January 6: A Novel

The Anti-Hero Rebellions

Fiction - Thriller - Political
228 Pages
Reviewed on 09/19/2024
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

January 6: A Novel by Norman Brewer is an alternative historical novel in which, on January 6, 2021, a coalition of far-right extremists and militias violently storms the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of a contested presidential election. The aim is to incite chaos so the President will declare martial law. The attackers take several key figures hostage, including the Speaker of the House, using this leverage to escalate their demands and amplify their message. As this flares, a plan to orchestrate nationwide bombings and attacks on critical infrastructure arises to provoke broader unrest. As the situation deteriorates into widespread violence and conflict, the government struggles to respond effectively. The attempts to destabilize the country through violence, hostage-taking, and infrastructure sabotage ultimately lead to a critical showdown between the insurgents and authorities.

This domestic terrorism novel, January 6: A Novel by Norman Brewer, easily delivers one of the year's standout novels, brilliantly creating an alternative history with a chillingly plausible twist. Brewer’s writing is both polished and insightful, with great character development that is all the more impressive given the number of players presented. As a British reader who is ultra critical of political novels that scream about exceptionalism, Brewer was able to get me properly unsettled in a way that I haven't experienced since reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, or even the remarkable Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here. Brewer’s adept portrayal of "what could have been" forces readers to confront a nightmarish vision of how close the free world came to its downfall, proving the work to be both an entertaining and thought-provoking read. Very highly recommended.