It's a Christmas movie, of course, though rarely mentioned as one. It has at least as much Christmas stuff as Die Hard but perhaps not as much as A Force of One. That these aren't considered Christmas movies is some kind of weird anti-Chuck Norris bias, presumably.

Anyway, there's lots of random violence and Chuck Norris kind of lumbering around all over the place. But what are the bad guys actually trying to do? And what happens to Chuck's pet armadillo?

Lots of good news here. The book is actually quite good and has a lot more in it than the movie. The evil plan is a wasp/false flag strategy, with small commando units all over the country committing acts of violence and destruction designed not just to destabilize and demoralize the populace but also to sow fear and distrust.

For instance, they'll show up dressed as police officers or members of the National Guard, so when the real police or guards show up, people attack them.

One scene shows the terrorists dressed as Nazis and barging into a synagogue and spray painting swastikas on the walls.

And it's at this point that it's worth mentioning that "Jason Frost" is actually Raymond Obstfeld. His Wikipedia page includes this relevant passage: "His parents owned and operated Obstfeld's Jewish Delicatessen, which was the target of various hate crimes during Obstfeld's youth, from Nazi swastikas painted on the doors to arson, which gutted the building".

In addition to connecting with Obstfeld's real-life experiences, the book improves on the movie in every way. Readers will learn the reason why Chuck's character, Matt Hunter, goes around intoning "Time to die" all over the place.

A scene in the movie in which the main villain attempts to eliminate his nemesis, Matt Hunter, Chuck's character, is comically inept and totally unbelievable. In the book this becomes an intense and exciting action scene with actual good-faith efforts to kill the protagonist.

Hunter's friends in the bayou are much more developed and the character of the woman journalist, who has practically nothing to do in the movie, is a major player in events in the book, often driving the action and ahead of other characters in figuring out what's happening.

Likewise with the various members of law enforecement.

The book does have one shocking lapse, however. There's no pet armadillo!

I really wanted to learn more about the little creature, particuarly its ultimate fate. Did it die in an explosion? Did Hunter just leave it behind and not give it a secon thought?

There aren't a lot of movies with armadillos in them. It's one of the things that made Invasion USA special and a big part of the reason that I read the book in the first place.

The book is still absolutely worth reading, though.

The first line is "There was blood on her hands".