A Mystery with a Post-Apocalyptic Backdrop

2.75 out of 5 stars

There were a few things in Dayfall that I loved and some things that I did not like at all.  Ares has a “no BS” way of writing.  Things happen and they happen for a reason – but we aren’t given a ton of detail on why and even sometimes when.

The biggest thing that drew me to this book was the world.  Sadly, Ares didn’t do a good job building up the world too much.  There was maybe a page or so in the book that explained what caused the 24-hour darkness over certain areas of the US.  I don’t know why he didn’t feel the need to go into more detail around it – but in my head, if I was writing a genre-bending book like Dayfall – I would give each genre a fair shot.  This is a mystery book with a post-apocalyptic backdrop. I really wanted it to be a mystery book that had post-apocalyptic parts to it.

The action scenes were well done and easily some of my favorite parts of this book.  Ares wrote them in a way that you knew exactly what was going on and followed it from beginning to end.  A lot of them had that Bourne-movie feel where you weren’t sure how it was going to end but you knew you had to watch/read each fight.

Overall, Dayfall hits and misses.  It’s kinda a bummer for me.  The book showed such great premise but fell through on execution.

The irony is that Ares could build on how this book ended and have a really interesting Post-Apocalyptic world.  Even if he wanted to keep up the mystery genre – the world is interesting and I want to read more inside it.

Book Description:

Audiobook: Dayfall by Michael David Ares (Narrated by Paul Heitsch)two-half-stars
Dayfall by Michael David Ares
Narrator: Paul Heitsch
Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
Published by Macmillan Audio on March 13th 2018
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 281
Format: Audiobook
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FEAR THE DAY

In the near future, patches of the northern hemisphere have been shrouded in years of darkness from a nuclear winter, and the water level has risen in the North Atlantic. The island of Manhattan has lost its outer edges to flooding and is now ringed by a large seawall.

The darkness and isolation have allowed crime and sin to thrive in the never-ending shadows of the once great city, and when the sun finally begins to reappear, everything gets worse. A serial killer cuts a bloody swath across the city during the initial periods of daylight, and a violent panic sweeps through crowds on the streets. The Manhattan police, riddled with corruption and apathy, are at a loss.

That's when the Mayor recruits Jon Phillips, a small-town Pennsylvania cop who had just single-handedly stopped a high-profile serial killer in his own area and flies him into the insanity of this new New York City. The young detective is partnered with a shady older cop and begins to investigate the crimes amidst the vagaries of a twenty-four-hour nightlife he has never experienced before. Soon realizing that he was chosen for reasons other than what he was told, Jon is left with no one to trust and forced to go on the run in the dark streets, and below them in the maze of the underground. Against all odds he still hopes that he can save his own life, the woman of his dreams, and maybe even the whole city before the arrival of the mysterious and dreaded event that has come to be known as…. DAYFALL.

I received this book for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

two-half-stars

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