Customer Reviews

Breakdown

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I must agree with Brian's review on this one as being one of Johnstones best. The read is very entertaining, if that's what you read for and not dissection. If you let your imagination go with this book you'll find yourself walking right along with them!

One of the best books Mr Johnstone has written. It is on the same level as Mr Johnstone's other books Hunted and Prey.

I thought it was interesting that the so-called "Religious Right" came in for as much of a pasting from Mr. Johnstone as the Liberal Left--something that other reviewers here seem to have missed. All in all, one of his best.

Breakdown by William W. Johnstone is a mysterious book. It is adequately but unbrilliantly written and contains shallow characters, implausible plot sequences, meaningless relationships, and an ambiguous social commentary. Yet for all that, it somehow manages to be suspenseful, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining. Even while I thought to myself how flawed the writing was, I for some reason remained unable to put the book down.

Breakdown is the story of what might happen in America when decent, law-abiding people decide they've had enough of their corrupt, immoral government running too much of their lives. It's the story of what happens when the people react to the overreaching of the state. Simply put, it's a story of revolution.

Jim Kincaide is a normal guy. He's upper-middle-class, lives in New York City, has a good job at a prestigious public-relations firm. He's a registered democrat, though he certainly wouldn't identify himself as liberal. Still, he finds himself agreeing most of the time with liberal politicians. In other words, Jim Kincaide is a moderately liberal working man who feels the government is doing a pretty good job overall as long as it continues to help the needy, feed the hungry, tax the rich, and control the spread of guns.

Unfortunately for him, he's in the minority. Most Americans are fed up with the overintrusiveness of the government. They are tired of handing over a third of their income so it can be redistributed to those too lazy to get a job. They are tired of unpatrolled borders and benefits and "rights" for illegal immigrants and criminals. They are tired of frivolous law suits. They are tired of having their guns taken away. They're tired of jurists legislating from the bench. And they've finally decided to do something about it.

What starts with a few instances of vigilante justice quickly escalates into a fullblown national crisis. Surprisingly organized militia groups unite and overthrow town after town. Riots erupt in the cities. The government is helpless. Soon the militias control the heartland of the nation, including the bulk of the country's agricultural industry. They start demanding change.

And they get it. Crime drops to near zero as citizens begin defending themselves. The government in Washington, D.C. capitulates and establishes a flat tax. "Convicts" unjustly imprisoned for "crimes" like shooting a burgler are set free.

Without intending to, Jim Kincaide becomes thrust into the action. Unwittingly hooking up with one of the most powerful militia groups, he becomes the spokesperson for all those with whom he most vehemently disagrees. He's the wrong man for the job--yet he's the only one who has a chance to defuse the growing tension before it's too late.

Parts of the story are very believable. In a time when America is polarized between the ultra-conservative and the ultra-liberal, with "moderates" floating in the middle largely ignored, a second American Revolution based on a desire for general morality and individual independence is not beyond the stretch of the reasonable imagination. Perhaps this is what makes the book so compelling. One thing that makes a story is worth reading is when it forces the reader to reexamine some element of universal human experience. Breakdown succeeds on this level, even though it fails on so many others. It encourages the reader to imagine what it would take for him or her to finally say, "Enough is enough."

Throughout biblical history we see time after time when God reached that tipping point. First he sent a flood; later he send diseases, famines, and conquest to the people of Israel. But God's ultimate tipping point came when he said, "Enough is enough" and sent his Son to take on the sin of the world. That application is a far cry from the intent of William Johnstone in this decidedly secular novel. Still, dissatisfaction is a universal human reality. Whether we are dissatisfied with the state of our government or with the state of our own lives, it is instructive and useful to reflect on what our own tipping point might--or should--be.

I read this book when a buddy sent it with a care package. Whenever I had some down time I would re-read it, and I'm glad I found it again. It's a simple read, much like a Dean K. horror novel. The story-line is what I enjoyed most. There are several 'instances' the writer puts forth that go a long way to illustrate the political climate of his story. I have to say that if this book doesn't hit some nerves, yer dead or partially blind. One of the situations the writer puts up has to do with a BAD guy, who breaks into a GOOD guy's house and gets shot. The BAD guy takes the GOOD guy to court and successfully sues him. Another has to do with the IRS attempting to annex a church for failure to pay taxes. There's gonna be some angry folks from both sides of the political line after this read, but hey folks, it's just a book right..

A friend of mine told me that this was a very good book to read. So I decided to read it and I could not put it down. I found the book very entertaining and liked it alot. I recommend that book to read if you like books from William W. Johnstone.

I first read this book some years ago. As I look at what has been going on in the world I realize that this is a thing that could happen in this country. There are many militia type organizations who only need a common bond in order to ally. Great read.

I found this book to be entertaining, but only because I was curious to see what was going to happen. The writing was passable, but the author seems to shy away from actually describing the action sequences- the action of skirmishes and fights is passed over quickly, without any detail as to the tactics used. There's plenty of action still, but I feel the author missed an opportunity to create some really exciting scenes.

As far as the political ranting involved in the book, it was very uneven. I feel like the author felt like he was advocating moderation and dissing both sides of the spectrum, but the political rants were all from the conservative side, repeating the same 'gripes' with 'big government' wasting everyone's money and liberals who are too nice to criminals and don't want anyone to have guns. The republican party is faulted as well, but it is faulted for being too liberal. It is true that the author describes many 'bad guys' on the conservative side- racists and religious fanatics, but it's always the liberals' fault for messing up the nation. There might be conservative 'nut-jobs' out there, but liberals are all nut-jobs and have no rational basis for their beliefs in the world view of this book. Though the main character is a 'liberal,' he is unable to articulate even the smallest argument against the constantly repeated and rather basic arguments against his political beliefs. If you lean conservative, you may find the ranting cathartic; just please, remember that there is another side to the arguments that no character in this book gives.

I hope nobody looks to this book for serious political discussion. I didn't, and even though I'm liberal myself I enjoyed reading it. There's no chance I'll ever pick it up again, though. The enjoyment from this book for me was just in getting to the conclusion and seeing what happened. The process of getting to the conclusion, the journey, was much less interesting than it could have been, given the premise.

Johnstone takes a potentially intriguing premise--an organized uprising of US militia organizations--and squanders it.

Perhaps I expected too much; Johnstone's other novels get good marks from other readers here at amazon. But the writing seemed poor and cliche-ridden. Gross generalizations and observations by the narrator drove most of the plot. It seemed that the characters were there to act out the inevitable. Like actors in a 1950's propaganda film, their motivations were not their own.

Many of the historical points he makes are false or inaccurate, which makes it hard to suspend your disbelief for the rest of the story. For example, one of the heroes describes the causes of homelessness: "Of course, seventy-five percent of them would still be...clean and dry and fed and medicated if the goddamned liberals hadn't opened all the doors to mental institutions and turned them loose to fend for themselves." Hmm, Ronald Reagan a liberal? First I've heard of it.

I'm politically moderate, so the unabashed Limbaugh-ism didn't scare me. However much of it was more mean-sprited than necessary, and again often inaccurate. A college professor is described as "An acid-tongued, vicious, man-hating dyke." It's all we ever see of her, so who knows where this came from? A lot of it is just out-of-touch with reality. At one point, Democratic senators denounce each other as Marxists and socialists.

Epithets of all kinds flow freely, based on race, sexual orientation, politics, you name it. It all comes from the characters' mouths, so it's possible that Johnstone himself isn't propounding all these views. However, there's little balance--the conservatives tend to dish it out and the liberals take it. And much of the verbal abuse is flung by the heroes of the story, the ones we're supposed to identify with.

In sum, "Breakdown" is an interesting premise turned into a cartoonish arch-conservative farce.

This book is absolutely hilarious. Don't let the ultra-conservative ravings get you down. Everything in this book is either so bad, so fake, or so blown out of proportion, that it is just absolutely hilarious. I can understand and identify with some (few?) of the ravings of the conservative lunatics in this book, but otherwise, I just look at it as raving propaganda. I just happen to really like stories where society breaks down, and as a result this book entertains me. I pretty much found myself laughing all the way through the stereotypical madness that is presented in this book. All I can say is this book is just pure stupid entertainment, and its still better than TV