I remember really, really liking this book when I first bought and read it. I'm doing a reread of books deciding which ones I'd like to keep, and this didn't make the cut; I stopped about half-way and decided this goes in the rubbish without reading further. I think the reason I liked this so much once upon a time was that I was a very newly minted libertarian when I read it at a time when that would have gotten a "you're a what?" It was rare to find a book that reflected my values, and I'm sure I got a kick out of all the obscure references to ideas and books (such as Economics in One Lesson) only libertarians would know.

Don't misunderstand, this isn't the gripe of someone who has seen the error of her ways and no longer sees this philosophy as congenial. I haven't changed in my worldview, but I guess I've long ago stuffed myself with enough of this viewpoint; the preachiness gets old, even when I'm in agreement, and I find tedious reading a Atlas Shrugged lite. I've already heard all this, you know? And say what you will about Atlas Shrugged, but despite all the derision it gets, not only is it in my opinion the finer novel in every way, but it isn't as badly dated as this novel written over 30 years later with its Cold War politics.

There were also just a bunch of niggling things getting under my skin. For instance these thugs identified--on sight--as Puerto Rican. In Florida no less. Wouldn't a Florida Hispanic more likely be Cuban? Unless, of course, you associate the criminal element as being exclusively Puerto Rican. Also, the novel posits that a new party called the Constitutionalists gained prominence by doing well in the primaries. Except that's not possible. Primaries are not preview elections--they're elections internal to the parties, so a new party wouldn't have a chance to go head to head against Republicans and Democrats there. And finally, the whole conspiracy theory angle got under my skin after a while--or rather conspiracies plural. Just too paranoid, too many things and people connected at once for my tastes. Too many coincidences. (Part of why I'm rarely a fan of thrillers to begin with.) This was a Prometheus Award nominee, so I'm not saying there might not be some libertarians who'd find this to their tastes--certainly libertarian fiction is rare enough, but I really find it unlikely that if you're not a libertarian you're going to like this. And you know what, I have been rereading libertarian fiction lately and the rest so far have held up better than this. ( )