Downfall | Louise Carey

 HELLO ALL

Another review for you today!

 

This time it is for a series that I have loved since reading the first book in the series Inscape, and now we have come to the end of the journey with Downfall by Louise Carey, and what a ride it has been. When I knew this was coming out I read the whole series again so I didn't miss a beat in the stunning finale. 

 

Synopsis

 

 THE SAFETY OF INTECH'S RESIDENTS IS PARAMOUNT.
INSURRECTION WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Tanta and Cole may have stopped the mass murder of InTech's residents, but the cost was severe. Despite their efforts, Harlow 2.0 - the update to InTech's mind-based operating system - fed out. Now its citizens are compliant zombies, and Tanta and her crew are trapped underground.

All except for Fliss, who has no system to update. She alone can go outside, and it's Fliss the crew are relying on to help get them out.

For only then can they dismantle the damage Harlow 2.0 has done. If Tanta, Cole and InTech's residents are to truly be free, it needs to be destroyed. But Tanta knows that task will put her on a collision course with the corporation that raised her, her oldest friends, and the woman who was once her soulmate.

And this last mission might ask more of her than she's able to give.

 

 

That was the sound of my head exploding as I completed the most recent book in the Inscape trilogy and my goodness this one is so taut, I nearly snapped!

Downfall brings the Inscape Trilogy to its thrilling and climactic conclusion, decisively pitting our two heroes Tanta and Cole against the mind enslaving Intech Corporation.

Yes folks! Gather round for the epic David and Goliath antics that abound in Downfall.

At the end of Outcast, the die was surely rolled, and we knew that Tanta and Cole are definitely on the outside of the Intech dysfunctional family and the lines were definitely drawn as Intech won the battle for the hearts and minds of the Intech population by releasing the dreaded update of Harlow 2.0.

In Downfall, we see the effects of that update as it has turned the residents of Intech into enslaved automatons, slavishly and fiercely under the command of Intech. Now Tanta and Cole have to launch an assault on the very core of the corporation. However, this is not as easy as it seems.

Firstly, they are only a small crew. Yes, their numbers have literally doubled in size with the addition of Fliss and Yas to their ranks, but that makes them only four against a massive conglomerate and all its armies.

Not only that, Tanta, Cole and Yas cannot leave the Brokerage where they have set up camp following the events of the last book as they are all fitted with Inscape technology. And with the threat of the technology embedded in their brains being updated with the latest iteration of the Harlow program they cannot leave the confines of the brokerage.

So, with the odds stacked against them, Tanta and the crew draw up a plan to strike and reverse the update that threatens them all.

However, not all is rosy on the Intech side either! With the continued hostilities with the rival Corporation Thoughfront threatening to cause major damage to the mighty Intech, they are battling on two fronts, both the incursion of Thoughtfront into Intech territories and insurrection on the inside.

Downfall begins immediately where we left off in Outcast with Tanta’s estranged partner Reet continuing her stratospheric rise in the Intech ranks, and throughout the book we see how the action plays out from both Tanta and Cole’s perspective and also on the other side of the fence from Reet’s perspective, as she is now pitted against her former lover.

Now it’s no secret that this little reviewer absolutely loves this series. From the beginning I have been gripped by Louise Carey’s cyber thriller and it has kept me engrossed throughout the whole of the trilogy. From the moment I met Tanta and her unflinching loyalty to the corporation to where she is now, I have been waiting impatiently for the next in the series.

Downfall is chock full of action as it rockets towards its inevitable conclusion. However, in the midst of setting up the apocalyptic ending we get to see more of the world that Tanta and Cole inhabit and as we visit the free town of Gatwick. Not only that we get to see lots of character development, particularly with Fliss and Cole.

I cannot tell you how much this book had me gripped! When I was not reading it, I was thinking about it, and when I was reading it, I didn’t want to put it down. Curse you everyday life for interfering in my reading and making me do things like eat, sleep and actually go to work. Can someone please build me a switch to turn reality off whilst I am reading!

Downfall is unquestionably a fine end to the series. It is satisfying, gripping and engrossing. At no point did I know how the heck Tanta and Cole were going to pull off their plans and I would be frantically devouring the pages to see how they obtain their goal. Again, Louise Carey had me gripped with the story and again I fell head over heels with the characters as this is one of my favourites series in recent years.

So, if you find yourself at a loose end dear reader, and don’t know what to read next, can I heartily recommend this series.

Right! Unashamed gush over! Go back to what you were reading!