America, 2036 by Douglas E Congdon

A Mystery/Thriller, Independently Published in 2024, 343 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

Sort of a content warning: if you like your fiction to be an escapism from reality, this politically charged book may be one you want to skip. Also, this one is marketed as a mystery/thriller and that feels incorrect. This is more of a dystopian political drama. YES, it’s based in the United States but it’s a dystopian near future. That would classify it as a science fiction (the umbrella for dystopian) and those distinctions matter when finding the right audience for a book.
A lot of the characters fell flat for me. They’re one-sided and didn’t have a lot of qualities to make them seem realistic. I didn’t have anyone I really rooted for.
There’s a lot of “sides” mentioned in the discussions about the future without any clear description of exactly what they want. More importantly, there’s no discussion about what they’ll do if they win. Sure you might have someone say “change the constitution” but to WHAT? How? That’s not at all clear. Even the few key points that are used to try and sway other sides are low-level ideas, at best, that would require a lot more clarification.

The parties fighting each other instead of solving the problem is incredibly real and raw. For someone living in 2025 America, it’s almost too real and raw sometimes.
The story paints a good picture of the way everyone is living and struggling. There’s no doubt things are bad and change is needed, that’s highlighted well.

For me, the lack of a character to root for or latch onto and the lack of emotion pulled me out of the story too much, which was problematic.