"Rigged is a riveting, relevant, relentless rollercoaster-ride of a thriller—and kicks off an action-packed series that’s already four books long and counting." —The Real Book Spy
Who has real power?
The people in the shadows…
…behind the presidents of the world.
Cloaked in secrecy and loyal to their leaders, the masters of manipulation play at an entirely different level. They pull the strings and sow the seeds of division. What is their plan?
An election approaches.
The new US president will change the direction of the country. The world watches as the contenders for the White House state their cases.
Will this point in history alter the course of mankind?
The hidden plot must be discovered. The upheaval of a divided nation could bring it down. Will our heroes put the pieces together in time? Or have too many dominoes already fallen to stop this devious trap?
You’ll love this “torn from the headlines” modern day thriller because it rings true.
Get it now.
The Falling Empires Series is best read in order, as each book builds upon the previous work. The reading order is as listed:
Book One: Rigged
Book Two: Peacekeepers
Book Three: Invasion
Book Four: Vengeance
Book Five: Retribution
*When you buy a book written by Rosone and Watson, they have chosen to donate a portion of the proceeds to help support the following organizations: Tunnel to Towers Foundation, Operation Underground Railroad, and Charity: Water.
Have read a lot of the other books these 2 have written and liked them very much, especially the Red Storm series. Unfortunately for me this book just seemed like the authors were not so covert Trump supporters who make up a very implausible conspiracy plot to give an excuse for everything Trump has done. I like to read books that are escapist and believable. Won't read anymore of this series, hopefully the authors get back to entertaining writing again.
One of those books that one has to remind oneself it’s just a novel. The plan to subvert the presidential election really rings true. Every country has their own cyber warfare specialists. No reason to not believe this couldn’t happen here. With the country’s citizens so dependent upon social media for their news and the use of bots to send out false information to those social media sites, this novel is just plain scary.
Those readers who believe in the New World Order or Illuminati will nod their collective heads in agreement while reading this. Hate the U.N.? You are going to love their role in this. Think China is a danger to the United States? Something here for you too. And the Chinese government using Islamic extremists from Serbia, Kosovo and Albania takes care of the religious angle. Pushes everybody’s fear button.
My only negative to this is it’s the beginning of a series. I really much prefer to read stand alone thrillers.
This was a little difficult to rate. I enjoyed the book but the premise is so far out there, it is out by Pluto. China, Germany and Russia plotting together to rig the election? China backing and funding Eastern European extremist groups to carry out terrorists attacks within the US? Most countries in on it or succumbing to pressure from said 3 countries to stay out of it? Britain, Japan and Korea just watching and not lifting a finger to help us? Canada inviting in thousands of Chinese and Russian troops onto their soil for ‘exercises’? Half the country not agreeing with what all is happening despite overwhelming proof of the plots? Yeah, no. The president they are trying to rig the election against is basically less of an ahole than Trump, but most of his policies are in play here and hence why they are trying to rig the election. Going to continue on with the books, but if book 2 is still way out there, might stop as it is just TOO unrealistic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If one subscribes to the various election rigging conspiracy theories and watches Fox News or News Max etc,... then this book will seem factual. Otherwise, it is a fantasy that supports the right-wing evangelical libertarian viewpoint. That is a sizeable, profitable but delusional market. This 2020 election is certified by every State and USA intelligence agencies as the most secure possible. But as a fictional work, this is a fun read. America has been interfering in other nations' elections, Governments, and institutions for many decades, and now with social media influencing many millions the subject is keenly inspected and researched. What is of interest is the belief that a trade war with China, and other countries, was ever going to resolve any issue? It certainly hurt American consumers as China shifted to other markets and sought new soya crop imports. Less trade, less profit is the ultimate result with NO-ZERO gains just like the Nafta renaming. Russia interferes with significant attacks yet the current pre-2021 POTUS says and does nothing? It is a topsy turvy world Rosone has created as the Democrats refuse to accept evidence and facts from our intelligence services and POTUS Sachs speaks in sentences that fit together to make logical statements. No malignant narcissism or bullying? How odd? If only some of this fantasy fiction reflected the reality of what is widely accepted as the worse administration in American history.
I started to read this assuming it was a thriller. Wrong! It is a screed fostering yet more lunatic conspiracy theories with absolutely no credibility to anyone with even a modicum of common sense. Trash.
This is by far one of the greatest books I’ve ever read and an amazing start to the series. The big issue with any American second civil war novel is the set up. James and Miranda have worked through the common pitfalls and provided the most plausible scenario possible. I can’t wait for Peacekeepers to be released.
This well written fast paced book evolves around foreign influence in a U.S. election. Regardless of your ideology, it provides a scary scenario that should alarm all of us. My own views are that the extensive conspiracy portrayed is unrealistic in its massive number of participating countries, its secrecy and The portrayal of life and The U.S. economy going on as normal.
The book gives much more credit to the skill and loyalty of our secret services than current reporting supports.
As one who relies on the lower cost of most e-books, I was thrilled to read a book that I would have happily purchased in print at full price. However, I would have been much happier if this book was complete. But it ends without resolution. I wanted more and purchased the next book at a higher price - thinking it would bring a conclusion to the series. It did not. It is still a fast read but is primarily a war book, jumping from one battle to another. The entertainment level of the series is high enough that I will probably return to the series as prices go down. The major disappointment is that the second book left a feeling that the series may go on and on to milk the public.
The plot of this book is complicated, but not as far-fetched as other reviewers seem to think. Everything is political nowadays, and I imagine that one's political views can influence one's enjoyment of this book, which is in itself a comment on the book's realism. I enjoyed the plot enough to want to read the next installment. What takes away from my enjoyment is the writing style. For most of the book, it feels as if the book was written in a hurry. The authors could have taken more time to polish their writing and write more fluent and beautiful prose. I do have the impression that this improves in the last 30% or so.
The Word Wise function for this book appears to be completely off, as if it was meant for a different title.
For me, this dystopian setting too closely resembles today's reality. It left me feeling hopeless. A strong personal reaction is not the reason for my poor rating. While I enjoy a series, I like each book to have at least some resolution. This book ends in the middle of the action and leaves too much hanging. If the purpose of this is to get you to read Book 2, no thank you.
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of political thrillers. Also, I have read all 5 books in this series. This review applies to the whole series.
With any good political thriller there is a fine line between a believable story and going over the top. Unfortunately, James Rosone crosses that line.
The first book, Rigged, starts off with all of the elements of a good political thriller that was frighteningly prophetic. The book was written in 2018 and the president, called Jonathan Sachs in this series, was an obvious depiction of a toned down Donald Trump. When reelection time comes there is strong and incontrovertible evidence that the election was rigged by forces outside of the United States.
Sound familiar?
President Sachs, after showing the evidence, decides to reject the results of the election to the point where he wants a do-over. Of course, his opponent refuses to accept that. Now a U.N. so-called peacekeeping force, several European countries, China, and even Canada comes to the aid of the challenger to the point of a military invasion of the United States...only China has other motives.
All is good up to that point. Then we have 4 and a half books of military battle after military battle after military battle...repleat with all of the military acronyms and talk that only an experienced Marine might understand. In the process, everything imaginable gets thrown into the story to the point of absurd.
How many times do you need to hear a description of someone's head becoming a red mist of blood and brain matter? How many times do we need to hear that someone, while thinking, "blew out air as if he were blowing a smoke ring?"
Frankly, this series would have worked better as maybe two or three books. We got the message as to how bad the military situation was.
The last book finally got us back to the political thriller with a few more things tossed into the mix.
Mr. Rosone would have benefited by the advise of a good publisher rather than self-publishing.
Rigged is absorbing and thrilling. We learn about the nuts and bolts of what helps America move forward but it also exposes our demons.
This work of fiction was written in 2018 but it is hauntingly real in relation to what has happened in our country in the last several years. it revolves around political corruption and outside interference that quickly descends into threatening our democracy. A global conspiracy threatens the 2020 presidential election and both candidates, a president and a senator, are thrust into the mix, wondering what they can do to legitimize the integrity of the election and still be on the right side of the American voters. The scenes shift in this high adrenaline thriller, from America to over-seas, where terrorists play a huge part in planning attacks on America during the campaign and right up to election day. It soon becomes an impossible scenario and the stakes could not be higher.
The authors whipped up a good one. There's action packed scenes on just about every page and the pace is perfect; the eyes move down the page nicely without hesitancy in trying to understand the plot. It is absorbing and yes, educational, as we learn about the nuts and bolts of what helps America move forward but it also exposes our demons and what we would do to others in order to protect our nation. I have read some reviews of this book who criticize the authors for a political slant (mostly to the right) they may have used in writing this series but if you break it down, I see no evidence of a political bias. It's a very good action thriller that is worthy of a read and I loved it!
While I found the premise of this book interesting, the execution was...off. The conspiracy of the book was plausible (calm down, I didn’t say true, or even likely) and some of the characters were interesting. My issue is that it didn’t seem very well researched. Some of the events of the book would never have played out as they did in real life; it’s just not likely.
What I found more distracting was dialogue. I work are a bunch of Alpha Males. The way in which these characters interacted with each other is completely off. The banter was wrong, the relationships were wrong...it just wasn’t believable.
Finally, the performance of as atrocious. It felt more like a reading at a middle school library than an adult book dealing with serious themes.
I’m really disappointed with this one. I wanted to like it. I usually like these kinds of stories, and I was looking for a new series to work my way through. This isn’t going to be it.
The idea for this series began on a very long car ride, driving from Nashville to Chattanooga and back. That was a fun date. :)
Originally, we were going to explore the idea of a second American Civil War. And then we attended Politicon 2018 and realized our premise for the main storyline involving blockchain voting was not just flawed, but the exact opposite of reality. So we went back to the drawing board.
As we continued writing the series, we wanted to reflect the fact that the plotline went beyond just the internal struggle within the United States--this was a game of geopolitical chess that stretched the globe. So we changed the name of the series to the Falling Empires Series.
We didn't base any of our characters on real people; however, we have found that it is hard to read these books without examining them through your own political lens. If you find yourself triggered by anything in these volumes, just remember...it was always fiction.
This book mirrors the political atmosphere currently in America. Extremely powerful money brokers, people who front and support political candidates have stepped in to control the playing field. By whatever means available to them. Terrorist attacks, rigged elections, assassinations. If you control trade, money then you control power. Even the president elect doesn't fully understand or better yet have knowledge what is going on behind his back. He's only a symbol a figurehead the powerbrokers will utilize like a puppet. POTUS is trying to preserve the integrity of his office and are country. Instead the media and the powerbrokers are portraying him as a sour loser, a dictator. The American public is being held in the dark, unaware of what's really happening. Sound familiar?
This review and rating is for the entire series. WOW! This series was insanely good. I read all five books in the span of 5 days and each book was a little over 550 pages each. Each book was easy five stars. The only slight complaint I have is the ending was a little bit of a let down. It was still good but, they ended it and then put a where are they now thing after they ended it. The where are they now wrapped up everything but it felt like a cop out to actually finish finish it. But still it was insanely good. I loved how they didn’t just stick with one person, they actually didn’t have a central character storyline to follow. They had like 20 different main storyline plots and they were awesome at making it work. This series has become my favorite series of books. Overall 5 Stars. Give it a go.
Shame on Amazon for not saying in the description that this is a book about an alternate Trump president trying to stay in power after loosing an election that is rigged. The reviews clearly state this but it is missing from the books description, which is misleading the potential reader. On the plus side, the author has a creative spin on the mechanics of how the Federal governments hold on the states could fall apart. It's a little scary to think of states creating military and political collectives against the Federal government because the outcome of an election is disputed. On the negative side, when the author tells the story of individual events the dialog and description of these events is often weak. On balance, I give Rigged three stars.
This book, copyrighted in 2019, scared the beejezzus out of me. The first half of the book eerily mirrored the current political and voter situation so closely I seriously thought about notifying the feds of a possible intelligence breach. The second half regarding the UN "joint peace keeping" force development was equally as scary as it is not without the realm of possibility of occurring. Then I finally was able to assure myself that this is a novel, not a book of nonfiction. It is extremely well written and believe I can liken the initial impact as the same as the "War of the Worlds" broadcast! It is so intense that I know I do not have the courage to continue with the series. I read for enjoyment and escapism and avoid books that scare me.
Hard to do a review that doesn't include spoilers. The story is a slow burner, carefully crafted by the authors to draw you you in. Then POW......hit you with a sledgehammer. Really credible tale. What if's turn To could happen then to will happen as it speed on to the finale.
You know when you finish a book and on turning the page it says The End, to be continued, and you say damn and blast gotta wait for the next one now. This is one of them. A very frightening, what if! Almost gave it only 4 stars because Brits don't under most circumstances don't let their friends down.
David Embleton, Writer of Last Man Standing, series on Kindle
Overall I enjoyed the book, but was left with mixed feelings. I enjoyed the premise of the book, in relation to current events. It’s plausible and could happen here. The book is heavily plot driven, and that is where my mixed feeling come into play, as I would have liked a better balance between plot and character. I liked Seth and he played a heavy role in the beginning that faded in the latter half of the book. I wasn’t really invested in any of the characters at the end of the book, including the President or Tate.
It was enjoyable though from a big picture point of view and I’ll read the next book in the series.
Kindle Unlimited promoted this political thriller pretty well. The authors serialized a policy scenario: What would happen in President 45 (not Trump) failed to yield the White House after and 2020 election? Why would 45 (not Trump) fail to yield? How would the opposition party (not Biden, this was written a couple years ago) react? How would the rest of the world's leaders react? Fair questions, and higher-than-average rating reflects the fact the authors kept my interest engaged. That means I'll read the next book in the series, because this isn't a stand alone book, merely a prequel to a longer narrative. The authors clearly favor President 45's (not Trump's) Nationalist agenda and general paranoia, but the whatever-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong tilt works better in fiction than in our current headlines. A quick read.
Unbelievably accurate about the US except for one thing, the security agencies and judicial branch were also infiltrated. This is an amazingly well written series and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Mainly I'm impressed by how well the authors looked ahead a short distance in time to predict the future. It is sad that the story is better than the our current reality. The current cabal has won their bid for control of the USA. However, I am going to pretend it didn't and just keep on reading. I certainly endorse the books since the characters and the plot are well developed. Highly recommended!
I was floored as Rosone and Watson (why isn't Miranda's name included above??) totally captured what could very easily happen in 2020!! I was remain blown away, as well as a bit scared as this could really happen. Our country is so torn apart and the "President Sachs" is so obviously Trump, it's transparant as heck. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am plowing through Peacekeepers as you read this review. I loved their WWIIId series and I'm loving this one, though, as I said, it's scary. Pray for this country, no matter your politcal sway, we need prayers!!
Non putting down! That was the political and espionage thriller of the century! I do not bias for and against the President of the United States of America, based on the real 45th President.
The 2016 US general election might have been interfered by Russia but there is no evidence found. The 2020 election was even in the far worst atmosphere - the terrorists' attacks at the polling stations, the postal thefts and corruption in the political party.
Great read for anyone who follows current events. From the writing, it seems the authors have first hand knowledge of the way military and political government operations work. Character development is weak, but the plot is strong. It’s frightening to think that this book could become prophetic. It has me on the edge of my seat, constantly thinking, “how are they going to fix this???” I most appreciate the way the authors convey the story without resorting to gratuitous language. Well done!
I could hardly stop listening! The story line really held my attention and the narration was perfect. The realistic details both in the field and interrogation rooms as well as the political meetings gave the story a "news story" feel. The obvious potential connections with real world events made it even more relevant. I was also impressed that a book of this genre so be without the truckload of obscenities often found in similar books. Overall this is a real winner. I can't wait for my Audible credit so I can get the next one.