Daimones

Review of Daimones by Massimo Marino


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Could Dan Amenta be the last man alive on the planet? Death has swept away the lives of billions of people, but Dan and his family were spared. By whom, and why?
Surviving, to give meaning to their lives, and looking for other survivors lead Dan to discover the truth about the extermination of the human race.

The encounter with Laura, a young and sexy girl of Italian origin, raises ethical and moral questions that had never touched the Amentas family before.
Other survivors force Dan to confront his past to find answers to the many questions.
The past and the present come together and upset the fragile balance, physical and mental, which allowed the Amentas to find a new meaning to their existence.

Dan discovers his final role in a plan with million years roots. Planet Earth is in the hands of an ancient power, and the survivors have to choose a future that has no past, or remain in a past with no future.

My Review:

The world ends not with a bang but with a whimper, or has it? Our main character Dan and his family wake up to find that everyone around them has inexplicably died. After driving back home, he must go in to survival mode and figure out the best way to take care of his family.

Miraculously, the Internet and other forms of technology still seem to be working so he attempts a Facebook ad campaign to see if any other survivors are around. He also conducts sweeps of the area while out looking for supplies to sustain his wife, himself and his daughter.

When he finds that there are in fact a few other survivors is he ready to deal with the consequences of an encounter with any of them? And what about the strange beings seen walking around the areas that seem to take an unnatural interest in the dead bodies?

The story is a first book in a trilogy and though I think I enjoyed this one, I really can’t see myself reading the whole series. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending to this one. I didn’t understand a lot of the scientific thought process that went behind it.

On the other hand, there was at least more closure in this story than you might find in my other novels in a series. I guess I just didn’t really get it. I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to give the ending away.

Unlike other reviewers I didn’t find the fact that the characters were scared of encountering other survivors when they hadn’t actually encountered any to be unbelievable. With all the looting and fear that would have accompanied these mass deaths I don’t think it would be unreasonable for the main characters to think someone might want to take the things that they had stored up in an effort to make sure that they too survive.

If you like science fiction or dystopian this book just might be for you. However if you are put off by sexuality or bad language you might want to give it a pass. I’d appreciate any comments you might have, particularly after you’ve read it.