Dark Tomorrow

At the start of Hirsh’s nail-biting sequel to 2019’s Black Nowhere, FBI special agent Lisa Tanchik is called to a murder scene in Columbia, Md., that has the m.o. of NatalyaX, the hacker she has been tracking for a year. The victim, an employee of CyberCom, a federal government agency concerned with cyber security, had a fatal epileptic attack after opening an attachment that exposed him to harsh strobe lights. Hours later, a cyberattack cripples the eastern United States. Soon, with no transportation, food, heating, or electricity, people are dying, panic and looting are rampant, and the dark web has whispers that the worst is yet to come. Lisa consults Ukrainian cyber specialist Arkady Orlov, and together they discover the existence of a high-level mole in CyberCom and that NatalyaX may be a Russian sleeper agent. When Arkady is murdered, a vengeful Lisa goes into overdrive to stop NatalyaX and the next attack. The action builds to a surprising twist ending. Chronically depressed and continually hung over, Lisa is a flawed heroine readers are sure to root for. Hopefully, she’ll be back soon. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management. (May)