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When the US goes broke, the states break loose and people across the country get caught in the chaos. The Lakota rise up in the north and Texas breaks free in the south. Meanwhile, Steve just wants to get back to Illinois with his love life intact. Mack, an Ozark militia member doesn’t want his friend to sign up but knows they can’t succeed without him. And a Texas Congressman struggles with his conscience and a manipulative Governor. Can the country stay together? Can the people?

“Boiling Point” is a novel written by CNET’s Tom Merrit. I listen to Tom on the Buzz Out Loud and East Meets West podcasts (and occasionally TWiT) where he’s mentioned the book quite a few times, so I decided I should check it out. I grabbed the PDF version and converted it via iSiloX so I could read it on my Treo in my spare moments.

The premise was interesting: North and South Dakota break off from the U.S. under the leadership of the Lakota Nation, which prompts Texas to seceed as well. From there it’s a series of falling dominoes as other parts of the United States join together and break off into separate countries. The book follows the path of several characters in different parts of the deteriorating United States of America and their experiences as the country changes around them.

I didn’t really enjoy this book, however. Maybe it was because I read it in spurts on my Treo when I had the time, which made it a bit disjointed. Maybe it was the multiple first-person narratives which I found made it difficult to track who was doing what and where. Maybe it was the premise which I found unrealistic (I know, I know, it’s fantasy but I still didn’t “buy” it). Maybe it was because the book seemed over-heavy on dialog (a lot of the backstory is told via transcripts of NPR-like radio broadcasts). Maybe it was all of those things.

It reminded me a bit of “The Man in the High Castle” by Philip K. Dick, in terms of an alternate history story, but I didn’t find it as gripping. If you’re a politics or history buff, it might be worth the read but overall I just found the whole experience mediocre.