Reviewed by Lynn Evarts; Clarion Foreward Reviews

December 7, 2015
This intriguing, futuristic thriller conceives of a terrifying future for the United States.
In his thought-provoking book Fire War, T. T. Michael creates a country where the highest office is no longer elected by the populace and there is no longer unemployment--where the only real fear is of the terrorist group Hariq Jihad (Fire War).
Gunnery Sergeant Anthony Jackson is charged with protecting the president of the United Continental States of America (UCSA). As Jackson comes to the realization that not everyone is happy with the current situation in the country, everything he holds dear is imperiled. What will happen to the country, and Jackson, if the concepts of personal liberty and the safety of the country cannot be balanced?
Michael's futuristic political thriller has a chilling ring of truth to it. As current events unfold, comparing Michael's fiction with today's reality sometimes becomes overwhelming. Michael describes a world where personal liberties and individual rights have vanished for the good of the group. No one has a say in who runs the country or what decisions are made by the president, a man that everyone trusts...but should they?
Tapping into our fears and trepidations, Michael has written a story that hits close to home for anyone who follows current events. In one instance, he writes that "immigrants had to learn that the only way into the UCSA was the legal way, and that they would risk death by trying anything else."
Anthony Jackson is an interesting protagonist. He is a rule-following, hard-charging marine who clearly loves his family and country. He takes his position guarding the president very seriously, yet he seems to ignore some of the signs of impending trouble that one would expect a razor-sharp military man to catch. This seems to be Michael's way of creating a Greek tragedy format: the chorus singing warnings in the background, with the fallible hero ignoring them until it is almost too late.
Jackson's struggles with his daughters, particularly Maya and her "radical" ideas of personal freedoms, feel real. Even into this future, teens are still testing limits and putting their parents in difficult situations. Jackson's everyday family life adds significantly to the tension of the story by making us know about and care for the people he is most interested in protecting...after the president, of course.
Thriller fans will find this book intriguing and, to some extent, terrifying in its plausible predictions for our future in the United States.


KIRKUS REVIEW

FIRE WAR
By T.T. Michael
CreateSpace (340 pp.)
$14.95 paperback, $2.99 e-book
ISBN: 978-1-51-718074-4 ; October 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
In Michael's sci-fi debut, a sniper must deal with his feelings and his family as a North American superstate takes over.
In 2051, in Chicago, a father and son are taking in a ballgame when a bomb destroys the whole ballpark. Then, in 2076,
in Mexico City, Gunnery Sgt. Anthony Jackson takes time off from training snipers to protect the presidents of Mexico
and the North American Union. The NAU is the new country that was formed by the United States and Canada in the
wake of the 2051 terrorist bombings. Michael devotes several pages to Jackson's thinking about this history, including
the revitalization of Detroit and its reduction in unemployment. Readers will notice that, although this takes place 60
years in the future, the concerns and references are contemporary, including the mid-2010s collapse of Greece's
economy, the danger of Mexican cartels, the fight against Islamist fundamentalist terrorists, and others. Jackson also
comes off at first like a larger-than-life figure: one of the best snipers in the world, with "muscles rippling under every
surface of skin." However, he becomes more sympathetic as he worries over doing the right things by his men, his wife
and daughters, and his country. Unfortunately for him, the NAU--and a new state formed by the inclusion of
Mexico--no longer holds to the U.S. Constitution or to citizens' rights; dissidents disappear without trial; and newspaper
editorials discuss the need to appoint rather than elect a president. What's interesting here is that Jackson isn't
conspiracy-minded or even curious, and it's only a bit of heavy-handed eavesdropping at the end that clues him in to the
government's obvious wrongdoing. In other words, despite his sniper skills and muscles, he's just a guy trying to do his
job and take care of his family. Most of the suspense that the author generates in this book comes from Jackson's
struggles to do everyday things rather than from larger political issues.

Readers will find an engaging family drama underneath this futuristic political thriller.