Falling Down: Part 1 of the Homeland Series

by R.A. Mathis

We thought America would last forever. We were wrong.

Riots are daily occurrences in American cities. The dollar plummets when foreign governments refuse to buy American bonds. Coordinated terrorist attacks paralyze the country at every level. Then it gets worse. When a new regime rises to bring order from chaos, it soon becomes clear that peace and security will come at an unbearable price.

Homeland: Falling Down is the first installment of a new series which chronicles the trials of Americans trying to survive the total collapse of everything they know and love.

Eduardo Garcia just landed his dream job. He is finally promoted to network news anchor after years of paying his dues as a war correspondent. His first day on the job will mark the beginning of the end.

Hank Sexton is a small town sheriff struggling to protect his family and community from starvation and the chaos lurking beyond the county line.

Hank’s son, Cole, is an Army sergeant recently returned from a combat tour in Syria. He and his fellow soldiers will face hard choices when their fellow citizens are declared terrorists.

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2016

About the author

A jack-of-all-trades and master of some, R.A. Mathis has worn many hats as a husband, father, student, teacher, soldier, and finance professional. However, he has always been a writer. After graduating from the University of Tennessee with a BS in mathematics, he served nine years in the army as an armored cavalry officer, rising to the rank of captain and holding a secret-level clearance. During that time, he served a yearlong combat tour in Iraq. He has since earned an MBA and transitioned into the finance field. Rob currently lives in Tennessee with his wife and family.

Reviews

[Edwrd Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing book I wanted to put it down many times!! Now I have to see what happens next in their lives. So sad but could happen in this crazy world we live in today!!!

[Henry Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard not to slip into cliches when describing this book, like "page-turner" and "couldn't put it down." I assure you they are warranted in this case.

The novel follows three principle characters through the final stage of America's fundamental transformation--Eduardo, the news media personality; Hank, the small town sheriff; and Cole, Hank's son and an E-6 in the Army recently returned from a deployment to Syria.

For the awakened, the strongest subcurrents in the novel are familiar: economic collapse; the encroaching police state ; utter and complete politicization of the Armed Forces (to be used against the American people); and purging of those who would honor their oath. But Mathis' storytelling is so understated, I can almost imagine the typical normalcy-biased coincidence theorist reading it without being offended.

The cast is rendered expertly, and this is especially obvious with Eduardo. He's got all the gray areas and "complexities" you could hope for in a three-dimensional character. The plot, pacing and dialog are also strong. Mathis is really firing on all cylinders here. The occasional typo snuck by the editor (as with seemingly every book these days--mine included), but not enough to pull the reader out of his immersion in this near-future dystopia.

There is no doubt in my mind I'll be reading each book in this series as they become available.