#BookReview ‘Manhattan Down’ by Michael Cordy

About the book…

A propulsive rollercoaster high concept international thriller which dares to take the world to the edge of oblivion.

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS JUST SAID GOODNIGHT.

On the anniversary eve of the 9/11 terror attack, New York swelters under a heat dome of record temperatures. Even the global leaders assembled at the UN HQ are forced to admitthat the climate crisis has reached boiling point and the world’s time is running out.

That same day, at precisely 5:25 p.m., everyone on Manhattan Island – every man, woman and child, including all the world leaders at the UN – falls unconscious. Everyone that is, except for Samantha Rossi, a single mother reeling from devastating personal news and Nick Lockwood, a wounded NYPD detective who wakes from a coma just as the City That Never Sleeps falls into one.

Rossi’s first concern is her daughter. Lockwood’s is his city. As night draws in, they must work together to unravel the mystery of what has happened and why. Each must decide how far they will go and what lines they will cross to save what matters most to them.

Manhattan Down is a pulse-pounding contemporary thriller which dares to imagine the unimaginable, a leaderless world being held to ransom by forces unknown for reasons unknown. The questions it asks are terrifying – and so are some of the answers.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom and Kelly Pike from Ransom PR and publishers Bantam Books/Transworld for my gifted review copy of ‘Manhattan Down’ by Michael Cordy

Mixing the urgency and speed of the best type of thriller, with a pulsating social commentary, set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic attack, ‘Manhattan Down’ is the type of book which keeps you on tenterhooks .

Beginning with an astonishing attack on 2 police people, who are meeting covertly because they have grave concerns about up coming potential terrorist attacks, on the American away of life, this story quickly descends into a hellscape.

The city which never sleeps, and whose symbol is the Statue Of Liberty, which represents safe haven , falls into unconsciousness.

All that’s left awake and aware are a handful of people, desperately trying to band together to bring down the ominous ‘The Fat Man’, and personification of the seven deadly sins.

They are-

A mother fighting tiredness that could end her life, carrying in her genes the potential to gift a fatal lack of sleep to her daughter.

A cop waking from a coma to a find the world he knows, inexorably changed.

And a war vet living on the streets of Manhattan , whose skills for survival become very necessary indeed.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves a thriller with a heart, suspense driven by short, sharp chapters and a compelling plot, ‘Manhattan Down’ was a visual feast in the mind of this reader!

About the author…

Michael Cordy’s first novel, The Miracle Strain, about the search for the DNA of Christ, was published in over twenty-five languages and forty countries. It reached the top five in the Sunday Times Bestseller List and became a bestseller around the world.

Disney bought the film rights for $1.6 million.

Another five novels followed: Crime Zero, ‘The Lucifer Code’, True, ‘The Source ‘, and the latest ‘The Colour Of Death’. All have been published in the UK by Bantam Press and Corgi, and translated into several languages.

Warner Bros optioned the film rights to The Source and Michael recently optioned Crime Zero to the producers of Lord Of The Rings and The Golden Compass, agreeing to write the screenplay.

Due to the ‘high concept’ nature of Michael Cordy’s novels the Press have called him “Britain’s answer to Michael Crichton.” Some of his early books have also been compared to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code – although they were bestsellers many years before that novel was written.

The Miracle Strain was republished as The Messiah Code in many countries and some of the other novels have since been republished with new titles too.

Michael Cordy is British but was born in Ghana and spent much of his childhood in West and East Africa, India and Cyprus. He was educated in England at Kings School Canterbury and the universities of Leicester and Durham.

After ten years in marketing and advertising, his wife, Jenny backed his decision to give up a lucrative career and follow his dream of becoming a writer – so long as he finished his first novel in one year. It took him two. (He claims to have written all the necessary words in the allotted twelve months – just not in the right order)

Links-http://michaelcordy.com/

Twitter @MichaelCordy @TransworldBooks