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" A bacteria in refined oil that turns the refined product into what basically amounts to tar would definitely not be a good thing. That is the premise for Black Monday and Reiss does an excellent job with the idea, turning it into a very scary novel with a large cast of characters on both sides of the playing field, good and bad guys. The only problem was a few flashback scenes that some of the characters experienced were not prefaced and caused me to slow down and attempt to figure out what was going on. Other then that slight setback this one cracks along at a good pace and keeps the readers attention with the race to attempt to solve the bacterial problem that causes the world to come to a grinding halt. "
- Robert, 2/7/2014
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" Pretty interesting projection of what may happen when we lose our oil. It won't take much to break us down from nationalism, to regionalism to tribalism. The psychology of it all is worth the read. "
- Joe, 1/31/2014
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" Stopped reading after the book describes the murder of a 4 year old girl. After reading that, I thought... is this really what I want to read for "entertainment"? I decided "no". Also, I was offended by the author's use of "real father" instead of "birth father" for his adopted children... no man who adopted children would describe his childrens' birth father as his "real father". "
- Sonia, 1/19/2014
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" Really plausible story of the end of civilization as we know it. We are too dependent on oil and its sources. "
- Linda, 1/15/2014
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" The premise of this book--the world's oil supply is contaminate--but I found the character development to be lame. Our hero is a juvenile delinquent turned CDC doctor who has the most beautiful wife, a pair of perfect kids, and the greatest neighborhood where everyone socializes together. The bad guys are unlikeable stereotypes--a pompous team leader who compromises the project by talking too much to his over-sexed mistress who is actually a spy, a corrupt ex-cop who covets our hero's life and his bully son. Of course, our hero doesn't really suffer any true loss throughout the whole book. The people he knows who die are an elderly woman, the bitchy alcoholic neighbor and the man neighbor who was nasty towards our hero. Oh, and how convenient to have move into bitchy neighbor's house our hero's one loyal employee, who our hero helped out when the guy was called into work with a pregnant wife and no family. Then we have an extrodinarily beautiful woman scientist, with whom our hero shares a physical attraction, so he must "wrestle" with himself and his feelings for this other woman. This aspect actually irritated me because it added nothing to the plot. At least the bad guys had a part to play, albeit predictable. Again, I did thoroughly enjoy the concept of this disaster and the portrayal of our society should this type of thing happen. The research of microbes and oil production processes made up (kind of) for the lack of originality in our characters and sub-plots. "
- Nikki, 12/26/2013
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" (audiobook) If you enjoy apocalyptic stories then this is an entertaining twist to the end of the world possibilities. "
- SinisterAgentMulder, 12/14/2013
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" This book will make a killer pesudo-sci fi, post-apocolyptic action movie. As a book . . . meh, it was entertaining. "
- Sara, 12/7/2013
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" Starts slowly but gets increasingly better as it goes on. I sensed strong American patriot undertones however the book is redeemed by its realistic portrayal of an oil crisis and its decent and engaging storyline. 3.5 stars. "
- Jessica, 12/6/2013
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" This book really freaked me out, because it makes you think about how dependent we are on the status quo and how horribly wrong things can go if you take away the things we take for granted. We live in a huge and fragile time. "
- dragynlady, 11/6/2013
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" I'm at a loss as to why anyone would call this a good read. Flashbacks constantly slowing the pace, characters that are stereotypes, extremely poor time/space directions (ie staging), inconsistent motivations. The premise was a very promising one but there's no way I could recommend it. "
- Kay, 11/5/2013
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" Starts out great with a virus in the world's gas storage. Interestig story of an armegedon type situation. Unique idea. But eventually just dragged on too long "
- Michelle, 7/22/2013
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" Great idea, poor execution. My biggest problem was that the author seemed to rely heavily on convenient coincidences to get over major hurdles in his book, especially when it came to transportation or cell phone usage. "
- Natasha, 3/20/2013
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" I kinda knew the story before I started reading but did enjoy the book. It makes you wonder about technology and terrorists. "
- Ed, 2/26/2013
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" Great novel.. reads like a Grisham, action packed, fast paced and some political mystery. Great read! "
- Courtney, 2/18/2013
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" Interesting premise, but very slow going until about two-thirds through the book. "
- Patricia, 11/9/2012
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" Very suspenseful account of eco/bio terrorism attack and one man's efforts to stop it or control it. Recommend it to readers who like Cussler, Flynn, Coonts "
- Allison, 7/12/2012
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" An excellent summer read! So fun "
- Lisa, 12/1/2011
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" It was a fun read! "
- Tiffany, 11/3/2011
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" This is a scary scenario. It really makes you think about being one of those families that has 6 months supply of essentials - the survivalists. We are really too dependent on oil. "
- Arlene, 9/6/2011
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" Great political and science-fiction thriller. Very real world scenarios and great character development. "
- Kyle, 6/23/2011
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" Interesting view of what would happen when the worlds oil stops flowing. Definately PG-13 tho, no kids. "
- Brian, 4/3/2011
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" I kinda knew the story before I started reading but did enjoy the book. It makes you wonder about technology and terrorists.
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- Ed, 12/21/2010
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" Starts out great with a virus in the world's gas storage. Interestig story of an armegedon type situation. Unique idea. But eventually just dragged on too long
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- Michelle, 11/25/2010
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" Great idea, poor execution. My biggest problem was that the author seemed to rely heavily on convenient coincidences to get over major hurdles in his book, especially when it came to transportation or cell phone usage.
"
- Natasha, 10/20/2010
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" Great novel.. reads like a Grisham, action packed, fast paced and some political mystery. Great read!
"
- Courtney, 7/22/2010
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" Interesting view of what would happen when the worlds oil stops flowing. Definately PG-13 tho, no kids.
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- Brian, 5/20/2010
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" I found this in a desk drawer at work and thought I'd give it a try. It is lousy stuff. Trashy little novel with the worst stereotypes available to this type of book. The dumb military man, the genius who no one listens to...ahhhghh! Forget it!
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- Jason, 12/23/2009
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" This book touches on the subject of biological warfare ((I guess?)) and what would happen to the world if all the things we rely on suddenly stopped working.
Very realistic and very enjoyable!
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- Max, 11/3/2009
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" Really plausible story of the end of civilization as we know it. We are too dependent on oil and its sources.
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- Linda, 9/21/2009
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" It was a fun read!
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- Tiffany, 8/18/2009
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" Pretty interesting projection of what may happen when we lose our oil. It won't take much to break us down from nationalism, to regionalism to tribalism. The psychology of it all is worth the read.
"
- Joe, 8/13/2009
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" This is a scary scenario. It really makes you think about being one of those families that has 6 months supply of essentials - the survivalists. We are really too dependent on oil.
"
- Arlene, 7/15/2009
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" Very suspenseful account of eco/bio terrorism attack and one man's efforts to stop it or control it. Recommend it to readers who like Cussler, Flynn, Coonts
"
- Allison, 6/17/2009
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