's car or the 3rd car that my father had purchased for me to use during student teaching and which I bought from him over the course of my first year of teaching. Most often I stopped for gas at one of the southbound options as I never knew how long I would be waiting in line so timing "before school" was difficult to judge and getting gas on the way home meant the car would have more gas available for any family travel needs after I arrived home.

With all of the laws that have been changed detrimental to climate change since January 2017, it is easy to think that this novel is a new creation. I wish I could ask every individual of voting age in November 2020 to read this novel. During the course of the storyline U.S. dependence on oil and the cascading effect of losing our oil supply is highlighted. Perhaps the radicalism of a group of environmentalists might seem an author's far-fetched imagination but only if the reader hasn't been paying attention to global news and doesn't understand that climate change is having serious effects in every phase of our lives right now.

14-Sep-2019 Update: News reports on September 14, 2019 brings to light when reality often mirrors a portion of what we initially read as fiction. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/09/14/drone-attack-saudi-arabia-y... ( )

This book certainly has an interesting plot. Some radical environmentalist-gone-terrorists take a bacteria that eats oil (originally intended to clean oil spills) and begin releasing it into many of the worlds largest oils fields (Ghawar for example) and it begins to spread and leave the planet oil-less, which then creates an "end of the world" scenario. I thought the concept seemed a bit over-the-top when I read the summary, but it wasn't so bad. And neither was the book. Nothing spectacular, but an interesting read. ( )

http://www.book-blog.com/2007/12/mills-kyle-dark.html ( )

Oil production has become a common target of terrorists who see shutting it down or holding it hostage as a means of influencing world politics. Western economies cannot survive without a steady flow of crude oil, a product that to a larger and larger degree is produced in countries not exactly friendly to Western ideas and influences. Oil companies have come to be cast as villains on the world stage and have also attracted a new breed of terrorist, environmentalist extremists, in addition to the more familiar brand of terrorism suffered at the hands of Islamist extremists. Thus is the stage set for the latest thriller from Kyle Mills, Darkness Falls.

When new bacteria surprisingly appear in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, bacteria with a voracious appetite for oil and the drilling equipment used to produce it, Erin Neal, a retired expert in the prevention and control of oil field disasters, finds himself there at the not so subtle request of Homeland Security. As one oil well after the other stops producing, it becomes apparent that the bacteria have the ability to spread from one well to the next and could permanently kill oil production from the biggest producing field in the world. Thirty percent of the world’s production is seen to be at immediate risk, something that could destabilize international politics to the point of causing open warfare and countless deaths.

Erin Neal is devastated to find that his own research into the design of oil-eating bacteria to be used in oil spill cleanup may have been adapted by his former girlfriend and fellow scientist to develop similar bacteria capable of destroying oil still in underground reservoirs. Neal, who had been driven to living in seclusion by the woman’s apparent drowning, begins to suspect not only that she may still be alive but that she could be involved with people who are willing to protect the environment at the cost of millions of lives.

Working with Homeland Security and within the highest levels of government, Neal finds himself in a desperate race to catch those responsible for spreading the bacteria before the world’s entire oil supply is destroyed. As they come to realize that losing oil means losing the power necessary to produce and transport food supplies, to generate heating and cooling for billions, and to fuel the economy and military, Neal and his team understand that only they can prevent the ultimate loss of millions of lives. If they fail, mankind will be reduced to a standard of living not seen for hundreds of years.

Kyle Mills has written a first rate thriller, a nightmarish reminder that our way of life is almost completely dependent on a natural resource that is less and less found within our own borders. Love them or hate them, it is clear that this way of life is dependent on the success that oil companies have in replacing oil reserves for at least the next several decades.

If you don’t believe me, read Darkness Falls.

Rated at: 4.0 ( )