Resurrection Day
by Brendan DuBois
Our Price: $12.49
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Brendan DuBoisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-01
ISBN: 0515129496
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Jove
Book Reviews of Resurrection Day
Book Review: A Noble Effort
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Summary of Resurrection Day
If the Cuban Missile Crisis had erupted in a nuclear war... If the United States were under martial law... This is what might happen..."A book that grabs you by the sheer power of its storytelling. A thriller with punch, one you won't want to put down."-Denver Post
"What-if thriller fiction at its finest."- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The best 'what-if' novel in years." -Lee Child
"A magnificent nightmare."-Jeremiah Healy
"You'll be shocked on every page."-William Martin
Brendan DuBois is an award-winning U.S. author of mystery stories: this alternate-world thriller is very much in the tradition of Robert Harris's Fatherland. Consider this striking blurb line: "Everyone remembered exactly what they were doing the day President Kennedy tried to kill them." History went awry in this world's Cuba crisis, leading to a 1962 nuclear war that devastated Russia, crippled America, and left Britain a major world power smugly giving aid to the USA. Cut to 1972 Boston and ex-soldier Carl Landry, now a newspaper reporter whose coverage of a routine murder is suppressed by military censors. He's unwisely curious, investigates further, and inevitably stirs up a hornets' nest. Attacks, deaths, and disappearances follow. With a new-found girlfriend--an English Times reporter who is not all she seems--Landry uncovers a succession of red-hot secrets about abandoned New York, perfidious British and military plotting, and crucial documents coveted by several factions with different beliefs about their contents. Is Kennedy unjustly despised for starting World War III? Is the rumor that he's still alive just this timeline's version of the Elvis myth? After building up terrific tension, DuBois delivers satisfying answers. Grimly plausible (apart from a few lapses in "British" dialogue) and worthy of the Fatherland comparisons. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
Political Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Political Books
Spinning Dixieby Eric Dezenhall
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2006-12-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Doing Dangerously Wellby Carole Enahoro
Vintage Canada; Published: 2011-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novelby Richard Lourie
Da Capo Press; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
Henry Holt & Co (P); Published: 1978-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
The Blue Woundby Garet Garrett
General Books LLC; Published: 2012-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.14
Phineas Finn (Oxford World's Classics)by Anthony Trollope, Simon Dentith
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The Woman Who Did (Oxford Popular Fiction)by Grant Allen
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-06-29; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Blood Kin: A Novelby Ceridwen Dovey
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Army of the Republic: A Novelby Stuart Archer Cohen
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.78
Price in other shops:
Citizen Vince: A Novelby Jess Walter
Harper; Published: 2005-04-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Red Inferno: 1945: A Novelby Robert Conroy
Ballantine Books; Published: 2010-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.12
Price in other shops:
The Man in the High Castleby Philip K. Dick
Vintage; Published: 1992-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Fatherlandby Robert Harris
HarperTorch; Published: 1993-05-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.93
Boomsdayby Christopher Buckley
Twelve; Published: 2008-05-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
Bad Publicity: A Novelby Jeffrey Frank
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The People's Choice: A Novelby Jeff Greenfield
Plume; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops:
The Given Day: A Novelby Dennis Lehane
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2009-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops:
Six Daysby Brendan Dubois
Time Warner Paperbacks; Published: 2002-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $70.38
American Savior: A Novel of Divine Politicsby Roland Merullo
Algonquin Books; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops:
When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisisby Eric G. Swedin
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2010-08-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.94
Price in other shops: