America: The Obliged

by Nathan O'Discin

Survive. That’s the only goal Chase Lewis has following the Purge on Washington. When he and his best friend, Representative Alyssa Cambridge, are captured by the young militant leader Derrick Reddon and tossed into the back of a truck, he prepares to die along with the United States. His fortunes change when he discovers that their fearless captor is injured and has since disavowed his allegiance to the nefarious US President Aiden Connor. Their escape from Washington is brutal, facing down rival militant groups, anarchists, horrific state-of-the-art weapons, and an authoritarian president that will stop at nothing to eradicate the remaining members of Congress.
As they struggle to forge a path forward for both themselves and the collapsed nation, Chase can’t shake the allure of Derrick, despite coming from two starkly different walks of American life. While Derrick commands the most powerful militia in the nation, Chase finds him to be sensitive, protective, and cunning; much to the detriment of his political hard-lining best friend, Alyssa. They must balance the limitations of politics, love, and friendship while finding a solution to resurrect the nation. Only then will this young group of patriots learn what it means to be among America’s Obliged.

318 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2025

Reviews

[Emily Durbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the characters, especially Chase. Nathan avoided many dystopic tropes, but struggled to gain traction with original ideas that obviously suggest this is the first book in a series. I will have to wait to see what comes of the series, but this is a solid start! Politically-charged and fast paced, Nathan managed to leave some blank pages at the end for note-taking, which is honestly for the best as there's an assortment of characters and names tossed around that can potentially derail this rollercoaster of action-packed drama.