Now it's a standoff that Pallas may not survive. This isn't my personal favorite Neil Smith book, but it's such a favorite with gun-rights folks that I just had to list it here. And I love it above all SF books. And the novel itself remains a magnificent romp. Paths to Otherwhere by James P. Hogan Oh, to be free by escaping into an alternative time.
Hogan turns that fantasy a into beautiful, well-plotted novel.
When the president of the United States decides to back the legalization of marijuana, organized crime leaders decide to kill him. To accomplish their ends, they coerce the president's best friend and physician to kill him for them. But in order to do this, they kidnap the doctor's daughter. A pot-boiler, but a darned good one. More importantly, he has portrayed a chillingly credible dystopia.