Resurrection Day

The Cuban Missile Crisis ranks as the most terrifying moment of the Cold War, the point when the United States and the Soviet Union came closest to waging a nuclear war. In this novel, Brendan DuBois offers a terrifying speculation how it might have turned out, with a postwar America still recovering from a "limited" attack that killed millions and turned the country over to a quasi-military regime. DuBois' concept is well thought out, from the gangs of "orphies" (children who were safely in bomb shelters while their parents were caught above ground when the bombs fell) to the legend created around the possible survival of John F. Kennedy, a figure reviled for plunging the world into war. Yet for a work of alternative history to succeed, it isn't enough simply to have an intriguing premise. The story within the book needs to be strong, and it is here where DuBois's book stands out from most alternative history novels. His plot, which follows a reporter whose investigation of a seemingly mundane murder leads him to the conspiracies which form the foundation of the post-war America, is exciting, with realistic characters that readers can relate to struggling to survive in this nightmarish America. All of this is told in a fast-paced, gripping narrative that make for great reading.

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.

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.