Maybe I ask too much of books. Maybe I'd just like a story to be believable, and for authors not to rewrite history.

I enjoyed this book at first, although I was repeatedly frustrated by Goodwillie's portrayal of Paige, the activist, and the history he gives (through her) of the WTO protests, Earth Liberation Front, etc. For example, according to the book, at the WTO, the cops only started firing teargas after getting pelted with rocks and such. Uh, not. Also, the black bloc folks smashed in the windows of Starbucks mainly because they were hungry.

Also, Paige is quickly recruited to start doing covert direct action by people she doesn't really know that well--friends of her deceased brother. They just quickly open up to her and let her in. Unrealistic. And it's also unbelievable that she goes underground so quickly, leaving her grieving parents behind, after having quit her job to spend more time with them. As a reader, I only got the sense that she cared about the environment (she had worked for an environmental non-profit), and was good at the covert direct action. Yes, she was upset about the death of her brother in the war, but I feel like I wasn't shown the process of how she came to take more radical actions.

However, the character of the journalist is well-developed, and I like Goodwillie's description of the journalist's life in Manhattan a lot more. It appears that Goodwillie is just better at writing what he knows. That said, I found his actions rather unbelievable.

All that said, it was a decent read, though I skimmed through to the end when it got a bit over-the-top for my taste.