The Dark River by: John Thelve Hawks

The Dark River
John Twelve Hawks
Doubleday
ISBN 9780385514293

This is the second book in the fourth realm trilogy. I stated of the first book, The Traveler, that it was "the best fiction book I had read in a decade!" This book is a very close second. John Twelve Hawks weaves an unforgettable tale of suspense and drama that will draw you in and captivate you in a way that few other authors achieve. Hawks helps us to look at our world in a whole new light, and gives an entirely new meaning to the term 'Big Brother is Watching'.

This book continues a year after The Traveler finished, and once the action starts, it does not end. The action races at breakneck speed and reads like 'a post 9/11 conspiracy theory meets 1984'. Hawks shows a world where people are collectively selling their freedoms for a perceived peace or security. With a story as unique as the Matrix, and the captivating writing unlike anybody else, Hawks serves up a masterpiece.

There are four main categories of people in these books: Civilians, who go about their daily lives, Travelers who can send their life force from their body to alternate realms, The Harlequins who are trained warriors dedicated to protecting the Travelers, and finally The Brethren, as they call themselves, who wish to create a system of control over the whole world, a virtual Panopticon. This group is called, 'The Tabula', by their enemies.

The Tabula are trying to achieve their Panopticon through computer surveillance - RFID chips in what we buy and in our ID and credit cards. Their only goal is to make the human race homogeneous and dominated by the belief that they must behave a certain way because they are always being watched. For the first time in history, a Traveler, Michael Corrigan, is working with the Brethren and trying to conquer the only other surviving travelers -his brother Gabriel, and his father Matthew, who has been missing for 15 years since the Tabula attacked the family home.

Both of the brothers are searching for their long-lost father, both are trying to figure out how to use their ability as travelers, and both believe they are on the right side. Only by reading will you find out what will happen in this battle of wills and battle between light and darkness.

This is a book masterfully written that will draw in readers from all walks of life and of all ages. Read it and see if you cannot hardly wait for your friends to read it, so that you can discuss it and debate it. It will also have you looking very differently at all the cameras that capture our images hundreds of times a day.

Hawks has written another bestseller that will surprise you, stun you and amaze you, both with the story and the way it is told.

(First published in Imprint 2007-07-17 in the book review column.)