From Free Life, Issue 21, November 1994
ISSN: 0260 5112

I bought this book in Murder One, Charing Cross Road, attracted by the blurb that called it "in the bestselling tradition of...Allen Drury". As a devotee of that writer, I was instantly interested - and believe myself to have been slightly conned. Mr Drury specialises in political thrillers - this could be described as Mad Max plus Rambo with politics. The basic similarities are the satirical humour and that Mr Drury draws a lot of his characters from real life - as, in at least one case, does Mr Johnstone.

Imagine America in a few years - a country torn apart by rioting and terrorism, started off by the high-taxing, soft on crime, anti-gun liberal domestic policies, coupled with committing troops into other countries' civil wars of the ineffectual President Homer Blanton, a Southerner, overeater of junk food, well-meaning but incompetent, and dominated by the politically correct in general - and by his wife in particular. His response to the Fair Taxation movement, under which people are willing to pay 15% but no more, is to send in the troops. Thousands die in the shootouts; the forces eventually refuse to obey orders - and it goes on from there.

The hero is Ben Raines, a Vietnam war hero-turned-writer-turned-General and leader of the Rebels, an Army fighting Nazi invaders, Government forces, Creeps/punks (street gangs grown into armies) - in fact, just about everybody. He believes - and the book preaches this far too much for my liking, its only defect - in a minimum government, few laws but God help anybody who breaks them, self-reliance society; and is successful in building one in the old South - the Confederacy, substituting Oklahoma for Virginia. The difference between him and Blanton is described as "Blanton is a raging liberal whose idea of government is meddling in everybody's business and running their lives from cradle to grave.... Raines is a hard conservative who believes that it's up to the individual to sink or swim on their own, and if you fuck up you can take the consequences." The author adds that he's "polite to ladies, kind to animals and children, respected the rights of law-abiding citizens, and hated human trash."

His chief enemy in the war is an old enemy from Vietnam, General Paul Revere, a mercenary who commands Blanton's forces - with obvious motives of his own! Raines describes his new state as "removing every trace of bureaucracy... not a democracy as you know it." They have a popularly-elected (and Black) President but all new laws require a referendum - there are no gun control laws, and "Citizens of the SUSA [Southern USA] are free to use deadly force to protect what is theirs."

This book is a good action thriller, even funny in parts - satirical humour at the expense of the wife-dominated politically correct liberal windbag in the White House and all who sail in him. For instance, Blanton's Vice-President is a politically correct feminist called Harriet Hooter and he has a gay associate called Blush Lightheart.

I recommend this book to anyone who isn't politically correct and has a sense of humour - I also recommend skipping over the didactic passages, which are a bit (well - a lot!) overdone. I also offer no prizes for guessing the identity of the "real" Homer Blanton!

Mark Taha