Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and entertaining thriller for AH-addicts
Review: Having just read "Resurrection Day", I thought i'd share briefly my opinions, which are mostly favorable. On the whole it makes for an entertaining book, using a a cross-pollenation of genres and sub-genres, beginning as murder myster set in an America 10 years after the Cubam Missle Crisis became a nuclear Cuban War, which crippled the US and annhilated the USSR. It then procedes to turn into a political thriller, as our hero, Boston Globe reporter Carl Landry, delved deeper into the murdered vet and finds all manner of intrigue and danger involving the US and UK governments, military personel, and the truth about what happened in 1962. Elements of post-apocalypse sc-fi also are present in visits to a bombed Manahattan populated by gangs and people fighting for survival. And there is even the dystopic element, represented by a US under ten years of marshal law.Carl Landry makes for an interesting and mostly sympathetic hero, and the world Brendan DuBois has created is on the whole plausible. Certainly, it does become predictable about page 300; I had pretty well figured out the whole murder mystery by then. And there is a certain whistful nostalgia about the nobility of JFK, and a very cynical view of Curits LeMay (renamed here as Ramsey Curtis) which seem a little simplistic, but it makes for overall an entertaining yarn, particularly for AH-addicts who might need a quick fix.
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: Extremely Disappointing Book
Review: I *love* alternate histories, and liked Brendan DuBois when he was writing about his modern-day ex-DOD-analyst/Amateur Detective Lewis Cold (in Dead Sand -- thhe first of his series), but the current book was so depressing and unbelievable that I wondered how it could have received positive ratings from so many people. I kept reading (skimming) to the end, hoping for some redeeming feature, but had no luck. The basic plot device is that the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated into WW III: Washington DC, a part of New York, and much of Florida (?) was destroyed, along with all of the Soviet Union. One of the unbelievable pieces of dialog that appears in the book was having the viewpoint character, a Boston Globe reporter, explain to a beautiful, wealthy London Times reporter (who seems to LIKE him) that Americans feel guilty about wiping out the Russians, since their military clearly weren't up to the US level of power (they only managed to kill 10 million Americans -- thus the guilt). The plot develops as a weird working out of the author's political fantasies, including an alternate universe Kennedy Death Conspiracy, at least as weird as the weirdest one I have ever heard about the actual Kennedy Assassination. Since the author is in charge of reality here, irrefutable proof is discovered, showing that this weird conspiracy theory is TRUE! I recommend against this book unless you're interested in conspiracies.
Rating:
Summary: Camelot in ruins?
Review: Perhaps "Resurrection Day" by Brendan Dubois would have been a more intriguing read had the story taken place directly after the missiles started falling on America and Russia; rather than ten years after the fact. The story itself is fairly crafted, but there's very little actual thrill to any of it. The greatest nation on the face on the planet reduced to less than second world status? Highly improbable. The strategic retaliations that Mr. Dubois proposes are somewhat far fetched. I would think that the entire European community would have been brought into the war in 1962 had the events unfolded as the story would have you believe. Carl Landry is a so-so protagonist. He has mixed emotions over both aspects of his life. Which is he truly? A former army sergeant or a Boston newspaper reporter? Mr. Landry himself doesn't seem to know. He can't have it both ways. Several times throughout the novel he detests the work he's done for his country, and equally loathes being called a "quota baby". It's either one or the other, Mr. Landry. Hot zones, relief-aid from Great Britain, decon camps, poor electricity and food shortages. All are very possible, but a decade after the war? Yet more improbabilities. America's farmland was providing for quite a bit of the world and then some at that time. So, why wouldn't they have done so for their own countrymen? According to Mr. Dubois, none of the Midwest states were even touched. It's details like this that made portions of the story tepid. The supporting cast is lightweight and all too common in these sorts of novels. Suspicious editors and co-workers, homeless veterans with more knowledge of what actually happened during the war than most citizens, and British consulate workers and military-types with nefarious plans all their own. As far as "what-if" novels go, it's not too bad. Some of the inner-storylines could have been re-worked or removed altogether. It's a very light read for those people interested in a filler novel before your next big read.
Rating:
Summary: Resurrected from the bookshelf for the guys
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely. The plot is great, although flawed on occasion. However it will keep you thinking well after the book. The prose is a little static and the flow seems to be missing. It certainly has a "new-author-first-book-with-potential" feel to it. In fact the writing reminded me of those readers digest recommended thrillers or westerns you'd get at your grandparents house. I feel a better editor might have raised this to a great novel rather than a good read. Despite the above criticism, I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with a love of conspiracy theory or wanting a light read with a fascinating storyline. I gave this to my significant other who is not much of a reader, and he was wowed by it. I have also lent it to other men as it has a "blokey feel" to it. All have enjoyed. It is really a three star however I an enjoyed it like a four. It was a bad novel but a good book. It seems to me this would make a better film than a novel - and how rare is that?
Rating:
Summary: Flawed geopolitics
Review: Yes, a great AH book, well thought out. Then you think.....hang on a bit, the USSR was smashed by SAC but spared Western Europe? No way those hundreds of IRBMs aimed at European NATO would not have been used, specially against UK and Germany. Otherwise, great.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting scenario
Review: Let's start with the basics: Buy it. Read it. It is a very good story. Here is the why:
In general, what separates the great stories from the avarage ones? Some might say that its the ability of some part of the story to remain with you long after you have finished reading it. In this respect, "Ressurection Day" deserves to be classified as a classic of Alternate History and a great story to boot.
From the beginning, Dubois chooses his fork in time carefully. An all too near to reality scenario where the Cuban Crisis ends in World War III is just the kind of twist to lend this alternate world a heafty dose of credibility. Focusing on JFK has Dubois sending his readers directly into what I would term the "Oliver Stone realm of nostalgia" - the world as it might have been had this or other event not hapenned.
From these basic ingredients, Dubois weaves an intricate tapestry of memories and tragedies, hopes and fears. This is a world full of regret and a palpable sense of sadness, looking back in anger at the shattered American dream. And in it comes Ressurection's main character, Carl Landry, ostensibly trying to solve a murder, but actually hoping to achieve much much more.
Landry's journey through a devastated America is a tour de force of sketches into the avarage person's life after such a cataclysmic event. There are no big heroes to fill the canvas, just a collection of disparate people, nut unlike you and me, trying to make the best out of a horrible situation. The people and the places, the hopes and fears are what you would expect to find in your own neighborhodd, a fact which makes the horros of the war resonate with an uncanny attenuation. I guarantee you that long after you have forgotten any of the characters or the plot, the images of an America that might have been will remain in your mind as a powerful deterrent to a future you will not want happening.
Rating:
Summary: Great ideas, poor delivery
Review: Resurrection Day is set in a world in which the Cuban Missle Crisis turned into a full scale nuclear war between The Soivet Union and the US. The Soviet Union is totally destroyed while the US is severly crippled. The story revolves around a reporter, Carl Landry,who investigates the murder of an old veteran who has information on the true events which occured leading up to the nuclear exchange. What he finds out has vital importance to the upcoming Presidential election and the freedom of the American people. The ideas Brendan Dubois explores such as how the use of "emergency powers" can lead to governmental opression is interesting, but character development is lacking. This, coupled with a rushed ending makes this book less then what it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and frightening
Review: I'm an avid reader of thrillers and mysteries but rarely opt for those set in history, or, in this case, alternative history. I happened to grab it off our shared bookshelf at work when I had nothing else to read one day at lunch. I could hardly put it down. I was mesmerized by the imagined post-nuclear world that Dubois describes. It's a book I might have found fantastical prior to this last year post Sept. 11. But having watched our government seize more and more control, I think the portrait the author paints is extremely believable and truly terrifying. The story line was entertaining, but I was far more interested in the descriptions of everyday life, the thoughts of survivors, the crush of civil liberties and all else that would (inevitably?) follow in the months and years after nuclear war. I intend to buy this book for some of my good friends and highly recommend it to others. I hope the publisher decides to re-issue it. It was published in 1999, but that's another world ago since Sept. 11, 2001, and I think there'd be a huge market for it given the right promotional campaign. It would also be one heck of a movie.
Rating:
Summary: It Was That Close!
Review: Brendan DuBois' alternate history of the Cuban Missle crisis is a chillingly stark reminder of how close the World came to mass destruction. Set in post apocolyptic America, we see a gungho former soldier now reporter who has stumbled onto a story that could have far reaching consequences for the USA and the now world dominant Great Britain and Europe. With the USSR a nuclear wasteland for the next 10 000 years a more forceful UN lead inititive to rid the planet of all nuclear weapons sees the battered former superpower suddenly placed in the sights of a British lead invasion. The last moments of John F Kennedy's life is the pivitol storyline of this novel, just what really happened in the last few hours of Washington D.C.'s existance. Did Kennedy escape to South America or did he die a hero at his oval office desk? A chilling example of just how heady those days were is played out in a history lession given by the base commander in New York City. New York was badly damaged by Atomic strikes but as the story will show, the big apple is surprisingly resilient. Alternate storylines are always fun and this is no exception. Just like Robert Harris' Fatherland we can see a world that is rather dark and scary but thankfully not real.
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