Rating: 
Summary: Competent if Predictable Thriller
Review: A what-if thriller much along the lines of Robert Harris' "Fatherland". Set ten years after the Cuban Missile Crisis became a shooting war, a devastated US is a pale shadow of its former glory, a democracy almost in name only, reliant on aid from Europe. JFK's epitaph is that of war criminal and the military retains control of the country from behind the scenes.
The comparisons with "Fatherland" are deserved in many respects. We are introduced to an inquisitive central character in an alternate vision of the world, in this case Carl Landry, a reporter. Through the investigation of a murder, he proceeds to uncover a secret history of his time and therefore, the true nature of things.
While Landry's character at first appears interesting, the book is unfortunately otherwise populated with essentially stock characters. A predictable romance story is inevitably introduced, while many other incidents and plot points are fairly derivative also. The passages set in an abandoned Manhattan reminded me of the film "Escape From New York".
Altogether however, this is not a bad book and is worth reading for those who enjoy the thriller genre. The depiction of a post-nuclear US seems very plausible and the author does convey the sense of suppression and control of the population by the government and military. Although the story is wrapped up a little too conveniently at the end, generally I think this book was worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: If Orwell was a "10" then DuBois was a "15"
Review: Unfolding layers of intrique in this novel grip the reader. Those of us who lived through the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 hesitate to consider what could have happened if one world leader hadn't blinked; a full-blown nuclear holocaust between the two biggest world powers was ready and waiting.
Brendan DuBois brings that terrifying possibility to life with marvelously drawn three-dimensional characters in a devastated but functioning country still struggling under martial law 10 years later. There are no winners in this war. Gov. George Romney is now the American president, but the real power is with the military. The new frontier is dead, virtually as well as figuratively. England is now sending Bundles to USA. World economy is shattered and post war recovery agonizingly slow. Major cities including Washington and New York remain in shambles from nuclear blasts a decade before. They are restricted and under military guard.
The reader visits those cities as he/she follows lead character, Boston Globe reporter Carl Landry, through a maze of dark events, precipitated by what appears to be a routine murder of an old man in East Boston. Landry's discoveries are hard won but each pixel of the puzzle draws a darker cloud after him that keeps him moving and fast.....with Sandy Price, fellow London Times reporter in this country on special assignment. He learns quickly his enemy has weapons he does not and at stake is a very important truth the world needs to know.
The momentum is consistant,the characters are original. No Ian Fleming influence here. Landry is hard-hitting when necessary but humorously self effacing. He is a high-principled journalist with a dogged commitment to truth. He mourns the loss of his parents to the war. He was safely tucked away in Saigon in the regular army when the buttons were pushed. "Resurrection Day" is for both men and women. The book is full of the unexpected, just when the reader thinks he understands what's unfolding. DuBois researched his history well and the fiction he made of it projects insight into many examples of human folly.
Rating: 
Summary: A Pertinent Warning
Review: Although not a frequent reader of alternate history, I found this book very engaging and unusually pertinent to the world we find ourselves in Post 9/11. It centers around the curtailment of citizen freedoms and the abuses of military power in the name of "national security" following a fictional nuclear war occurring at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The story is well-conceived and a great read. What I found chilling are the parallels to 2001 where citizens are being arrested and detained without legal recourse, where the news is being censored in the name of military security, where military tribunals in secret are being put forward in place of open public trials. I found the villainy of the British in Dubois's book a bit unlikely, but the villainy of our own military was very believable. On a positive note, Duboise's conception of the strength and resilience of the people of New York City in the aftermath of disaster turns out to have been amazingly prescient and right on. I heartily recommend this as an involving and timely book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good AH, But Not Without Its Flaws
Review: Brendan Dubois's novel 'Resurrection Day' is a fun and thrilling Alternate History story set in a world where cooler heads did not prevail. Instead of working out a deal, the US and the USSR begin a full scale nuclear war in the wake of the Cuban Missle Crisis. Ten years later The United States is a police state, where military conscription and British foreign aid are supposedly the only things keeping the country from reverting to barbarism. When a reporter stumbles onto a story about the true beginnings of the US-Soviet war he soon finds himself in the middle of the largest cover-up in US history and is soon being hunted by the US Air Force, British secret agents, and other, more mysterious figures. While the author does a tremedous job of creating this fictional, nightmare world it still doesn't hold a candle to Robert Harris's 'Fatherland,' to which this novel is often compared. It is much slower moving than 'Fatherland' and a bit more implausble in some areas. Also the characters, while compelling, aren't nearly as interesting as Harris's. That being said it should also be pointed out that this is a first rate AH story that should be embraced by all lovers of the genre. A lot of fun!
Rating:
Summary: A Unique AH
Review: Dubois gets credit for tackling a subject that has not had much alternate history devoted to it -- the Cuban Missile Crisis. Like much alternate history, Resurrection Day has a great setup and a great idea, but the plot itself is strained. It is fascinating to read Dubois's vision of the United States ten years after a limited nuclear war, with President Kennedy maligned as the reason for the nation's collapse. The most original idea is Britain's smug condescension as the U.K. is called upon to offer aid and assistance to the now-impoverished United States.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent tale of a frightening alternate universe
Review: World War III happened in 1963, and the United States won. Sort of. It's not a very pretty world, and it gets less pretty in this story of betrayal and conspiracy. A classic "man who knew too much" story, well done.
Rating:
Summary: Tough to get into but worth the effort!
Review: This being my first venture into "fictional history", I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel. The premise ("Cuban Missle Crisis Goes Horribly Wrong") piqued my interest enough when I saw this book on the shelf to give it a try. I wasn't disappointed - especially after I slogged through the first 150 pages. The protagionist of the story is a likeable and sympathetic enough character that you can't help not rooting for. In addition, there are a number of "nasties" along the way that sometimes make it tough to figure out who's good and who's evil. The "plot" has enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing throughout the last half of the book. And, I might add, is based on a believable enough premise that you'll "thank your lucky stars" things didn't work out this way back in the 60's. I would have liked to have seen the real historical figures (Kennedy, Johnson, Cabinet officials, etc.) used more often in the novel to give the story more "history" and less "fiction". But, when they WERE used, it made for some of the better parts of the book. (Especially imaginative were the references to the candidates in the Presidential race that was taking place throughout the book.) The novel is a little slow in spots and the romantic interlude involving our "hero" and the British journalist is uneven, at best. On the other hand, DuBois IS a very good storyteller and many parts of this book shine. (I think the average reader will certainly enjoy the trip to Manhatten Island.) If you enjoy "fact" mixed in with "fiction", then I don't think you'll be disappointed with "Resurrection Day"!
Rating:
Summary: An Alternate History that hits close to home
Review: 'Resurrection Day' is an alternate history in the mold of Robert Harris' 'Fatherland.' What if the Cuban Missile Crisis had not ended, but became a nuclear war instead? DuBois paints a very harrowing picture of a military state in his post-war America. The story takes place in 1972, ten years after the Cuban War, and it centers on Carl Landry, an ex-army sergeant who is now a reporter for the Boston Globe. He has a strange encounter with another veteran who turns up dead a month later. Although his editor tells him to drop the story, Carl thinks something is amiss and continues to investigate. Intrigue ensues. The story gets a little convoluted at times, and is easy to predict at others; but overall it is fast paced and engrossing. If you enjoyed 'Fatherland' then you will probably enjoy 'Resurrection Day.' And if you have not read 'Fatherland' and you read and enjoy this book, give it a try.
Rating:
Summary: It's not as suspenseful as I had hoped ...
Review: Don't get me wrong, DuBois' writing is terrific and the book is well-written ~~ but it seemed to have dragged me along in a couple of chapters as I anxiously await to read what the reporter Carl Landry is on the hunt for. And some of the characters are predictable ~~ much to my chagrin. But if you're looking for a really good "what if" book, this is it. I was born way after the Bay of Pigs incident and the Kennedys I know of are the ones I read about ~~ John John and Caroline. Oh yes, Senator Ted Kennedy. So, when I picked up this book, I thought, oh cool, a history lesson mixed in with fiction. Well, DuBois didn't really go into the history part as much as he writes about what if the Russians did bomb us and we bombed the Russians, and how would our lives be? That part is terrifying ~~ I cannot imagine living in a police state nor can I imagine losing everything and everyone in a nuclear blast. And DuBois plays well with your emotions and fears as he writes about Carl Landry on a mad hunt for the truth. Landry is joined by a British reporter, Sandy who has secrets of her own. And together, they tried to find out what had really happened that fateful day World War III had broken out. And the military is hot on their tail ~~ they didn't want Landry to find out the the truth. It makes for a good reading. Just because I didn't think it was suspenseful enough for me (No one can be like Patterson or some of those other writers), it is still a good book to pick up. In fact, I am planning to pass this onto my friends and family and see what they think of it. I am sure my parents would enjoy it better as they had lived through the Kennedy times ~~ and still remember those drills in case of a nuclear attack. If you're looking for a fiction that has plenty of action and dialogue, then this is it. If you expect it to be more historical, this isn't it. Still a good read though.
Rating:
Summary: A Noble Effort
Review: Brendan Dubois's novel takes place in an alternate universe, one where the Cuban Missle Crisis erupted into World War III. The story picks up in 1972, a decade later. The United States has been decimated by a nuclear holocaust and is now entirely dependent on its European allies for survival. There are national food and energy shortages. The country is under a totalitarian-like state of martial law and the media is strictly censored by the Army. On the other side of the globe, the Soviet Union and most of the Asian continent have been obliterated from the face of the Earth. The story revolves around two reporters - one from Boston, the other from London - who together indirectly end up pursuing information that leads to revealing the truth about how President Kennedy lost control of the Cuban Missle Crisis, plunging the U.S. into third world war. I had loved the novel "Fatherland" and I was attracted to "Resurrection Day" because of the similarities pointed out by professional reviewers. Alternate history is a fascinating genre, because I guess from time to time we all think - if perhaps narcissistically - about how our own lives would've been affected had we ourselves taken a turn in the road different from the one we ultimately chose. Though "Fatherland" isn't perfect, I think it's a stronger book and more plausible in its concept than the scenario DuBois creates in "Resurrection Day." It takes about 20 or so plus depressing chapters for DuBois to build the foundation of this nightmarish world before anything of great importance really occurs in the novel. Then when it does, he takes us into the bowels of New York City (literally) on an odyssey that seems to be a little too bizarre and a little too fantastic for me to believe could've happened in such an alternate universe. I also felt a few of the main characters - most notably the military personnel depicted - lacked any real depth. Much of the dialogue at times also seemed weak, as if it were borrowed from a Steven Seagal film, though there are a few great lines uttered by the protagonist from time to time. One other thing that troubled me about the story: I couldn't figure out how the rest of the world had survived World War III so well. I had been taught as far back as grade school that even a limited nuclear exchange by the U.S. and Russia (even in 1962) would've led to nuclear winter. But yet we learn that ten years after the fact, the British are thriving, the Germans and French are building a space station in orbit, and the Japanese are on their way to becoming the economic giant they were apparently destined to be in both histories. What about all the dirt and dust kicked up into the atmosphere? What about all that lethal radiation? Wouldn't a poisonous radioactive cloud have been carried by the jet stream to rain down on Europe's cities and farmlands; contaminating their water, their crops, and their livestock too? Wouldn't they be in just as bad shape as the U.S.? Despite the faults I found with the book, I certainly have to admit that DuBois's tale of nuclear horror made me think. He's also the first author ever to give me nightmares, which I guess means he made his point. I would recommend this book to friends with my above concerns stated, because I think alternate history is a helluva hard genre to write for and I respect him for doing it as well as he did. In my opinion, it's not as good as "Fatherland," but it is a noble effort.
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