by
Size: 6.00 x 9.00 in
Pages: 299
Fifty years after a coup replaced President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a fascist dictatorship, America is a land of hopelessness. Ben Adamson, a 19-year-old farm boy in southern Illinois, wants only to spend his time fishing and hunting. But when his dead brother demands justice for his suspicious fate in a colonial war, Ben and Rachel, his brother’s fiancée, are drawn into an underground revolutionary movement.
After staging a rally against the war, Ben and Rachel are arrested by the Internal Security Service, who have perfected the science of breaking people. Ben is given a choice: betray the rebels, including his best friend from childhood, or Rachel will be lobotomized.
Although traumatized and addicted to a powerful drug, Ben refuses to doom anyone he cares about. Can he find a third option? Can he free Rachel and strike back at the dictatorship, while dodging the suspicions of police and rebels alike?
- 1 Read list
Genres:
Tropes: Dystopian Governments, Farmer to Hero, Reluctant Hero
Word Count: 108000
Setting: Southern Illinois
Languages Available: English
Tropes: Dystopian Governments, Farmer to Hero, Reluctant Hero
Word Count: 108000
Setting: Southern Illinois
Languages Available: English
Foreword Reviews wrote:"Both cerebral dystopia and cat-and-mouse thriller, Born in Salt succeeds on every level. The political commentary is incisive but never bludgeoning, helped considerably by a relatable protagonist. Constantly faced with lesser-of-two-evils choices, Ben tries hard to do the right thing nonetheless. Throughout, Weber expertly adds layers of suspicion and paranoia, complicating relationships and ratcheting up the tension... Its appeal transcends any ideology, with a desperate story of love and conflicting loyalties that builds breathlessly to a satisfying reckoning certain to keep readers hooked to the final page."
Midwest Book Review wrote:"In the alternate history world of Born in Salt, the depiction of the banality of evil is as fitting as it is chilling."
"T. C. Weber cements the story with two strong characters whose interactions with the outside world clash with their own best interests. His vision of a future in which repression and ingrained belief systems are put to the test is realistic, engrossing, and fueled by astute social and political interactions throughout the story."
