Dayfall by Michael David Ares

Dayfall
by Michael David Ares

Tor Books
Publication Date: March 13, 2018

From Goodreads:

FEAR THE DAY

In the near future, patches of the northern hemisphere have been shrouded in years of darkness from a nuclear winter, and the water level has risen in the North Atlantic. The island of Manhattan has lost its outer edges to flooding and is now ringed by a large seawall.

The darkness and isolation have allowed crime and sin to thrive in the never-ending shadows of the once great city, and when the sun finally begins to reappear, everything gets worse. A serial killer cuts a bloody swath across the city during the initial periods of daylight, and a violent panic sweeps through crowds on the streets. The Manhattan police, riddled with corruption and apathy, are at a loss.

That’s when the Mayor recruits Jon Phillips, a small-town Pennsylvania cop who had just single-handedly stopped a high-profile serial killer in his own area, and flies him into the insanity of this new New York City. The young detective is partnered with a shady older cop and begins to investigate the crimes amidst the vagaries of a twenty-four hour nightlife he has never experienced before. Soon realizing that he was chosen for reasons other than what he was told, Jon is left with no one to trust and forced to go on the run in the dark streets, and below them in the maze of the underground. Against all odds he still hopes that he can save his own life, the woman of his dreams, and maybe even the whole city before the arrival of the mysterious and dreaded event that has come to be known as…. DAYFALL.

Raincoast Books and Tor Books provided me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was not for me. To be fair, I am not the target market. Usually, anything with the main character having to do his or her job as detective sends me walking the other way. But the premise of the world not seeing the sun for so many years and it being about the re-emerge was too exciting as a premise.

So what didn’t I like?

The main character, Detective Phillips, was supposed to be this professional dynamo, but he didn’t act like it. He walked into the investigation thinking this guy Render was the bad guy. So he went and talked to Render. Render said he didn’t do it. Phillips believes him. Without a shred of evidence. He heads out on his merry way, off to find a new suspect. Really?! Did lying disappear with the sun?

There was more, but it all falls under the umbrella of this experienced cop acting like it was his first day on the job. I shouldn’t even say that, because I know plenty of people that haven’t spent a single day as a cop and act more like a cop.

I wanted to like this book (don’t we always want to like the books we read) but unfortunately, this one just didn’t hit for me.