the Army of the Republic by Stuart Cohen

the Army of the Republic is a finely crafted work in the tradition of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, going back to the beginning of the 20th century. Lando, James, Anne, and Emily are finely crafted extremely believable characters. James, the closest thing we see to a bad guy first hand is not your typical purely evil villain. He's human, manipulated by the "corporates" he believes himself to be one of, unable to see past his own filters to the reality of what his son is doing until its too late. Lando is the man many of us wish we were, the guy that didn't give up his ideals after college, and went on to put his own neck on the line to protect them.

The best way I have of describing this book is to imagine 1984 crossed with V for Vendetta, with just a dash of the Siege, and you'll have some idea of the amazingness of this book. My only real gripe is that it seems to simply cut off at the end. There's no clear conclusion as to whether the AoR and the resistance it led were successful or failed. Still, the reality of this book is so close to what we are living now, and so believable, its disturbing. The AoR should be on everyone's reading list this year.