Daniel Goodman settles in Duck Springs, a remote town in Washington's Cascade Range, wanting nothing but quiet. Peter S. Adler's novel sends a second American civil war up the mountain after him.
Readical Key Points
- A near-future novel of a coup and a second American civil war, set in a small mountain town
- Follows a former Marine and the townspeople who organize to defend Duck Springs
- Negotiation between armed factions runs alongside the combat
- Includes combat violence and a veteran's war trauma
- Paperback, 360 pages, All Night Books, 2026
Goodman arrives worn down by war and by regret, and the routines of a small town slowly give him a reason to stay. Then a coup splits the country, militias take up arms and the cities fail, and a hostile force turns toward Duck Springs. Adler writes the crisis from inside a community that has to organize, argue and fight, and he sets the combat beside the slower work of negotiating.
The novel suits readers of military and survival fiction and of near-future stories about political breakdown, along with readers drawn to how conflicts get mediated. The civil war is the setting. The story is what Goodman and his neighbors decide they owe one another.
About the Author
Peter S. Adler, PhD, is a mediator and planner who consults on cooperation in complex public-policy disputes. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer and an Outward Bound instructor, worked for the Hawai'i Supreme Court, and later led The Keystone Center as president and CEO. His earlier books include Calming the Storm: A Leader's Handbook for Managing Unproductive Conflicts.
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