Click Here To Purchase Race War: America's Worst Nightmare

Author:  La-Temus Marshall

Publisher: Outskirts Press 

ISBN: 978-1-4327-6720-4

When I picked this book up I was initially unaware that it is a work of fiction because the dramatic cover design and title led me to believe this to be an appraisal of a subject that should be of concern to us all. Nevertheless, the theme of the story intrigued me by setting the scene in an America where the economy has collapsed and the country is raked by crime, unemployment and where race and ethnic disintegration has reached breaking point. The reality you might think; offering just the appropriate kind of real life background for a hard hitting novel embedded with defiantly strong characters that compete for survival in a wrecked society that knows only hatred and deprivation. However, the author takes a very different route having devised a plot that involves a scheme conjured up by a self opinionated Congressman and a Senator to permanently dividing the races. This involved moving them to their own separate zones around the USA before attempting to embark on a systematic war to ethnically cleanse the nation of all non-whites. After the races have been divided they start to form their own autonomous regions suspicious that the whites are plotting to wipe out the ethnic races. Meanwhile conflict is already rearing its ugly head in the form of a mighty ‘Uni-force’ that brings together the Russian and Chinese armed forces to wage war on a vulnerable America. After launching an invasion of the US and notching up some limited success, they are surprised to be beaten back at the eleventh hour and are prevented from reaching their objection by the resilience of the people. As a result the country reunites.

Not a bad theme but it could have evoked an exciting and gripping novel. But just as La-Temus Marshall gets going, his prose seems to abruptly run out of steam leaving the plot not only far too short on content but poorly contrived. But his theme does have some merit but it needs re-working. I can imagine, with a good deal of in depth research, La-Temus’s idea could be developed into something much more substantial; perhaps as a screenplay. But unfortunately, as the book stands it is far too limp and completely uninspiring.

I was unable to connect with the characters and I found the dialogue to be so poorly written that it came across as somewhat amateurish. The book did not work for me and I feel the author needed to spend more pre-publication time by building the profiles of his main characters and by weaving far more detail and drama into his story. The idea, though quite improbable, could nevertheless have evolved into a futuristic theme to contain a series of interwoven plots and scenarios that set the scene for the drama that followed. The book also lacks a central hero; someone prepared to stand up and confront the evil politicians on behalf of the minority races being segregated. Yet, the various racial groups take no action and are seemingly content to readily accept their plight by simply packing their belongings and moving elsewhere with hardly an objection. The nature of the story should, indeed could, have been capable of gripping readers to the edges of their chairs as drama after drama unfolded. But it completely fails and there is no human emotion and a marked lack of excitement to maintain interest. The author also fails to explain how the logistics of moving complete racial groups of tens of thousands of people from one end of the country to another would work without there being untold resistance and bloodshed.

I credit the author however for attempting to tackle a complicated and deep rooted issue, but unfortunately I feel his inexperience as a suspense writer is evident and this has led to a dull reader experience.