Blackout: Tomorrow Will Be Too Late is a disaster thriller book by the Austrian author Marc Elsberg, described by Penguin Books as "a 21st-century high-concept disaster thriller".[2]
.jpg) Cover of the German edition (2012). | |
| Author | Marc Elsberg |
|---|---|
| Original title | Blackout – Morgen ist es zu spät |
| Language | German |
| Subject | Power outage |
| Genre | thriller |
| Publisher | Black Swan |
Publication date | 2012 |
Published in English | 2017 |
| Pages | 350 |
| Awards | Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres 2012[1] |
| ISBN | 978-1784161897 (first edition in English) |
| Followed by | Zero – Sie wissen, was du tust |
Published in German in 2012, as of 2016[update] it had been translated into fifteen languages and sold a million copies worldwide.[2] The English version was published in 2017.[2]
The novel is about a European power outage due to a cyberattack. For realism the book is written on the basis of interviews with intelligence and computer security officials.[3]
Plot
editThe novel starts with a collapse of electrical grids across Europe, plunging the population into darkness and disaster.[2][3] The prolonged electricity cut causes major problems: no more petrol, no telephone, no food in supermarkets, no cash machines working, nuclear disasters, etc.[3][4] A former computer hacker and IT professional tries to find out the root cause for this. While doing so he himself becomes a hunted person as officials find suspicious e-mails sent from his laptop and think that he is involved.
Film adaptation
editThe novel is currently being adapted into a miniseries starring Moritz Bleibtreu, directed by Oliver Rihs and Lancelot von Naso and is scheduled to begin filming in fall 2020.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ In the category "Unterhaltung" (entertainment).
- ^ a b c d Blackout (Marc Elsberg), Penguin Books (page visited on 3 September 2016).
- ^ a b c (in French) Blaise Gauquelin, "Coût de la panne. Marc Elsberg plonge l’Europe dans le noir avec l’aide de hackers", Libération, 6 May 2015 (page visited on 4 September 2016).
- ^ Nico Fried, "Innenminister in der Kritik - De Maizière stellt Zivilschutzkonzept vor", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24 August 2016 (accessed 4 September 2016). In this article, the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière, cites Marc Elsberg's book Blackout to illustrate the vulnerability of the power supply infrastructure.
- ^ "Moritz Bleibtreu übernimmt die Hauptrolle in "Blackout"" (in German). goldenekamera.de. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
