A gripping fast paced read. Manhattan is being held to ransom Almost all of the population are sleeping but a few are immune. Full of interesting and well drawn characters. This edge of you seat thriller. Looking forward to more from this author. Thanks to Random house/Transworld publishers and Netgalley for this review ARC.

This was a fun exciting read. It wasn't quite what I expected but I really enjoyed it. It was an interesting concept and I liked the pacing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

Not quite a 4 but a strong 3.5.

This is a quite exciting read. Our two main characters unwittingly get embroiled with a mysterious group of idealists who are trying to (yawn) save the planet from climate change. As the story enfolds we wonder if the group's motives are all that they seem

The characters are good and the plot is intriguing, leaving you guessing at almost every turn. The ending is a little bit pat but I know nothing about brain function so I suppose it could work out like it did. There are a lot of modern day must haves - a cop and his maverick partner; a brave but troubled veteran with a tragic past; a computer expert with an interesting illness; a precocious child; an ethnically diverse group of activists; a Big Bad hiding in almost plain sight; a cabal almost of ruthless, heartless money men. The only thing I could see that was missing was someone gender fluid.

The book is none the worse for this, if you just read and don't overthink it is a good story.

I did feel however that it could have been trimmed a bit - we visit 5 banks and hear 3 times in detail about the hacking of the mainframe, the selection of the correct colours hard drive etc and the insertion of the files - once would have been enough. There is a bit of technical detail about computers, explosives and brain functions which I think could have been omitted with no loss.

This book definitely had me gripped right away with it high stakes and high intensity plot. I felt so invested as the chaos unfolded and just had to know why this was happening!

New York, the city that never sleeps…until now. Manhattan is struck down by a group of activists/terrorists but what is their goal and who are they? In this day and age and with the way the world is heading this book didn’t seem as outlandish as it might have done years ago. It was cleverly written and captivated me throughout the entire night and it was so hard to put down. Lockwood’s character in particular was my absolute favourite, I ended up being a little bit in love with him towards the end. A brilliant end of the world thriller with heartwarming central characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I enjoyed the genre of this book and the way in which important global issues are the main focus, I just don’t know if the execution was quite right.

The premise is the entirety of Manhattan being held hostage by activists/terrorists, with only a handful of people able to fight back from within. The perspective shifts quickly and without warning between those awake within the city and those left to solve the demands from further afield. Though I do like a perspective shift between characters, it felt quite janky here in that you’d read from the viewpoint of 4 characters within just one chapter. Though this worked to build tension, it did become slightly difficult to follow each narrative.

I did enjoy and respected the highlighting of important global issues, but the repetitiveness started to feel slightly preachy. I absolutely believe in the importance of reversing global warming, but when it’s forced into every conversation throughout every chapter, it starts to feel self righteous. I felt the same way about the science and computing references. They were necessary to a degree, to understand how everything could happen, but were reiterated far too frequently.

The main characters were easily likeable but did seem to lack depth. My favourite character was Zoe, but I feel like the perspective switches meant it became difficult to connect fully with anyone. I really struggled with the activist/terrorist characters. Having their pseudonyms be the seven deadly sins was a great idea, but the constant mention of them, without any of the characters appearing to portray any of those traits, meant I lost track. At no point did I feel confident as to who was who.

This is a book I’d definitely like to see a TV/film adaptation of as I feel seeing the settings and characters would help to follow the story more easily. Overall, a worthwhile story which could maybe do with some tweaks to the execution.

I found this to be a difficult read.
It's a good thriller but it didn't grip me as I'd hoped it would.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

think whitehouse down and you get the idea when all of manhattan fall asleep

how what why

but as you read you start to understand what is happening

its a heavy grizzly read but some people may like it i can see it being made into a film

A good solid but almost unique story.
I kinda pictured the beginning of The Walking Dead for visualising the city empty (obviously not the actual zombies!)
Love the range of characters who are ‘immune’ and are able to stay awake.
I can see this being a huge action packed thriller film in the future!
Defiantly worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher for an e/ARC of Manhattan Down.

I was very intrigued by the blurb description of this book which I thought would be very interesting. Fortunately I was correct.

This is the first book I that have read by this author, and I'm pleased it was very good as that is not always the case with authors one hasn't experienced before.

The story flowed well even though it had elements of science fiction, and the characters were varied and interesting. It was quite violent which was rather a shock but as it was in keeping with the general plot so it was acceptable. There were parts in the middle of the book which seemed a bit dull and slow but generally the book was was fast flowing in the storyline.
I was disappointed that there wasn't any real mystery in the plotting of the story and the end was fairly predictable but it was worth reading. I recommend the story as it was fairly exciting.

I found this quite thrilling. It's atmospheric and strangely thought provoking. The recuperative abilities of some of the characters are completely frustrating but the story wouldn't work without them.

Hostage taking is a classic extortion technique. Taking four million hostages is egregious, but not hard if you’ve put them all to sleep. Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Lust and Pride are ecoterrorists, and their hostages are all the inhabitants of Manhattan; including the leaders of all nations, who happen to be at the UN for a Climate Conference. With four exceptions: Samantha Rossi and her daughter Zoe, who have a genetic condition which makes the immune to the ultrasonic wave generator which induces sleep, Nick Lockwood, an NYPD cop with a brain injury, and Hank Kowalski, a marine veteran with an unspecified mental problem. The ecoterrorists are demanding major changes to world governance, global finance, and the replacement of all fossil fuels with renewables. And as a side line electronically robbing all of the major banks headquartered on the island. The unlikely collection of insomniacs find themselves involuntarily cast as the saviours of the four million, and the world order.
This is a fairly run of the mill thriller, with a few twists but a flat trajectory. The basic premise is not unbelievable, but the exposition is unlikely. The various characters are stereotypes, and there is a rather overt political bias in that the goodies are The West (essentially Americans), and the baddies, including the brains behind the baddies, are The Rest (especially Chinese), while the motivation for the terrorists is cast in an overly positive way. I can see this plot being quite a reasonable straight-to-video movie, where the speed of events limits the viewer’s scepticism, but it is a pot-boiler as a book.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Before I launch into my review, I would like to say a huge thank you to Michael Cordy, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, and Netgalley for the Advanced Digital Reader Copy of this title. For anyone with their eye on this title, here is my personal review of the book to help you decide whether you are interested or not. All opinions offered are my own.

I was surprised at how quickly I got into this book once I read the first page. Reading some tedious family drama unfold and then Samantha Rossi outlining her mundane plans for the day gave me a false vision of the book being drab. Things start to get a little spicy once she starts undertaking some of her appointments and it is not long before the big sleep we were promised occurs.

Manhattan Down is a book like no other. Though it is set in today’s time, the eerie silence on the Manhattan streets gives it a dystopian feel. The global leaders have all assembled in Manhattan to discuss the threat of climate change but before any real talks can take place a weird event traverses the city and sends almost every inhabitant into an unconscious sleep. The questions on the readers’ lips are why did it happen, and who is responsible? With lives at stake, will the only two ‘friendly’ adults in town manage to beat the sins that hold the world to ransom?

I have never read anything like this book. There were some predictable elements that I solved quite early on that had me wondering whether the whole book was going to be giant, whopping loaves of bread rather than just some breadcrumbs that may or may not lead me to a merry dance up the garden path. I was pleasantly surprised when it took a different turn to what I expected and picked up speed. That is not to say it was not progressing at a great pace to begin with.

The story is told from different character perspectives, where each perspective is a chapter that starts at a given time. This meant that often, the current perspective would overlap with the one before which allowed the reader to run into a previous event but from a different angle. For example, there is a scene where one of the characters runs from a shooter. The next chapter starts five minutes before the gun shot and is trying to ascertain whether it has come from one of the characters they have just stumbled upon. I did find this a little confusing at first, but I quickly came to expect this. The style of writing led to a lot of ‘a-ha!’ moments as things became seemingly clearer on the one hand but raised questions on the other hand that makes the reader question everything they have believed as the novel progresses.

I enjoyed second guessing the motives of the characters as more of their backstories were unveiled. There were some heart-stopping moments as well as some thought-provoking ones, and I loved the idea of global solutions being adopted to solve certain issues. Though they made some foolish mistakes, I really liked that the characters had enormous potential. They were an intelligent breed but maybe had an over-abundance of trust.

This book is going to be an enjoyable read for lovers of thrillers. There are themes of terrorism, politics, climate change, working for the greater good, family, and terminal illness. This book is not straight forward so I advise readers to buckle up and settle in for a crazy ride that lasts less than 24 hours but seems like a lifetime because of the scenario and how it is handled. I can see why it has been an absolute age since Cordy published. Every minute spent carving out this plot was worth it. I highly recommend this 5 out of 5 read. It is un-put-downable!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of Manhatten Down.

I love good disaster movie. So I thought this book would be right up my street. And I was correct.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and that always makes me a bit nervous, hoping that I will like the writing style etc. and I did with this one.

The story flowed well, and the characters were varied and interesting. My only small issue was that the main characters called each other by their first names, but were always mentioned in the narrative by their surnames or full names. The main character’s daughter was always referred to as Zoe, but her mother always as Rossi, instead of Samantha for example. I found this odd.

Overall though, a great read, much enjoyed on my holiday balcony in the sun!

Action packed, tense and terrifyingly possible...

When everyone in Manhattan falls down into a deep sleep, only a few are immune. Samantha Rossi and her daughter Zoe, Nick Lockwood, a cop who wakes from an eight-day coma, and the members of the organisation who have caused the event. External drones are blocked and nobody can come onto the island without falling asleep.

oh, and every world leader is in the climate summit in the city too! There's a moral issue at play, when the "bad guys' reveal their reasons for what they are doing and it made me wonder whether they really were bad at all; I share their frustration that all these climate summits go on, with lots of talking and no action. They've had enough and have some pretty wild demands, but do they all know the full story?

The characters in the city were great, the bits with Maynard were all a bit pointless and could be edited out without anyone noticing or affecting the overall plot. It was a really enjoyable read overall, everything ties up a bit too conveniently and neatly though, so that makes it feel a bit Hollywood perfect and you will have to suspend some disbelief!

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Michael Cordy and Random House for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Michael Cordy delivers again ! An exciting and complex story , well written characters and high tension keeps this book moving along at pace. A very timely novel.

Begins almost like Day of the Triffids waking in hospital with everyone around collapsed It turns out to be a blackmail plot on the financial heart of New York City by an obscure group with the technology to send everyone in Manhattan to sleep including senior world leaders at the U.N. Their demands for funds to mitigate poverty and climate change resonate with our actual situation now but this is fictional so an exciting plot line is required and it delivers in style. Good fun with a super climax.

I found this book to be hard going, I so wanted to like it, I loved the sound of it but I really struggled ,it was too slow for an impatient reader like me. Hopefully other readers will enjoy it more.

Receiving bad news from the hospital, turns Rossi's world upside down but that is just the start of a really bad day.
Shutting down New York by putting everyone to sleep including the world leaders attending the united nations.
Terrorist, freedom fighters or global activists, the goal to divert funds to help the poorest and most affected by climate change.
Blow up New York or give in to the demands?
A book that will grip and astound you.
Enjoy I did.

Fast paced thriller that could easily be a blockbuster with Mark Wahlberg.

It’s well written and relevant, touching on issues in the real world.

Easy to read and entertaining.