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Root and Branch
"Intelligent and indelible. A shrewdly written tale with a robust cast of characters and a frightening intifada in the U.S." KIRKUS REVIEWS (Starred Review) "Thriller fans with a taste for politics will devour this exciting investigation into dangerous government overreach and the mangling of civil liberties in a time of crisis." BOOKLIFE by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Editor’s Pick) "Preston Fleming has crafted a brilliant novel…that delves into the question of human rights in the face of governments overstepping their bounds." PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW (Starred Review) "ROOT AND BRANCH is a powerful book evoking memories of post 9/11… A book to be read and deeply pondered." SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW (Star Rating 5/5) "A relentlessly entertaining, sophisticated and intelligent political thriller that is a must-read for fans of Ken Follett, Robert Harris and Daniel Silva." BESTTHRILLERS.COM ROOT AND BRANCH is a realistic thriller set in a near-future America where an Islamist-inspired intifada triggers emergency security measures that go terribly wrong. Roger Zorn, owner of a French private security company, is delighted at having won a lucrative contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of the government’s new program of emergency security measures. The measures are launched when the U.S. military response to sneak attacks by Iran and Pakistan on America’s electrical grid provokes a wave of Jihadist-inspired violence across the U.S.A. Zorn’s work for DHS requires him to apply his company’s Triage risk assessment technology to evaluate terrorist suspects captured in the U.S. and sort out the jihadists from nonviolent Muslim residents. But when Zorn’s inquiries lead him to discover that DHS and its lead contractor have been manipulating Triage scores to deport massive numbers of Muslims and is ‘disappearing’ the most violent ones, Zorn faces a choice. Will he say nothing and sell his company to DHS’s prime contractor before scandal breaks, or will Zorn step up to expose the abuses and risk bringing the full wrath of America’s national security establishment down on his head?
- GenresFiction
425 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2020
171 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Preston Fleming
10 books65 followersPreston Fleming writes realist thrillers set in exceptional times and places, from Siberia during the Russian Civil War (MAID OF BAIKAL), to explosive 1980s Beirut (DYNAMITE FISHERMEN), to a near-future gulag-style labor camp in Utah (FORTY DAYS AT KAMAS). His experience as a diplomat, lawyer and corporate executive, combined with his ultra-lean writing style, lend rare authenticity to his stories. All of Preston’s six novels have received praise from KIRKUS REVIEWS and other publications. Preston is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, but left home at fourteen for boarding school and has been on the move ever since. Today he and his wife live in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains with a Belgian Sheepdog they rescued after it bit too many humans in Delaware. Connect with Preston at his website (prestonfleming.com) or on Amazon.com, GoodReads.com, LibraryThing.com, Twitter or Facebook. To learn about new releases and free book giveaways, follow Preston on Bookbub.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 10, 2020
A must-read for political thriller fans. Root and Branch is every bit as entertaining and high-concept as anything Brad Thor has ever written, but it’s also sophisticated and nuanced enough to allow readers to form their own conclusions about a variety of topics, including executive power, the role of the media during wartime, and the defense contracting industry. Fleming, who has worked in far-flung locales such as Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Jeddah, and Amman, has also created a new kind of hero in Zorn. It’s difficult to make a CEO sympathetic, but Preston manages to pull it off in spectacular fashion.
July 15, 2021
What if there was software to sort out the bad guys?
Seems like a good idea, right?.but there is an old saying that I might massacre (or autocorrect would massacre if I attempt the Latin): who watches the watchers?
The time is present, but there are differences. Nuclear devices were set off near our northern coasts. EMPs destroyed infrastructure and many died. Fleming spared the details but leaves that in the background like smoke from a forest fire. The President retaliated against Asian Muslim countries and now Muslims living here are revolting. They also have many sympathizers.
Enter Roger Zorn, american, former CIA, now icing on France and running the security company built by his father out of his experiences in Algeria. Zorn's company has a program that is used to determine whether subjects are real threats. Being tested in a few IS locations, the NSA latches onto it. The problem, however, is that not only the real threats are being imprisoned, but many more who should not have been are rounded up.
Overall. This novel is chilling in the extreme. Fleming presents a stark picture that.could easily map into our society, while at the same time leaving those connections up to the reader. At what point do we give into fear and prejudice? And what justifies covering it up? A delightful thriller that also provokes thought.
Read this!!
Seems like a good idea, right?.but there is an old saying that I might massacre (or autocorrect would massacre if I attempt the Latin): who watches the watchers?
The time is present, but there are differences. Nuclear devices were set off near our northern coasts. EMPs destroyed infrastructure and many died. Fleming spared the details but leaves that in the background like smoke from a forest fire. The President retaliated against Asian Muslim countries and now Muslims living here are revolting. They also have many sympathizers.
Enter Roger Zorn, american, former CIA, now icing on France and running the security company built by his father out of his experiences in Algeria. Zorn's company has a program that is used to determine whether subjects are real threats. Being tested in a few IS locations, the NSA latches onto it. The problem, however, is that not only the real threats are being imprisoned, but many more who should not have been are rounded up.
Overall. This novel is chilling in the extreme. Fleming presents a stark picture that.could easily map into our society, while at the same time leaving those connections up to the reader. At what point do we give into fear and prejudice? And what justifies covering it up? A delightful thriller that also provokes thought.
Read this!!
July 1, 2020
Excellent
Recommend to all who live thrillers and what could become of the US. Amazing how the plotline could be written about the current administration.
Recommend to all who live thrillers and what could become of the US. Amazing how the plotline could be written about the current administration.
May 30, 2020
This was a terrific read from an author whose other books I’ve also enjoyed. He takes a perfectly realistic scenario (in this case, identifying potential Muslim terrorists before they commit a violent act) into a “what if” thriller: the designer of the technology learns that the results are being manipulated, resulting in large numbers of innocents being labeled as “undesirables,” subject to detainment and deportation.
The story starts out measured and a bit slow, but stick with it—once it takes hold, you won’t be able to put this book down. The research is flawless, the prose is perfect, there’s enough action to keep you turning the pages, and the story is thought provoking. I had to remind myself that this was “only fiction.” Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: As a beta reader, I was provided with a free copy of this book by the author. The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.
The story starts out measured and a bit slow, but stick with it—once it takes hold, you won’t be able to put this book down. The research is flawless, the prose is perfect, there’s enough action to keep you turning the pages, and the story is thought provoking. I had to remind myself that this was “only fiction.” Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: As a beta reader, I was provided with a free copy of this book by the author. The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.
July 23, 2020
I've been a fan of Preston Fleming thrillers for years. I have reviewed all of them for BookPleasures.com including Star Chamber Brotherhood (2010), Forty Days at Kamas (2010--one of my favorites), Bride of a Bygone War (2011, another personal favorite), Dynamite Fishermen (2011), Exile Hunter (2013), and Maid of Baikal (2017). So I think it safe to say I am pretty familiar with the Preston Fleming catalogue.
Characteristics you can see in all his works include extremely believable situations and topical storylines, vivid characters, detailed descriptions, and an obvious familiarity with the workings of power brokers and international relations at the highest levels.
You will find all these attributes in Root and Branch, a novel opening after several electromagnetic pulse nuclear bombs from Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea have been detonated along the east and west coasts of the U.S., destroying much of our electronic infrastructure. After this setup, Root and Branch is all about our responses to this Intifada, a cultural clash that continues to escalate and escalate into chilling choices that might not have been plausible a few years ago, but are frighteningly possible now.
Choices include an American government willing to suspend civil rights for all Muslims and anyone, including American citizens, who might be deemed sympathetic to the Jihad; a government willing to perpetrate horrifying scenes of outright murder of both criminals and suspects; a government willing to create international rendition camps far beyond the scope of the 9/11 aftermath; and, well, I don't want to provide spoilers here. Suffice it to say, you'll have a hard time forgetting what Fleming proposes we'd be capable of in revenge for any Intifada.
The principal protagonist is former CIA operative Roger Zorn, a French/American executive who runs a global security company his father founded. It covertly protects government and corporate assets and provides air freight operations and security all over the globe. His company developed a sophisticated “triage” algorithm that can determine whether or not individuals are likely to commit violent acts. The U.S. government wants to use his algorithm in its war against the Jihad. But Zorn slowly comes to learn about the moral consequences of his company's product being used in deadly and illegal actions by the American government. The main dilemma of the book is Zorn's inner turmoil over what to do once he learns what his technology is resulting in. What is his responsibility for what he discovers, even if what he sees is classified and therefor he can say nothing in public? What about the economic impact he might face if he pulls out of the lucrative contracts keeping his company afloat?
In short, the principal conflict we witness in Root and Branch is internal, moral and cerebral. Which results in a very talky book where we watch Zorn wrestle and wrestle with trying to come to the decisions tearing up his soul.
I understand why so many fellow readers, especially fellow Fleming fans, find Root and Branch a tale that isn't ranked as highly as some of Fleming's other efforts. There are long sections of Zorn trapped in his internal inactivity, long sections where events seem drawn out and the reader may start crying out, "Do something already!"
But I found the book a worthwhile read precisely because of the questions it raises--what would we be willing to accept, what would we take as necessary actions when fighting a deadly Intifada? What rights would we give up? What liberties would we sacrifice in the name of security? Uncomfortable as these questions might be, we do live in a world where we do wrestle with such concerns on nearly a daily basis. So I not only recommend this book, I encourage it as important reading for those watching our world that's been dealing with these questions since 9/11.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on July 23, 2020:
https://waa.ai/e7TR
November 23, 2020
Root and Branch is a political thriller written about Rogers Zorn, who is a security contractor. He learns that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been using his companies’ discoveries in order to achieve their own disturbing purposes.
The plan is to deploy Zorn’s security threat assessment technology into various cities to estimate the chance of a detainee committing any political violence in the future. As Zorn realizes that his system is getting abused, he teams up with an attractive female White House attorney. That is when the thrilling story picks up, delivering an excellent form of a political journey.
Click on the image to purchase the book.
The literature was intense with all the political and thrilling nature of the storyline. The author had done his research. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Zorn’s company algorithm could determine the likelihood of someone conducting a crime. It was very realistically related to the government wanting to abuse this power to win over the war against the Jihad.
The supplementary romance was a delightful addition to the mix. Everything about the book was enjoyable, and I believe the author has a good pen for writing similar stories.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy political thrillers.
The plan is to deploy Zorn’s security threat assessment technology into various cities to estimate the chance of a detainee committing any political violence in the future. As Zorn realizes that his system is getting abused, he teams up with an attractive female White House attorney. That is when the thrilling story picks up, delivering an excellent form of a political journey.
Click on the image to purchase the book.
The literature was intense with all the political and thrilling nature of the storyline. The author had done his research. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Zorn’s company algorithm could determine the likelihood of someone conducting a crime. It was very realistically related to the government wanting to abuse this power to win over the war against the Jihad.
The supplementary romance was a delightful addition to the mix. Everything about the book was enjoyable, and I believe the author has a good pen for writing similar stories.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy political thrillers.
November 14, 2025
7 years ago this would have been fantasy but today …..
Let me start by saying this is a hard book to read - the subject matter is disturbing and the main character a little too altruistic.
I say this because, in the past, I could read something like this and say to myself ‘thank goodness that could never happen’. But this tome written around 2018-19 almost feels like a biographical review of our world today and that is hard to digest.
Anyhow - this is a good story with characters that appear out of the dark political mists to complete tasks as they see fit.
This dystopian mystery has a different slant to the ‘usual’ end of the world writes and shows an author with a mind to write about what the end of our lives as we know it COULD look like and it is disturbing.
It’s a good read but makes you look over your shoulder (and to the skies) a little more - well done and well written Mr Fleming.
Let me start by saying this is a hard book to read - the subject matter is disturbing and the main character a little too altruistic.
I say this because, in the past, I could read something like this and say to myself ‘thank goodness that could never happen’. But this tome written around 2018-19 almost feels like a biographical review of our world today and that is hard to digest.
Anyhow - this is a good story with characters that appear out of the dark political mists to complete tasks as they see fit.
This dystopian mystery has a different slant to the ‘usual’ end of the world writes and shows an author with a mind to write about what the end of our lives as we know it COULD look like and it is disturbing.
It’s a good read but makes you look over your shoulder (and to the skies) a little more - well done and well written Mr Fleming.
June 25, 2021
A scary and fascinating story
When some Muslim countries attack the us and the us retaliates, riots and violent actions break out in the US. The story of how the government responds with a,scary rendition program ignoring all human and constitutional limits hits home. It can happen.
When some Muslim countries attack the us and the us retaliates, riots and violent actions break out in the US. The story of how the government responds with a,scary rendition program ignoring all human and constitutional limits hits home. It can happen.
January 23, 2022
This was all the way wild into an array of political anarchy and racism isn't unbelievable to me. Everything in this book reads like modern day slavery,and felt like my ancestors pushing through me to keep reading. My feelings about this book has many difficult and trying emotions
I read it thoroughly,but was very saddened by it.
I read it thoroughly,but was very saddened by it.
September 14, 2022
BRAVO!! The writing is terrific, the plot is suitably twisted to hold your attention,the characters are realistic and the endings are reasonable and yet contain their own element of suspense.
But what is most attractive is that the author is exploring questions of government overreach and individual liberty that we are wrestling with today. The book doesn't preach - but it follows a premise of "What if...?" to logical and scary conclusions. The questions are real and relevant and it never gets preachy or evangelical (in a political sense).
If there were a book club looking for a work to provoke serious discussion, this would be high on my list. But even without a club, this is a book that cries to be read.
But what is most attractive is that the author is exploring questions of government overreach and individual liberty that we are wrestling with today. The book doesn't preach - but it follows a premise of "What if...?" to logical and scary conclusions. The questions are real and relevant and it never gets preachy or evangelical (in a political sense).
If there were a book club looking for a work to provoke serious discussion, this would be high on my list. But even without a club, this is a book that cries to be read.
November 23, 2023
It was very interesting read so enjoy it…
I really don’t know what to say to this book but, I just couldn’t believe that all American womens was in the prisoners in somewhere along the way…I find that a very demand jobs to do to get in their places to get out of jihad or whatever it called…
I definitely will read next book soon…
I really don’t know what to say to this book but, I just couldn’t believe that all American womens was in the prisoners in somewhere along the way…I find that a very demand jobs to do to get in their places to get out of jihad or whatever it called…
I definitely will read next book soon…
September 3, 2020
What I Did Like:
-The first chapter. This one grabs your attention RIGHT AWAY. I didn’t expect this one to start the way it did and that was great. I knew the second I finished that chapter that I was going to have to keep reading until I figured out what was going on. GREAT start.
-The politics. I like political thrillers to be vague enough to be plausible. By that I mean don’t give me an exact year, don’t make it about political parties or current presidents or wars. Keep it so that your book stands as a possible threat and let us pull the messages out of it. This one did JUST THAT. It was relatable to the current environment and yet distanced itself from it enough to keep it entertainment.
-Makes you think. This one dives into terrorism, suspected terrorists, possible future terrorists, and loads of big questions about their treatment at the hands of the government. Zorn himself is forced to examine how he feels about a lot of the issues and you’ll find yourself doing the exact same soul searching.
Who Should Read This One:
-Fans of political thrillers, GET THIS ONE. It gave me Empire (by Orson Scott Card) vibes.
-If you like books that make you THINK about major issues, you may like this one.
My Rating: 4 Stars. This one is a political thriller and it’s top of the class for that genre. Highly recommended.
For Full Review (including what I didn’t like): https://youtu.be/cYoQKHc3PNY
-The first chapter. This one grabs your attention RIGHT AWAY. I didn’t expect this one to start the way it did and that was great. I knew the second I finished that chapter that I was going to have to keep reading until I figured out what was going on. GREAT start.
-The politics. I like political thrillers to be vague enough to be plausible. By that I mean don’t give me an exact year, don’t make it about political parties or current presidents or wars. Keep it so that your book stands as a possible threat and let us pull the messages out of it. This one did JUST THAT. It was relatable to the current environment and yet distanced itself from it enough to keep it entertainment.
-Makes you think. This one dives into terrorism, suspected terrorists, possible future terrorists, and loads of big questions about their treatment at the hands of the government. Zorn himself is forced to examine how he feels about a lot of the issues and you’ll find yourself doing the exact same soul searching.
Who Should Read This One:
-Fans of political thrillers, GET THIS ONE. It gave me Empire (by Orson Scott Card) vibes.
-If you like books that make you THINK about major issues, you may like this one.
My Rating: 4 Stars. This one is a political thriller and it’s top of the class for that genre. Highly recommended.
For Full Review (including what I didn’t like): https://youtu.be/cYoQKHc3PNY
September 14, 2020
Gruesome scenario
Gruesome but absolutely plausible. With the climate in our country getting dangerously hot (nothing to do with climate change, but actually the burning down of our cities), one never knows what might happen.
Gruesome but absolutely plausible. With the climate in our country getting dangerously hot (nothing to do with climate change, but actually the burning down of our cities), one never knows what might happen.
July 20, 2021
Preston Fleming is one of my favorite authors. His novels proceed at a consistent pace, not overstated, his prose evincing confident knowledge of his subject matter gained through his liftime of global experiences.
September 8, 2021
Good read
It’s a good book for thriller readers who want something from a “leftish” point of view. The protagonist is well characterized and the situation - efforts to exterminate Islamist influence.
It’s a good book for thriller readers who want something from a “leftish” point of view. The protagonist is well characterized and the situation - efforts to exterminate Islamist influence.
November 9, 2022
More, please!
This story had it all. Intriguing and plausible plot, brilliant character development and just the right amount of catharsis when needed. Gotta read more from this author.
This story had it all. Intriguing and plausible plot, brilliant character development and just the right amount of catharsis when needed. Gotta read more from this author.
September 2, 2020
Interesting
The circumstances are all there. The government is ready. The author used what we know to take us on a ride that we can't wait to get off.
The circumstances are all there. The government is ready. The author used what we know to take us on a ride that we can't wait to get off.
Read
November 21, 2021had to return after reading thru few pages. Did not find engrossing at all
December 27, 2021
This book hits many poignant and timely topics that cause us to pause and ask ourselves what level of preemptive actions our constitutional republic would tolerate or embrace.
It fizzled out a little bit in the end. But, overall it is still 5 stars.
It fizzled out a little bit in the end. But, overall it is still 5 stars.
April 12, 2021
What would it look like if America's National Security agencies, such as DHS, went completely off the rails while fighting against a widespread internal insurgency?
This book is almost frighteningly close to home. Could something like this actually come to pass?
Maybe I've been reading too much Rod Dreher and the like, but this would NOT surprise me in the least.
This book is almost frighteningly close to home. Could something like this actually come to pass?
Maybe I've been reading too much Rod Dreher and the like, but this would NOT surprise me in the least.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews