Who or what was the Posse Comitatus? Was it or are they real? Read this highly interesting book to find out. I know I did. The suspense was intense and I had trouble putting down the book as I wanted to find out what happened next.

Rating: 5

Heat Rating: Mild

Reviewed by: Susan for MY BOOK ADDICTION AND MORE ( )

Steve O'Brien must have been drinking breakfast when he wrote Redemption Day. Not so much a suspense or a thriller as it is pure fantasy. If anybody believes there is a groundswell of domestic terrorists along the lines of 'sovereign citizens' or 'tea party activists', they might also want to fortify their homes for another sneak attack from Japan, which is about as likely. Mr. O'Brien should probably check himself in for 72 hour psychological evaluation. It seems improbable that there is a real market for this type of fever dream. ( )

When I read the synopsis of Redemption Day, I was intrigued. The Posse Comitatus, right wing militarists, has always fascinated me. Steve O’Brien takes on a journey of what if The Posse rises and sets into motion a plan that starts with kidnapping a Supreme Court Justice and ending with a city in the grip of terror from terrorists from our own country.

O’Brien’s main character Nick James is just an ordinary guy who has recently lost his terrorism analyst job at the Department of Homeland Security. On his way home he receives a phone call from Sheriff Brager who met Nick an Identity Scams conference. Brager thinks that Nick could help him with the mysterious kidnapping of Supreme Court Justice Silvio Caprelli. Unfortunately by the time Nick meets with Brager outside of Nick’s house, Brager has been shot. The authorities now think Nick has something to do with all of this and he is about to become their prime suspect number one. Lucky for Nick, his old flame, Kate is involved in the task force in charge of finding him and bring him in. She knows that Nick isn’t capable of masterminding something this big but she has a lot of obstacles in the way to prove it.

The beginning starts out fast-paced and thrilling but after finding Nick it seemed to slow down a bit. I felt that maybe the search for Nick could have been drawn out a bit more. It seemed to me that when they found him it was like they just gave up on the idea that Nick could possibly have something to do with what is going on. But it turns around in the end. Can’t say much about it because I don’t want to spoil it but it is action-packed and has you on the edge of your seat wondering if they are going to be able to stop The Posse in time. Satisfactory for the political thriller lovers out there.

(Book was received from publisher for an honest review) ( )

Many moons ago I reviewed Bullet Work by Steve O'Brien and, quite frankly, I wasn't fond of it. For some reason it just didn't resonate with me. When I was contacted to review another of his books, Redemption Day, the synopsis caught my interest and I decided to give the author another chance. Boy am I glad I did! Redemption Day is a hit! So for my review today, I am going to give you my Top 10 Hit List for Steve O'Brien's Redemption Day:

The set up. One of my pet peeves with political intrigue is that I often get lost in the set up. Steve does an excellent job of introducing the characters and setting up the background and tone of the story.
The characters. Each character gets his own chapter and has a very distinct voice. It makes it easy to become emotionally invested with each character as an individual.
The action. 'Edge of your seat' and 'fast moving' are the the terms I would use. It makes for some nail biting moments.
The flow. The story line moves smoothly from one place to the next. There are no jerky, sudden movements to slow you down.
Not too graphic. There is definitely violence - kind of necessary in this type of story - but it wasn't graphic enough to cause me to flinch.
The connections. The plot begins with a bunch of, seemingly, unrelated events happening to unrelated people. As the connections begin to emerge the story knits together beautifully.
The suspense. Mr. O'Brien has done a great job of building the suspense as the plot progresses. There are small breaks to allow the reader to catch her breath but then it takes up where it left off and the reader is back to holding her breath again.
Really bad, bad guys. I hate it when I am tempted to cheer for the bad guys. That doesn't happen here.
Strong female. Yup, there is one and you all know how I feel about that. If there's going to be a female, she better be strong. And that makes the romantic sub-plot a nice perk.
The ending. To avoid spoilers, that's all I'm going to say about that.

We all know nothing is perfect but the negatives about this one aren't worth mentioning. If you like political thrillers, I'd recommend Redemption Day. ( )

To start off with I apologize for a late review but a first grandchild took top billing.
Nick James is a Federal Terrorism Analyst who is out of work and finds himself having to solve the kidnapping of a Supreme Court Justice. The drawback is that he is also being framed for murder. This is a fast paced read, a few times I got confused and had to backtrack, but all in all a good read. I won this from LibraryThing Early Review. ( )