Republic

Republic by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Civil war is not the way to go. Particularily if you are a small state, not prepared and have little support from anyone around you.

West Virginia in this tale has suffered an increasing number of indignities by the federal government. In this case a crony of the President closes the major employer in a small WV town and plans to move it overseas. After the people of the town reject that decision, even going to the point of breaking into the plant and pretending that things were okay, the favorite bogeyman of the far Right (and the far Left), DHS, storms the place and kills some of the occupiers.  Things go downhill from there....

The characters introduced are likable and, since most of them are military people, quite relateable to me. The author constructs situations where I as a Army NG Officer am forced to sit back and think what I would do in a similar situation (the most notable was the Army CPT intervenes when DHS agents randomly round up all middle-eastern males over 13 by kicking in doors and dragging them out).

Events slowly escalate to the point where WV makes the decision to secede and the author plays out the eventual result of that action (of a state poorly prepared, with little munitions and fuel, no real outside support, forces that are in shreds due to desertions due to torn loyalties, and facing the the Active Duty Armed Forces). A solid read that kept me turning the page to see how it played out.