Review: Middle America
29th August 2006
Rating 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
5 years after the end of The Third Revolution, we rejoin former Montana Governor Ben Kane and his cast of characters after secession. Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas have joined Montana in revolt, and now the loose confederation calls itself the Middle American States. Montana's biggest draw is a place called "Shining City", a combination casino, restaurant, arcade, legal drug den and house of ill-repute.
Mild spoilers below the fold.
In Book I, Ben Kane has declined to run for a second term as governor of Montana, and so is content to manage his restaurant, American Outback in Helena. Kane is still a popular figure in the region, and the former state Senate Majority leader is now the President of the confederation.
Kane is called to the Shining City by an offer. To bolster flagging restaurant figures, Kane is asked to manage a re-creation of the American Outback in the Shining City. He's given free reign, and his main duties are mainly keeping the books straight and putting in appearances.
Soon, Kane begins to suspect that all is not as it seems with the Shining City, and with the help of his friends begins to track down where all the money is going.
The money trail seems to lead, of all places, back to the IRS. Kane's close associate is kidnapped, and things begin to unravel for the conspirators.
In the Blackfoot region, a white buffalo is born. It is said to herald great change and a spiritual joining of native peoples. The Blackfoot, Crow and Sioux tribes decide to merge their separate herds into one enormous free-range herd. The three herds are joined right outside Shining City to a packed house.
Book I ends with the wrap-up of the financial goings-on at Shining City.
Book II covers the presidential election in the United States.
Ben's love interest is hired on as a campaign consultant to the president's campaign staff. The challenger is threating a blockade/boycott of the Middle American States as his platform, so Ben finds himself working with the sitting president to defeat a "common enemy."
Oh, yeah, and build a hydrogen powered railroad from Billings to Helena.
Think of The Third Revolution as an appetizer, and Middle America as the main course. Book I is story and character-driven, and is tough to put down. Book II has a little bit more of the philosophy that we found in The Third Revolution, but it leans more toward the political end of things, rather than the philosophical.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Reading the two novels back to back, I really thought that Lewis hit his stride with Middle America. While good, The Third Revolution felt like a first novel, but Middle America showed that he learned from the experience and took it to the next level. The only gripe I had was that I felt the financial conspiracy story line left some loose ends.
This was a fun read, made doubly so because of the setting. When reading about the gang taking a motorcycle trip to Shining City, I couldn't help but thinking, "Hells bells, I'da gone the other way -- better drive and less traffic." But that's what makes it fun.
Anthony's third novel, "Little Birdies" is working its way through the final editing process, and should be arriving on shelves sometime soon. I plan on buying this one, instead of scamming a review copy from Anthony, and I hope you will do the same. And buy Middle America and The Third Revolution while you're at it.