Dr. Wesley Britton
Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four books on espionage in literature and the media. He is also co-host of the online radio program, Dave White Presents, for which he interviews authors, musicians, and entertainment insiders. His website is www.spywise.net; the radio program is archived at http://www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. Dr. Britton teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
View all articles by Dr. Wesley BrittonFollow Here To Purchase Star Chamber Brotherhood
Author: Preston Fleming
ISBN 13: 978-0-98295-941-1
ASIN: B004JN0R8O
In Forty Days in Kamas, the first of Preston Fleming’s dystopian “Kamas Trilogy, the year is 2024. The U.S. has been taken over by the Unionist Party, a brutal totalitarian regime. It has sentenced dissidents and undesirables to harsh labor camps from which few are expected to survive. After a violent suppression of a 40 day rebellion in the Kamas camp in Utah, the site is closed and most evidence it ever existed is suppressed.
In the sequel, Star Chamber Brotherhood, five years have passed and one Kamas survivor, Frank Werner, has found his way to Boston where he seeks clues to the whereabouts of his daughter. The power of the Unionists has not diminished, although some leeway has been widened in the gray and black markets to avoid economic collapse. Conditions on the East Coast have worsened due to natural disasters that have left a flood of refugees seeking new homes, and to get them older residents are threatened with displacement.
Into this mix, Werner is
approached by a member of the Star Committee, an organization now
dedicated to dispensing justice to the officials who were responsible
for the bloody Kamas suppression. Werner
is ordered to see to the killing of the camp’s former commandant.
He accepts the assignment, builds a team, and sees two attempts
fail. Along the way, he has to think out his plans for the future as
well as advise friends who also must make unhappy changes to survive
in a world where neighbors and surveillance officers monitor anyone
who catches the eye of the authorities.
Forty Days was a philosophic book that raised questions about what can happen when freedom is lost. In that effort, each chapter was headed by a historical quote that underlined the ideas Fleming was dramatizing. This time around, there are no quotes as the point is the plot, the steps Werner and his team go through to achieve their goal. The milieu is decidedly less harsh in the sequel, but the characters are just as vivid as in the first book. Star Chamber has a completely different tone—it’s an engaging, fast-paced thriller where the reader will spend some pleasant hours rooting for a team of assassins. With luck, we won’t have to wait five years for part three.
Dr. Wesley Britton
Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four books on espionage in literature and the media. He is also co-host of the online radio program, Dave White Presents, for which he interviews authors, musicians, and entertainment insiders. His website is www.spywise.net; the radio program is archived at http://www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. Dr. Britton teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
View all articles by Dr. Wesley Britton