Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: I thought this book was great in content, story and writing. I didn't see hardly a single flaw & have read many hundreds of books. I read it straight through in about 3 days. I did have two complaints: 1) This book is huge! Not just 800 pages, but 800 pages of small type hard cover edge to edge pages! 2) About 3 times there was sexual material. I'm far from a prude, but each of these were way to graphic and seemed very out of place in the book. For this reason I can't let my kids read it..
Rating: 
Summary: I Wanted To Like It More...
Review: Anyone who loves freedom and hates what's happened to individual rights in America this past century will thrill to the theme of "Unintended Consequences." And I must admit, I derived quite a bit of enjoyment from its epic story of the "gun culture" under siege. But, as a work of fiction, the book's more than a little jagged. As a hortatory script for action, it's more than a little implausible.Mr. Ross's love of firearms is laudable, and his erudition in that sphere is truly amazing. However, I found myself skimming long passages that rhapsodized about the technical characteristics of various weapons, to conserve the drive of the fictional narrative -- the story I was there to read. A good editor would not have permitted so many arid passages of technical fact in a novel, whose first duty is to entertain. Because of the sweep of time and the cast of characters it covers, the story is more than a little episodic. That's all right in and of itself, but the sense of overall connectedness is weaker than it should be. Too many of the early vignettes just don't bind firmly enough to the central filaments of the story. Again, there was room for a sharp editor to help the work a lot. Finally, the federal government of these United States has demonstrated that it would not negotiate -- in good faith, anyway -- with someone who resists its lightest whims, unless that someone is a nation-state. We have ample evidence of this, from the Whiskey Rebellion through the Civil War to the massacres at Waco and Ruby Ridge. The final Bowman / Kane / Johnson revolt would not provoke any conciliatory response, but rather would garner the feds enough public acquiescence to put the entire country under martial law, suspending the tattered remnants of our rights "until we've hunted these vicious jackals down." That condition, once installed, might never be lifted. Yet I did like it, in parts very much. It's always stirring to read about men of principle who put their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line for freedom.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read - for many reasons
Review: There are so many glowing reviews that I don't really have anything new to add. I loved the Warsaw Ghetto chapter. All the technical firearm details were correct, not something you usually find in a novel. I bought a second copy so that I could pass one along to friends and keep one for myself. I think I'll buy some more to donate to the local library. Mike Brown
Rating:
Summary: My most frequently read book...
Review: This book doesn't occupy a space on my bookshelf--it is usually in someones hands having eyes and minds focussed on it... John Ross takes the reader on a perilous journey through the "gun culture" in 20th Century America. Starting in the early 1900's with Ad Topperwein,the tale is at first historical. Many of the early day feats of arms are documented to lead the reader through many little-known events that begin to illustrate the true significance of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Events such as the Bonus March and the 1939 U.S. vs. Miller case are used as examples of the author's basic premise that our government has become too intrusive and that a virtual police state has evolved. Mr. Ross introduces as his protaganist Henry Bowman,a young man from St. Louis,steeped in the gun culture from early childhood, and several other well developed characters that are essential to the plot. Most notable is Raymond Johnson from Colorado. Ray is very important to the tale since he experiences a long period of absence from the U.S. as a professional hunter in Africa. Upon his return he experiences massive culture shock and becomes Bowman's partner in the events detailed in the book. Many have expressed dissatisfaction with some of the sexual events described it exquisite detail,and to some of the language used. These events and some of the expletives are used deliberately in order to emphasize to the reader the dramatic changes our country has undergone in the last half of the past century. In the 1950's to describe such acts and use such language would have been almost unthinkable. Cindy Caswell is used as a tool to describe some of the perversion our once moral society now ,if not condones , at least to which turns a blind eye. For out of the mouth of Cindy Caswell or of Raymond Johnson comes the outrage of the author towards a government that is out of control. The events of the novel may shock some,but the author may just be prophetic. Never a dull book in spite of it's length. Not for the weak of stomach or faint of heart. Buy it. Read it. Share it.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: I wonder how many Americans know that we've had our own Tienannmen Square massacre. One of the projects I completed for a college course entailed interviews of veterans and other senior citizens at a local retirement home. It was here that I first learned of the massacre in Washington, D.C. I searched in vain for months, piecing together the historical record. There was very little reporting on the subject, but other records from local hospitals and personal journals bear out the story. I had forgotten all this until I read UC. There is so much here for the slow-boiling frogs to get hopping about. Read this book, buy extra copies, and pass them on...
Rating:
Summary: Unintended Consequences
Review: Excellent read, the story is well developed, well written and believable. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Read, but too much Profanity
Review: I love the way that the book was laid out, and the character detail was wonderful. I liked everything about this book except the fact that Mr Ross seemed to think that profanity was a much needed element. I found that part totally unappealing. Looking forward to another book by Mr. Ross, and with much less profanity.
Rating:
Summary: NO WONDER THE BATF WENT AFTER JOHN ROSS
Review: Great book. I couldn't put it down. If the government doesn't get its act togather, and if history is any indicator, John Ross's book might be more then a Historic novel. UC is right at the top with Atlas Shrugged. If you are part of the gun culture described in this book, then you should also check out keepandbeararms.com. It is the primere sorce for second amendment information.
Rating: 
Summary: If You Want to Know...
Review: If you want to know what gunowners are so upset about, read this book. As fiction it has its faults. It's very long. The main character - especially during his childhood - is not especially believable. There's some gratuitous sex that doesn't add anything but gratuitous sex. And there were times when I believed if I read one more variation on "all for not paying a $200 tax because a piece of steel or wood was too long or too short" I would certainly puke. Also (and this is a built-in hazard of mixing history with polemic fiction) I didn't know where the history ended and the fiction began, which meant I will always be afraid to use the things I may have learned in discussions for fear I'm repeating fiction as fact. One thing I DID find plausible was the climax of the story, which provides one possible answer to the questions, "Suppose you did decide your government had crossed the line into tyranny? What do you think you'd do about it?" The argument normally runs that armed citizens are irrelevant because they couldn't beat the army. But who says they'd be facing the army? I found the book difficult to put down even though I'm normally bored by the same old pro-gun arguments, having read them all a hundred times before. Even at 850+ pages, it's a surprisingly good yarn. And it definitely sums up the beliefs, fears, hopes and revenge fantasies of the American gun culture very nicely.
Rating:
Summary: A realistic scenario of future America
Review: A disturbing potential scenario of the future of America. John Ross was encouraged by his publisher to write Unintended Consequences under a pseudonym - after reading it you will understand why! One could get the gist of the book by reading the last 200 pages only, but John Ross takes you through a tedious, but worthwhile character development excursion into the psyches of the main players in the first 650 pages. The book would not have had the same impact had I skipped them. Unintended Consequences is destined to become a classic but may eventually be thrown in with the genre of books such as 'The Turner Diaries' and other so-called hate, anti-government, or extremist literature. I am sure that the many organizations and individuals that monitor so-called hate and anti-government groups, including the Federal government itself, have reviewed the book thoroughly and have drawn conclusions about the sentiments of the author and the collective cultural psyche of Americans that mirror the image he creates of the personalities in the book - principally those of the 'gun culture.' The plot poignantly demonstrates what could happen if the bureaucracy and internal security forces of the Federal government continues to run amuck generating high profile cases like the Gordon Kahl shootout, Ruby Ridge, Waco, the OKC bombing, and thousands of other not so well known bureaucratic blunders, that have resulted in vast numbers of nameless and faceless individuals languishing in federal penitentiaries, or who have lost their lifes work, savings, and assets, because of some infraction or misunderstanding of federal 'tax'laws with regard to firearms. It also calls into question the true motives of agencies such as the BATF, originally created as revenue enforcers but portrayed in Unintended Consequences as an SS or Gestapo like agency dressed in black ninja suits, with machine pistols and Kohl-Skuttle Nazi Sytle Kevlar helmets, as the impressive book jacket aptly portrays. The book, if made into a motion picture, would have to be rated 'X' or about half of it cut out due to sexually explicit and perverted material and disturbing violence. Not a book for bedtime reading to the children for sure. For his first novel, John Ross has done an outstanding job in portraying a very disturbing, politically incorrect (but accurate), and seedy dimension of the United States Federal Government , and how the freedoms we believe we have, are illusory for the most part, and can be stripped from anyone at anytime. Some 20,000 new laws are passed every year in this country. The United States has more individuals incarcerated per capita than any other country in the world. We now live in a state where we are all 'citizen suspect,' eventhough we try our best to be law abiding citizens, the sheer number of laws make all but children, criminals by the time they reach adulthood. Unintended Consequences makes me long for the days when you could leave your doors unlocked, wave at the police without them pulling you over - the FBI were G-Men protecting us from real domestic and foreign threats, and only true criminals knew what BATF stood for. During the '90s, the Federal government has transformed our country into no less than a police state which you would expect only in the Soviet Union, South and Central America, and China and other Southeast Asian nations. After reading Unintended Consequences, you will come to this realization and a sense of uneasiness and anxiety will sweep over your body as in an intense and disturbing revelation.
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