When the grid goes down
When a Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine pushes NATO into open war, a coordinated cyberattack tears through Europe's power grid.
The Netherlands goes dark.
Daniel de Vries is a Dutch police detective and lifelong prepper. His home in Roosendaal holds food, stored water, solar power, radios and weapons. He has spent years preparing for the moment when modern systems fail, but no stockpile can protect everyone.
Phones stop working. Fuel pumps shut down. Supermarkets are stripped bare. Cash loses its value and rumours begin replacing reliable news. Neighbours grow suspicious of anyone who appears better prepared than they are.
Then the soldiers arrive.
Checkpoints appear on the roads, houses are marked and civilians are moved into relocation camps that promise food, warmth and protection. At Woensdrecht Air Base, Daniel's friend Charlie watches the military struggle to maintain control as shortages worsen and discipline begins to fracture.
Meanwhile, a new voice emerges from the static. The Peacemakers claim that the electricity, heating and supply convoys will return if the Netherlands abandons NATO and accepts peace with Russia.
As hunger spreads, more people begin to believe them.
Daniel gathers Emma, his neighbours, friends and family into a fragile alliance. Every supply run risks exposing what they have. Every stranger could become an ally or lead desperate people directly to their door. With each decision, Daniel is forced further from the law he once served and closer to the person he may need to become.
When the Grid Goes Down follows the first twenty-one days of a European collapse in realistic, day-by-day detail. Rather than jumping immediately from blackout to anarchy, the story traces the gradual failure of communications, supply chains, public order, military relief and trust.
The book also includes Collapse Timeline: Fiction Meets History, an appendix comparing the events of the novel with real blackouts, sieges, famines, evacuations and periods of civil disorder. It shows how quickly ordinary life has broken down before, and how closely fiction can resemble history.
A grounded survival thriller about preparedness, loyalty, hunger, war and the choices ordinary people make when no one is coming to save them.
Book One of The Black Grid Series.
This revised second edition was previously published under the author name D. Holland.
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