Divided We Fall

Divided We Fall (Divided We Fall, Book 1) by Trent Reedy

A modern civil war starts in Idaho. The US government mandates a national electronic ID. Idaho does not like this, so decides it will not participate. In Boise people protest, so the national guard comes in. Violence erupts and some protestors die. There are calls for the head of the guardsmen. The Idaho governor refuses. Then the feds come into arrest the governor. The Idaho guard prevents them from carrying that out and sends them back. Things get worse from there. Idaho sets up blockades to prevent federal military or police from entering Idaho. Then the US seals off Idaho from the feds. There are attempts to recall the governor, but it fails. The president is assassinated in Philadelphia. The new president is a hardliner and says she will invade Idaho to force compliance.

The novel centers on a 17-year old high school student who had joined the Idaho guard. He was sent to Boise as part of the action. He had a gun that accidentally discharged and may have killed a protestor. (He was probably not supposed to be there. And they were initially ordered to not load their guns - but a lower leader overrode that.) He keeps his presence there a secret at first, but later it breaks out and causes a media frenzy. He tries to live a normal high school life, but soon can't. His mom was in Washington when the borders were sealed and was going to try to return. He was afraid for that and sought to escort her back. Things did not go well, and he ended up killing a US soldier, and his mom got shot and killed.

The viewpoint tries to be balanced. The protagonist is torn between duty to the president and to the governor. The politicians themselves come off most negative. They are hard headed leaders that find it difficult to compromise. It could be seen as an advocation of right-wing individual rights or a criticism of the the right wing. It does feel precinct in the "mob" behavior. He was concerned that he would not get a fair shake if he tried to tell his story. A few years later, police officers in Minnesota received decades in prison because they didn't intervene in George Floyd's death. Could someone that killed a non-violent protester have any hope of a fair trial?

The characters seem to be primarily caricatures of Idaho individualists. They want their rights and their guns and don't want the feds to tell them what to do. The governor quotes the Idaho and US constitution to justify his actions. Even the anti-violent liberal-arts girlfriend is also a great markswoman and quickly turns to the side of her boyfriend. The book is poorly written, but it keeps you following along to see how it turns out. Just when you expect a way out, things get worse. It finally ends in a cliffhanger.