‘When Diplomacy Fails’ slam-bang action from start to finish

Ripple Creek Security is back and this time they’re stuck protecting a progressive twit who’s willing to fake an attack in order to win an election.
But when the attacks become real, Ripple Creek is at their best — and they’ll even help her win an election to keep her safe.
When Diplomacy Fails is the third book in Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold Universe prequals series. Set some years before the events in Freehold it tells the story of the rise of the U.N. and sets the stage for the U.N./Freehold of Grainne war in Freehold.
Told from the point of view of a team of security contractors the books are one part political critique one part techno thriller and all action.
This book was perhaps not the best of the series, that book in your reviewer’s not so humble opinion was Do Unto Others, but is still light years ahead of half the (make that probably 3/4) of the fiction currently being foisted on an unsuspecting public by the major publishers.
Keeping in mind this was an unproofed advanced reader copy, so many issues will be settled by the time it hits print, there were a few areas which felt forced. But the book overall is what we’ve all come to expect from Mad Mike — fast-paced, intelligently-written MilSF which teaches without hitting you over the head, and entertains at the same time.
I confess I’ve been a fan since picking up Freehold from the Baen Free Library. While I have my doubts as to whether or not the perfectly libertarian society Williamson posits on Grainne would actually work, it doesn’t stop me from wanting to live there.
Overall the book was a fast, enjoyable read, with a few things to say about the nature of politics. Perfect Saturday afternoon in the hammock fare.
Pick it up in every conceivable e-format at baenebooks.com.