How far should the Federal government go to impose its will on the citizens of the U.S. on any issue that the most of the people are against? Can they arrest or shoot those who disagree? Are National Guard units responsible to their state first and the Federal government second?

In this sequel to Divided We Fall, Reedy continues the story of a state that is taking a stand against the wishes of the federal government to force all citizens to carry a card that allows them to be tracked in all their movements.  Idaho finally secedes from the United States, and other states begin to follow the same action.  Each declares themselves to be a sovereign nation, and the U.S. sends in military power to stop the secession.

Private Wright and his fellow soldiers must go underground to keep from being captured by the feds.  They learn who they can trust and who they can’t.  They also learn that power sometimes causes people to do things that others thought they would never do. “Who’s right” and “who’s wrong” is a big theme in this story.

The very people that Wright and his friends see as saviors begin to deal with other combatants in a very brutal manner – even killing a person who had helped them.  Wright and his friends must ask themselves if this is the sort of freedom they wanted when they took up arms against the U.S.

A retired military person read this and commented that it is a great story with some technical inaccuracies, e.g. a 40 mm grenade launcher is an M203 not an M320 as stated in the story. All in all, it is a tension-building story that does not totally end with the conclusion of the book. Look for another to come.

Libraries that service older teenagers, grades 10 and up will want to add this to their collection. I could not recommend it for younger readers because of drinking, sex and violence.