“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” These words from Abraham Lincoln came at a time when our Nation was at its most divided point in history – a time when differences ran so deep that we were literally at war with one another.  The dangerous divisiveness that exists in America today is fertile ground for a riveting story.

A good read is engaging, entertaining, and suspenseful, with vivid scenes populated by fully developed characters and strung together with a compelling story arc.  While not breaking new ground for the genre, The Wilkes Insurrection by Robbie Bach mostly checks all the boxes.  This is the first novel from author Bach, who previously led the team at Microsoft that developed the Xbox video game business.  A self-described “Civic Engineer”, he believes all of us have an essential responsibility to engage productively in public issues.  Failure to do so can push us perilously apart.

As the events of this story first began to unfold, I was struck by the line “…extraordinary things happen for a reason.”  From that point on, the reader is challenged to decipher a potent series of unexpected events – multiple domestic terrorist attacks set among the lingering aftereffects of 9/11 and a global pandemic – and unravel the mystery while wrestling with the unavoidable implications for today’s world. <continue reading>