37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Freedom Under Attack, July 15, 2007
This review is from: Republic: A Novel of America's Future (Paperback)
Reviewing this novel on July 4th, a day in which Americans celebrate independence and freedom, is supreme irony indeed!
Imagine a future when car-bomb terrorism has hit the Pentagon, when the economy is "tanking" due to the exportation of industry to other countries, and civil rights are nonexistent because of the Federal government's investigations into possible terrorist cells and plots. Ten years ago, maybe this would be pure fiction; today in 2007 it's not!
So it is that this author has captured and depicted in fictional form a scenario that continues to unfold. An entire community in West Virginia, Harpers Ferry, is devastated after a microsystems plant closes and lays off all personnel except those who will agree to work in the plant's new Indonesian location. Protest runs amuck when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violently enters the scene, and deaths on both sides follow. The latter begins to arrest many people of Iraqi descent and any who protest this illegal, unconstitutional path.
In the midst of all this havoc, Ken Murphy, an Iraq War veteran who has lost his wife in a senseless killing, now faces unemployment and loss of medical benefits desperately needed for his terminally ill son. Events spiral out of control as DHS raids continue and citizens are moving toward declaring West Virginia's secession from the U.S.A. government.
Officers and soldiers are caught up in a growing reactionary spate of shootings and arrests approaching civil war, with fatal consequences that inflame rather than quell discontent. Anyone in the way of federal action is now the "enemy" or a "traitor."
Charles Sheehan-Miles has penned a novel in which the line between fiction and reality is so very, very thin! Republic is a taught, page-turning read that will leave any half-thoughtful person asking many questions about law, terrorism, dissent, and constitutional rights for everyone involved in such a plausible scenario. And if it's not that real to you, the unexpected, devastating, breath-catching, haunting end will leave you reeling and wondering for sure!
Unreal but oh so very real and therefore potent and credible fiction to be read by all!
Incredible job, Charles Sheehan-Miles
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on July 4, 2007
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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GRIPPING, August 7, 2007
This review is from: Republic: A Novel of America's Future (Paperback)
Imagine a police state where you can be held strictly for being the wrong race; where your civil liberties are thoroughly disregarded, and now, visualize that place is America and you'll have a minute appreciation of what Sheehan-Miles' novel REPUBLIC is about.
A plant closing in a small town in West Virginia desolates its population with lay-offs, causing orderly protesting that sets off a shocking and all too (could-be) realistic chain of events for one Ken Murphy and his family, the state of West Virginia and the Federal Government.
Sheehan-Miles' writing and character development is stunning, riveting and thoroughly suspenseful and a work of fiction that feels all too factual. This is a book of the very best kind: one that is both entertaining whilst making its reader question the very situations surrounding us daily.
Un-put-downable.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thrilling page-turner that will make you think, June 17, 2007
This review is from: Republic: A Novel of America's Future (Paperback)
In Republic, Sheehan-Miles tells a thoughtful and provocative story in way that makes you turn the page and stay up late reading. Based on interesting and well developed characters and a fast paced plot, this book sends a wake up call to the American people about the costs of war not understood by incompetent political leaders who use fear to consolidate power. The result is a scary but all too realistic look into America in 2020.
But instead of beating up his readers with polemics about complex issues like the erosion of civil liberties and the outsourcing of American jobs this book tells its story in a way that is accessible and relevant to people who don't have the time or patience to be involved in politics. Told from the perspective of real Americans dealing with real issues you can't help but be entertained and informed.
Based on his own military experience, the author writes in a realistic and simple prose and pace that is reminiscent of Tom Clancy and Harold Coyle with a harder punch and more important message. Think "The Hunt for Red October" meets "Catch 22" with the populist political message of SiCKO, Ross Perot and John Edwards all wrapped up in one great read.
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