The Bottom Line: A riveting police thriller that deftly explores the ramifications of drug legalization in America. Get in on the ground floor of this promising series.
Invaders of the Heartland opens in Los Angeles as LAPD officer Jake Dalton is called to an in-progress armed bank robbery. The incident quickly devolves into a hostage situation in which Jake shoots and kills one of the thieves while apprehending the other two suspects. Despite ten years of duty in which he received the Medal of Valor, including a stint serving as a sniper on the SWAT team, Jake and his team are put on administrative leave pending an investigation.Â
It’s hardly the first time Jake has been frustrated with his LAPD tenure. His troubles started years earlier, when he arrested an eighteen-year-old for DUI after he caught him drag racing on a deserted side street. The kid turned out to be the son of the LAPD Commander. With that history shadowing him, Jake is naturally disappointed, but not surprised, when faced with the possibility that he could face disciplinary action for the shooting. With no family or other obligations to tie him to LA, he resigns from the force.
His plans? To head back to his hometown of Fairview, Oklahoma, where a potential job awaits him in a family-run automotive repair shop. Starting with the book’s provocative title, author James Bultema makes clear that Jake’s hometown won’t be the same place he left. That’s because Fairview is being targeted by the Cheng Syndicate, a criminal organization based in China. Needless to say, Jake and Oklahoma’s new invaders are on a collision course.
Led by Ming Cheng, known as the Dragon Head, the syndicate’s primary businesses include drug trafficking, sex trafficking and labor exploitation. The group is actively working to expand into the United States. In particular, they seek to take advantage of the legalization of marijuana in various states, including Oklahoma. In chapters told from Cheng’s perspective, readers are treated to an insider’s view as upstart Li Cheng battles enemies at home before embarking on his new mission in the U.S. It’s a fascinating grassroots strategy that includes joining the Rotary Club and a variety of other things to build relationships with the chief of police, the mayor, and the members of the city council. For the prodigal son from China, to whom loyalty is everything, failure is simply not an option, and that makes for great reading. Credit to Bultema for inhabiting the Cheng Syndicate with fully developed gangsters who are every bit as bound by their own personal code as Jake is.
Bultema, whose novels include staff favorites Sea of Red and Red Lines, writes at the top of his game in Invaders of the Heartland. Bultema, a retired LAPD officer, and whose other books include Guardians of Angels: A History of the Los Angeles Police Department, writes with a level of empathy and personal experience that resonates long after the final chapter is done.
