Blood Republic

I was incredibly surprised how great this was from an author and a publisher I never heard of. It is as if Duncan predicted Jan 6th four years before it actually happened. Though his story goes one step further than 1/6/21 and actually may result in an all on civil war from a "tied" election. I hope the 2024 election turns out better than his 2016, but I wouldn't put it past my fellow Americans.

From beginning to end Duncan keeps you guessing. I kept wondering "is this guy a conservative or a liberal, a Republican or a Democrat" there are times both groups are shown as saintly or as complete devils. Clearly, he's not a third-party guy as there was 0 mention of any other candidates causing the downfall of America. From the main character who has been fighting for social democracy since childhood, to her born-again conservative green beret brother, to her transgender life-long friend and campaign manager, to the conservative Baptist republican nominee, to all the rondos on @Twittter that we see taking a part, not to mention her daughter with a life-threatening disease that wraps the whole story together, the characters were brilliant. I do say one very minor character gave up way too much, in fact when he appeared around 3/4 of the way through the story I almost gave up on the book as his mere name made it much clearer where the author was and how he'd get to the climax. This is the reason I give Blood Republic 4 rather than 5 stars.

I certainly would at least give them a different name if a sequel wherever to be published. The end of the book tells us to look forward to one and to subscribe to the publishers' newsletter online for more information, but alas I suspect it went out of business as the website is not accessible in 2023. It's a real shame if that's the case. Whether a sequel is published or not, some publisher really needs to get James Duncan on contract, or we'll lose a literacy genius.