The Shadow Militia
By Skip Coryell
White Feather Press

Reviewed by J. Keith Jones

The second installment of the Thousand Year Night trilogy, “The Shadow Militia” notches up the action. The first installment, “The God Virus” turned out the lights all over the fruited plain when terrorists take out the American infrastructure in a most unconventional way, through a computer virus. That virus took out the power grid and threw the United States into darkness and anarchy. Dan Branch transformed from a man who is behind the eight ball to a survivor. After making his way from Wisconsin to his childhood home in Michigan, Dan discovers that there was a lot he didn’t know about his Uncle Rodney, the man who had raised him after his parents’ deaths. Rodney Branch, as it turns out, is the commanding general of the secret Shadow Militia.

As “The Shadow Militia” opens, the Branches and their neighbors find themselves within days of being invaded by a horde of opportunistic gang members who have formed their own army to strip the countryside clean of everything in their path. Watching the Shadow Militia at work is a thing of beauty. The small unit tactics will both thrill and amaze while tempered by the loss and heartache that accompany any war. There is a lot to enjoy about this book that will keep you reading. “The Shadow Militia” is a stark illustration of the reason the founding fathers created the Militia Act.