Ridgetown (Oxford Book Writers, 427 pp. $19.99, hardcover; $14.99, paper; $2.99, Kindle), by Vietnam War veteran Jim Tindle, is a fast-moving thriller about one man’s efforts to stop a domestic fringe group hell-bent on bringing down the government.
Tindle’s main character, Arsen Arsen, a man with a double name, is a CIA contract assassin. His background makes him perfect for the job. His parents are dead and he has no siblings. He spent four years in Army Special Forces, much of that in Afghanistan, and then two years in private security.
For the past three years he’s been working for his mysterious boss, Nils, whom he rarely meets in person. That work has involved fighting arms dealers and drug smugglers, and tracking down members of the dangerous MS-13 gang. His job is basically to eliminate “the worst of the worst.”
Arsen Arsen is asked to investigate the post-January 6 militia movement. It’s a movement bringing together extremely violent anti-government people, pro-2nd Amendment individuals, white nationalist groups, as well as veterans and a few lone wolves. The targets seem to be state capitols and federal government sites.
The most recent serious threat appears to be a group that has formed near Blue Ridge, Georgia. Their goal is to develop small units in many states and then carry out a guerilla strategy “like the Viet Cong used” in Vietnam. The leaders are also familiar with the Taliban’s successful guerilla activities, as well as the methods used by two snipers in the Washington, D.C., area who held the populace in fear for nearly a month in 2002. In addition, they admire tactics being used in Ukraine to hold back invading Russian forces.
Arsen is tasked with infiltrating this group and bringing their efforts to a halt before they can get too far underway. A Vietnam War veteran plays a small but important role in the story.
There are tons of books like this being written nowadays. This is one of the better ones.
–Bill McCloud
Books in Review II 