Divided We Fall

by Adam Bender

Overview

"Raises interesting questions about the influence of propaganda on the construction of the self, the idea of true tabula rasa and the power of memory ... The central love story propels the narrative energetically." - Publishers Weekly

A dystopian government orders Agent Eve Parker to arrest her fiancé after he becomes a revolutionary known as Seven. When Eve learns more about the President's plan to broaden citizen surveillance, she begins to question if she's on the right side. Meanwhile, a foreign enemy threatens to take advantage of an increasingly divided nation.

The second novel by Adam Bender mixes action and romance into an exciting science fiction adventure. It carries on the tradition of dystopian classics 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, as well as more recent blockbuster novels like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Divided We Fall is a Library Journal SELF-e selection, and Amazon and Publishers Weekly honored the original manuscript as a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards.

Witness the beginning of Seven's revolution in We, The Watched by Adam Bender.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781495492129
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	05/09/2014
Series:	We, the Watched , #2
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Adam Bender writes speculative fiction that explores modern-day political fears with a balance of action and romance.

Adam self-published his first novel, We, The Watched. His manuscript for the sequel, Divided We Fall, was a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, one of the top 100 novels selected in the sci-fi category. He has also written several short stories.

A journalist by day, Adam has reported extensively on technology and the international debate between personal privacy and national security. He is a senior journalist for Computerworld, Techworld and CIO in Sydney, Australia. He previously covered US politics on Capitol Hill for the esteemed Washington trade journal, Communications Daily. He has won journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Specialized Information Publishers Association.

Adam maintains an active social media presence on Twitter (@WatchAdam) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/wethewatched). In addition, he has a website and blog located at www.adambenderwrites.com.

He lives with his wife in Sydney.

Editorial Reviews

2016-05-27
In this dystopian sequel, the Underground races to expose a secret surveillance program before the Enemy's final blow. The Enemy has bombarded the Capital with airstrikes. The man known as Seven, who once worked for the government's Elite Guard as Agent Jon Wyle, has evacuated the city with damning information on a flash drive. He aims to prove that President William Drake, his surveillance-obsessed administration, and the fearmongering Church want nothing less than complete control over the nation's populace. He ends up sharing a car with a woman named Talia, and they head for Loganville, to her brother Shaan's home. Naturally, Elite Guard Agent Eve Parker—Jon's fiancee—remains on Seven's trail. Seven and his cohorts narrowly escape into the arms of Daniel Alexander Young Jr. and the Underground, the freethinking "Heretics" battling the nation's enforced division. As Young plans to expose the executive branch as corrupt, Drake uses the Capital attack to announce Patriot ID, a chip-based (and mind-invading) program that will "quickly separate the Heretics from the Patriots." Then the Enemy contacts the Underground, claiming a too-good-to-be-true desire for a joint effort in taking down Drake. Do Seven and Young dare use the Enemy's firepower to ignite revolution in cities across the country? In this sequel, Bender (We, the Watched, 2013, etc.) further filters the chaos of the George W. Bush presidency through a gripping dystopian narrative. At one point, Young explains, "We have four branches of government: executive, legislative, judicial, and the Church." Bender expertly fleshes out Eve and Jon's relationship through flashbacks. These scenes help fully realize the evolution of his characters' hearts and minds as the moral terrain worsens. There are even critiques of U.S. empire building, as when Seven asks, "How can we be so sure that," once the Enemy has defeated Drake, it won't be "just as controlling as the Guard?" Overall, the author keeps the narrative fluid, never bogging it down in extended battle sequences or windy polemics. Bender's sequel is a worthy delivery on the promise of his riveting debut. A novel about a scheming president offers an excellent read for those who love thrillers or 21st-century history.

Kirkus Reviews