The Bottom Line: Simply unmissable for fans of LT Ryan, Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler.
Since the 1978 Iranian revolution, American diplomatic relations with Iran have resembled a hot cauldron that occasionally boils over into bursts of limited combat. Until now, the situation has yet to fully tip into all-out war. Red Lines, Book 3 in Bultema’s Sea of Red series, imagines a believable series of events that might lead hostilities right over the edge.
After a Hezbollah attack on the historic Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the U.S. pushes for increased sanctions targeting foreign banks supporting Iranian financial transactions. Simultaneously, while the president’s closest advisors strategize potential retaliatory strikes, U.S. naval forces are redirected to the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader suspects that the country will be hit by a shock-and-awe-level attack – unless they move first. They begin discussing a plan to take out U.S. ships and U.S. bases first, as well as working with Shia allies across the region to launch coordinated attacks on US positions. If all goes as planned, the result of these actions and more could lead to Iran becoming the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region.
Bultema’s narrative approach features plenty of insider conversations within the world’s most powerful offices, but aspects of the story are also told through the experiences of Private Adam Dankworth, whose journey to the Army is marked by his challenging upbringing in a series of foster homes. After numerous misdemeanor arrests, a judge had suggested to Dankworth that perhaps he should look at joining the Army, because doing so would provide much better scenery than the jail cell.
The story of Dankworth’s compelling adaptation to military life and the camaraderie he develops with his squad members humanizes Bultema’s otherwise fascinating and believable focus on a potential path to war with Iran.The real star of Bultema’s novel are, not surprisingly, its battle scenes. As a reliable portrayer of the realistic state of world militaries, Bultema remains faithful to the reality that much of America’s military arsenal features hardware that stretches back decades: Ohio-class submarines, B-2 bombers and KC-135s, to name just a few.
But elsewhere, Bultema’s blow-by-blow action sequences are not just a terrifying glimpse into the future of combat hardware, but also a close-up examination at the present. At a time when we’re all adapting to stories from the Ukrainian battlefields that sound a little like something out of Star Wars, there’s nothing like a soldier declaring “incoming drone swarm” that sends shivers up the spine.
