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Alter Road
Following decades of deindustrialization, economic decline, income inequality, and political polarization, parts of America are a tinderbox. In Detroit, the match is lit when the local power company routinely shuts off the electricity of households behind in their monthly payments even in the midst of an unusually brutal winter. Thousands of households resort to space and kerosene heaters, causing a spike in house fires and fire-related deaths. Following the death of a popular retired school teacher and her family, massive protests erupt. An underfunded and undermanned police department is quickly overwhelmed, and the U.S. Army is deployed. Welcomed at first by exasperated residents, the Army soon finds itself navigating internecine conflicts, an international refugee crisis, and failing infrastructure.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 17, 2020
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About the author
Mark James
3 books2 followersMARK JAMES writes Geopolitical thrillers/dystopian fiction. His novel Friendship Games is a modern take on the USS Maine incident that launched the Spanish-American War in 1898; this time it is a US aircraft carrier that sinks in the Persian Gulf amid tensions with Iran and a changing world order.
Friendship Games earned the prestigious Kirkus Star and consideration for the Kirkus Prize for literary excellence. It was selected by the editors of Kirkus Reviews as one of their Best Books of the Year. It earned a Bronze Medal Award from the Military Writers Society of America. Friendship Games is available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Mark's follow up to Friendship Games, The Compass Room, is available now at Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Wider distribution of Friendship Games and The Compass Room is coming soon.
His debut novel Alter Road, about unrest in Detroit, Michigan following decades of economic decline and neglect, is being revised and updated, and is also coming soon.
Mark earned his PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati, his MS in Geography from the University of Alabama, and his BS in Political Science from Towson University. He has published research in various academic journals including Antipode, Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Affairs, Growth & Change, and Southeastern Geographer. He has taught Political, Economic, and Urban Geography for over twenty years.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school and served during the last years of the Cold War and after.
An avid surfer, you might find him on any given day amid the breaks off Delmarva in Maryland or Delaware when he probably should be writing.
Feel free to contact Mark James at authormarkjames@gmail.com.
Friendship Games earned the prestigious Kirkus Star and consideration for the Kirkus Prize for literary excellence. It was selected by the editors of Kirkus Reviews as one of their Best Books of the Year. It earned a Bronze Medal Award from the Military Writers Society of America. Friendship Games is available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Mark's follow up to Friendship Games, The Compass Room, is available now at Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and is free on Kindle Unlimited.
Wider distribution of Friendship Games and The Compass Room is coming soon.
His debut novel Alter Road, about unrest in Detroit, Michigan following decades of economic decline and neglect, is being revised and updated, and is also coming soon.
Mark earned his PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati, his MS in Geography from the University of Alabama, and his BS in Political Science from Towson University. He has published research in various academic journals including Antipode, Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Affairs, Growth & Change, and Southeastern Geographer. He has taught Political, Economic, and Urban Geography for over twenty years.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school and served during the last years of the Cold War and after.
An avid surfer, you might find him on any given day amid the breaks off Delmarva in Maryland or Delaware when he probably should be writing.
Feel free to contact Mark James at authormarkjames@gmail.com.
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May 5, 2020MWSA Review
Alter Road by Mark James is described by the author as a political thriller. The title refers to the road that is a border between troubled Detroit and wealthy Gross Pointe.
The 1967 Detroit riots lasted five days in the heat of the summer. The seven days of riot described in this book, set in a brutally cold winter in Detroit, were sparked by power shut-offs for non-payment, which led to many fires as residents tried to heat with dangerous gas heaters. The effects of the conditions leading up to various actions and to the riots are described from multiple viewpoints: students at Wayne State, various gangs, militia, politicians, CID, and the U.S. Army. The backdrop of the riots is critical to the story—significant unemployment, decreasing city budgets which affected infrastructure as well as the number of police available, and the huge number of abandoned homes and businesses. The death of a popular retired school teacher and her family provided the spark to set off the riots that spread to several neighborhoods and other cities in Michigan. Criminals took advantage of the chaos to kill members of other gangs, and some were smart enough to avoid any area that was being photographed by the media, knowing that after the rioters were controlled, law enforcement could use that footage. The Army’s massive numbers, equipment, and organization were finally needed to end the riots. All in all, a very disturbing examination.
Review by Nancy Kauffman (May 2020)
Alter Road by Mark James is described by the author as a political thriller. The title refers to the road that is a border between troubled Detroit and wealthy Gross Pointe.
The 1967 Detroit riots lasted five days in the heat of the summer. The seven days of riot described in this book, set in a brutally cold winter in Detroit, were sparked by power shut-offs for non-payment, which led to many fires as residents tried to heat with dangerous gas heaters. The effects of the conditions leading up to various actions and to the riots are described from multiple viewpoints: students at Wayne State, various gangs, militia, politicians, CID, and the U.S. Army. The backdrop of the riots is critical to the story—significant unemployment, decreasing city budgets which affected infrastructure as well as the number of police available, and the huge number of abandoned homes and businesses. The death of a popular retired school teacher and her family provided the spark to set off the riots that spread to several neighborhoods and other cities in Michigan. Criminals took advantage of the chaos to kill members of other gangs, and some were smart enough to avoid any area that was being photographed by the media, knowing that after the rioters were controlled, law enforcement could use that footage. The Army’s massive numbers, equipment, and organization were finally needed to end the riots. All in all, a very disturbing examination.
Review by Nancy Kauffman (May 2020)
Displaying 1 of 1 review