Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Political/Military Thriller
Approximate word count: 130-135,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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Author:
Gordon Ryan
“has been a traditionally published author since 1994. Ryan was a Recon Marine
in the aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis. He served in Bangkok with the Air
Force during Vietnam and at the American Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, during the
violent ‘70s.”
In addition
to this volume, the first in the Pug
Connor series, Ryan has two other books available in the series with at
least one more planned. He also has another series (historical fiction) and a
few standalone volumes for your favorite e-reader.
For more,
visit Ryan’s website.
Description:
“California
is on the brink of secession, and those who oppose this drastic political
maneuver are turning up dead. Federal Agent Nicole Bentley is sent to discover
what she can about the movement and meets up with Assemblyman and National
Guard JAG officer Daniel Rawlings, a man whose commitment to his country runs
deep in his blood. Resisting their mutual attraction, they uncover a plot
devised by greedy men bent on taking power at any cost.
As Colonel
Pug Connor, working under the direction of the President of the United States,
seeks to root out the leaders of the Western Patriot Movement --a military
cadre with a chip on its shoulder-- Nicole and Dan find themselves literally in
the crossfire. Can they end the dispute between the various factions before
they all end up martyrs for the cause?”
Appraisal:
In State of Rebellion, Gordon Ryan has
imagined an alternative history for the US in 2012, with the US facing its
biggest crisis since the Civil War. The premise, that the people of California,
tired of encroachment on what they perceive as their rights as a state by the
federal government, hold a vote to leave the United States and become a
separate country. Similar to what the Southern states attempted in the Civil
War, there has been enough noise made from time to time by states (the most
recent I can think of being a secession movement in Montana) to make the
premise plausible.
Ryan’s
characters, especially Dan Rawlings and Nicole Bentley, who take center stage
for much of the book, are well-formed, complex characters. The characters who
could be called “villains” in this tale are credible and not unlike people who
actually exist – in fact they’re all too easy to find in the current political
climate.
One aspect
of the book set it apart from many political thrillers. It seems most political
thrillers that come across my desk pit two groups with clearly defined
political leanings against each other. This is virtually always a group of
villains with an extremist political
agenda, typically right-wing, with heroes who lean moderately in the other
direction, usually slightly to the left. In State
of Rebellion, the villains fit the typical mold, with political beliefs
about as far to the right as possible, but the heroes aren’t as easy to nail
down. If forced to classify them, I’d say they’re moderate, very close to the
middle of the road, possibly even leaning slightly to the right. While this
means there is slightly less contrast between the two factions, it also means a
much broader reader base should find the politics of the heroes closer to their
own.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues
Rating: **** Four stars
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