Robbie Bach

The checklist on page one of The Wilkes Insurrection notes the importance of Johnny's preparation for flight 209.

The book combines historical events with some fictional characters. The author does flesh out the characters well by building crucial relationships and the scene-setting kept me turning the page as it helped in determining the character's behavior.

Johnny boards the aircraft and soon after I felt as if he entered a virtual reality. I imagined Johnny an algorithm, manifested at the speed of light, operated on a computing machine.

The storyline definitely points out the ethical virtue of benevolence. We find there is personal growth amongst great tragedy and there is a disposition to do good when there is serious and immediate danger.

I read and reread these pages. In the end, I believe the author is presenting humanness. And you may just get from this story what you put into it.

This ARC was made available through the generosity of Anna Sacca, Senior Publicity and Branding Manager, at FSB Associates.… (más)

Robbie Back fictionalizes a scary scenario that conveys a horrifying message: America is more vulnerable than ever. Domestic terrorism is a real threat.

A snippet:

It opens when a terrorist bomb blows out a door on Flight 209 forcing an emergency crash landing at Offutt Air Force Base. Major Tamika Smith is in charge of the Search and Rescue efforts assisted by the base commander Jerry Jessup. The crash is the first of several terrorist acts that followed. Smith and Jessup lives were tragically altered on 9/11 and once again they are confronted with more terrorism.

My thoughts:

The pace is good and the chapter are not too long. The story exposes a divided America in the grips of terrorists’ attacks how it was done then and how it is still done today.

The story is told by different characters: the terrorist, the victims and the heroes. Major Smith is the principal player with all her demons haunting her. This badass ex-military who served in Afghanistan became an instant media sensation after the crash. The main villain Ford Wilkes has no particular qualities and is so easy for us to dislike. (Well he is the bad guy after all). Wilkes does the planning and hires Obaid bin Latif, a Jihadist, to execute the bombing and along the way Latif manages to evade capture time and time again....Do we have attacks in “The Wilkes Insurrection” so many to last a life time...The author does a masterful job maintaining suspense.

This is dialogue driven and easy to follow, definitely a storyline that flows effortlessly from page to page. It was very captivating till the final chapter when Tamika’s gave a long political speech then I lost focus and inevitably skipped to the end. Integrating politics was a turn off at this point.

I received this book from Greenleaf Book Group via Netgalley for my thoughts: this is the way I see it… (más)