At last I finished this beast of a book!
One of the longest novels I ever read along with a few others but this one takes the cake.
Layers & layers of history along with fictional characters and events that happen within the story takes a lot time to get through and a very slow start so the main plot of the story doesn't happen until you reach near the end of this novel so anyone thinking of reading this book I will warn you, you can not skip to the main plot of the story as you need to understand how these characters work, what shapes them into who they become later on and what causes them to act.
The start of the novel takes you to 1906 when American begins it's modern gun culture and the following events that shapes the country. Then you read events of FBI abusing and killing people over lack of evidence from the mid 30s till 60s and early 70s. Also it takes the read into the outbreak of WWII where Irwin Mann loses his wife from the Nazi's and is sent to death camps but gets a group of Jewish prisoners together and form a resistance fighting against the Nazi's. During the heat of WWII Walter Bowman a ace pilot battles the Japanese as he plans to settle down after the war which he does and finds a wife and gives birth to our hero in this story and that's Henry Bowman.
Once you reach the year 1953 it won't take long for Henry Bowman to become part of American's gun culture.
Henry a very smart, skilled and talented young man starts collection weapons, goes shooting with his father and takes him in his plane flying over their town. However Henry goes through the dark events of 60s such as JFK assassination along with his brother. And during the late 60s Henry loses his father and goes through life events of copping with lose of his father. As life starts to get better again one event during early 70s changes all that when Henry along with his best friend David Web are out in the woods shooting crows when Henry witnesses a woman being raped by 4 men. They spot him and go to attack him but Henry is able to bring himself to shoot these men and help the woman. This event will help Henry later on in the story.
After his mother death Henry gets a job as a geologist and buys a large house with large sum of property so he and his friends can hang out, talk, drink beer and shoot their guns. Once you reach the late 70s to early 80s you'll be in the middle of this beast of a novel. Anyway back to the story.
Between 85-86 covers the events in Florida which lead to FBI shootout on April.6.1986 as Henry along with his friends talk about this a lot in the story and it's very detailed of what happened.
By late 80s Henry along with his friends are outraged with sudden stricken gun laws and feel their own government is hurting and abusing those only wishing to bear arms for their own freedom and Henry believes if this continues people will start to fight back. Finally we come to the 90s when all the events leading to the plot begin to happen. First with Ruby Ridge raid as ATF agents killed unarmed people which have broken no laws then in 1993 Texas Waco siege with crazed leader of David Koresh killed along with his followers and innocent bystanders including children who were burned alive inside that building. (Reviewer Note-David Koresh was one sick man but for those poor people to be trapped and burned alive. That isn't right.)
With ATF now facing criticism over these events along with those they have charged and arrested questioning their lack of evidence their about to make the biggest mistake ever. During a gun show Henry spots a ATF agent trying to trick him into giving in foe on weapons to use as evidence against him. Henry calls him out and embarrasses him along William Blair another ATF agent. Then in 1995 the Oklahoma City bombing happens which causes a fear of terrorist groups in American. After taping Henry and two other of his friends phone lines and watching them Blair plans to arrest all 3 men and make it look like their terrorist selling weapons along with owning drugs. However this plan is back fired when Henry dropping off an item to his friend Alan house spots the ATF agents about to bust into the house. Henry quickly grabs a gun along with night vision goggles and shoots a few of the agents only leaving 3 left.
Henry questions all of them when getting the truth out of Blair, Henry fears if he turns into the police they'll arrest him along with his two friends and ATF will continue to frame those who haven't done anything wrong. After recording what he wanted hear from Blair, Henry kills him goes over the files on the 3 raid plans including his own house. Henry decides it is time to fight back against corrupt ATF and US government. Henry dumps the bodies, cleans up the mess and goes after the remaining ATF agents in the area and sets up ambush for his house. Using a 20MM Solothurn S-18 100 anti-tank rifle Henry waits till 3 Blackhawk helicopters show up and kills the pilots causing all 3 helicopters to crash with one sinking to the bottom of a lake.
Henry quickly leaves and reaches his friend Alan and in forms him what has happened and what they must do. Together along with Henry girlfriend Cindy they begin taking out more ATF agents along with high ranking government members who are against 2nd Amendment. Henry also posts blogs informing every American the dirty secrets the President along with ATF are hiding. And isn't long before others join their battle. Mean while The President along with both FBI and ATF members try to pin point who behind these attacks but as the days go on more and more agents are being killed or resigning from ATF. With the help of Ray Johnson another friend of Henry who informs the President he has many clients who wish to press charges against any agent who has harmed friend or family member from abuse or death causing more pressure for the President. And when Henry gives the recorded tape of William Blair to CNN causing a full shock to American and Greenwell who is later ordered to step down as director of ATF.
By the end of the novel the President gives up and orders ATF to disband along with releasing those who have been charged by them along better gun laws to give his people more freedom and is also stepping down as President to insure this civil war will come to end. However two agents of both FBI and ATF find one clue to ambush at Henry house and believe Henry was the one behind it all. But before they can reach him during a flight to his house once again Henry gains upper hand killing Greenwell director of ATF which Henry was hiding in the plane and is about to finish off FBI agent. During the President last day in the White House he is glad he hasn't heard from the two agents as he wants this war to be over and it is.
Wow this was one hell of a novel to read. If I haven't read books by Robert Ludlum, Stieg Larsson and Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song I don't think I would read this wonderful novel. It is filled with endless detail on people, places, events, fire arms, ect. The novel is almost like going back in time and watching how events changed and shaped the world and the impact it does to them.
Despite their being not much action once the plot of the story gets going it's how it was written that I liked. I didn't get bored reading from the start as I knew I would have to wait for main plot to get going as I said before reading this book takes time. Even if your a speed reading you won't cover much quickly and specially with all the characters you read through this novel their a lot to cover through this book.
I highly recommend this book for it's well crafted driven story plot and interesting characters. I will also add during my review I left out other parts of the story since their so much detail in this novel I can't cover everything of it as you'll have read it for yourself to see the full story.
A special thanks to John Ross for writing this wonderful novel and I hope one day you'll be selling your next novel some time soon.
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Fiction wrapped in History of RKBA
"A friend loaned me a novel entitled "Unintended Consequences".* It chronicles, with fact'n fiction, historical and recent events involving our Constitution particularly the 2nd Amendment. The book, in parts, is 'mature' reading; however, in context, appropriate for the 'real and fictionalized' situations portrayed. Given the changed discourse in our Country today in which Traditional American Values are being denigrated by the momentum of 'social progressiveness', this book will give you fresh insights into our past and potential future, albeit fiction. It is important to note: "The reactive, violent, and illegal actions perpetrated by characters in the book, be they private citizens, military, or government, fictional or real, are not in any way condoned, encouraged, or approved as acceptable actions for anyone to take," IMHO, rfh."The story hinges upon the enactment and subsequent unintended consequences of several important pieces of U.S. gun control legislation and regulation: the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, the Assault Weapons Importation Ban enacted by Presidential executive order in 1989 and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.The story contains several fictionalized accounts of real-life historical events. The author inserts fictional characters, dialog and the unspoken thoughts of real persons into these events. These events are not merely used as settings or backdrops for the action in the novel; instead, detailed treatments of some of these events occupy dozens of pages. In particular, the following events are featured prominently:• Bonus Army March on Washington, DC (1932)• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943)• Ken Ballew raid (1971)• MOVE raid in Philadelphia (1985)• FBI shootout in Miami (1986)• John Lawmaster raid in Tulsa (ATF) (1991)• Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho (1992)• Waco Siege (1993)• Oklahoma City bombing (1995) Its thesis, as discussed in the Author's Note -A Warning and Disclaimer in the beginning of the book-, is that enough bullying by what is widely perceived as a hostile occupation government will inevitably end in revolt if the occupied area is large enough and has a culture that is significantly different from the occupying state, and that this revolt will be un-defeatable if the rebels use very low-tech "leaderless resistance." (Wikipedia)* P.S. After returning my friend's copy to him, I ordered a copy for myself.
