, the conclusion of the trilogy that began with Enemies Foreign And Domestic.Matt Bracken's novels are probably the best-written and most plausible feeling of what has grown to be an entire crowded genre of books; a genre that took off with John Ross's Unintended Consequences and now includes entries by everybody from Tom Kratzman to Boston T. Party. The first two books, EFAD and Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista, can leave one feeling a little unfulfilled; Matt creates some very sympathetic heroes (and heroines) and some deliciously boo-able villains, but for the most part the good guys only got the most Pyrrhic of victories and the worst of the villains never got stomped as thoroughly as they so righteously deserved.
Given that, Foreign Enemies was positively cathartic in places. Without giving away too much, let's just say that Matt doesn't end the series with a "To Be Continued..." It's over.
And I don't often grin like an idiot and occasionally cheer out loud while reading a book.
11 comments:
Damn. I think you just cost my $60 in books. I already checked and of course none of the local libraries carry them.
Dammit...I'm 2/3 through. Need to find my copy and finish.
I couldn't bring myself to finish his secon book, but I'll probably check out this last one.
Tam,
Finished it...weeks ago myself.
Not quite as enthusiastic about it as you seem to be. Not that it was bad, mind you, it's just that certain parts had me throwing the 'effing book across the room.
I was sincerely hoping to see a bit more of the up-close-and-personal with that slimy SOB, Bullard, I can tell you. More of him getting the treatment in the dark basement would have been nice. Seventy five pages or so of him getting various parts of his anatomy removed with near surgical precision, while inducing excruciating pain would have been pretty gratifying, honestly.
I couldn't agree with you more on the plausibility/believability of the situations though. The whole story seemed like it was being read from the headlines on the Communist News Network, spin and all.
Hope everyone takes some notes on the geo-political splits too. Worth considering what might happen, given enough push.
The I-guess drawback to being old and also having a pretty good memory is that I can see bits and pieces of this genre coming together in the real world.
LBJ's stuff; the GCA of '68 and now the near-culmination of the grab at power by the hard-core Left. Statism run rampant.
Bracken speaks mostly to the anti-gun stuff. Rawles, to economics. Kunstler to EMP.
None of these are truly impossible, regardless of probability--which, I guess, is the attraction. One can read the books, observe the daily news and utterances of our Fearless Leaders and wonder, "What if...?"
Art
Did the Wookies win?
Shootin' Buddy
Depends on how many wookies are in 5th Group.
Added to my wishlist... Thanks for the recommendation.
[quote]I couldn't bring myself to finish his secon book, but I'll probably check out this last one.[/quote]
The second one had a good ending, you should finish it.
I haven't been able to finish the 2nd one either yet. I put it down a couple weeks ago and haven't been able to pick it back up.
Kratman's State of Disobedience was great. Third Revolution by Anthony Lewis is good too.
All of Matt's books are excellent, and the actually get BETTER with each new story. Foreign Enemies is not to be missed, and should be required reading for all Americans.
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