Heartland [Hardcover]

David Wiltse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

A fallen hero . . . Billy Tree once protected the most powerful man in the world from harm.If the situation called for it, he would give his own life to save another's.But after his partner dies at the hands of a raving would-be assassin, a physically and spiritually broken Tree returns to his hometown of Falls City, Nebraska, to contemplate his own part in the fiasco.A tarnished beauty . . . Joan Blanchard never made it out of Falls City.She stayed behind, locked in an unhappy marriage.But she never stopped thirsting for excitement.Now divorced with one child, her fast living has earned her the kind of reputation that women try to avoid in a small town.But there's something in her, beyond her looks, that draws Tree to the melancholy high school teacher.A ruthless madman . . . Duane Blanchard is a bully and a racist.But behind his insatiable anger lurks the keen intelligence and the uncompromising ferocity that made him the scourge of Falls City.He resents Tree's presence and the attention Tree lavishes on his ex-wife.He resents the town that considers him a monster.And he may be involved in one of me most deadly conspiracy the quiet community has ever witnessed.A small town cop . . . Sheriff Pat Kunkel seems to be in over his head after a schoolyard shooting that leaves two people dead and the only suspect goes missing.But Billy Tree learned law enforcement at the affable old man's knee, and Pat Kunkel may still have a few tricks up his sleeve . . . A murdered derelict . . . Huford Peck slept on the cold, hard floor of Falls City's abandoned power plant, amidst the lifetime of discarded junk he collected.When his naked body turns up along the banks of the Missouri River, it seems the result of another senseless act of brutality.But what secrets did the mysterious vagabond hide?His mutilated corpse may hold the key to a deadly puzzle.A fifteen-year-old boy . . . Will Blanchard seeks his father's love.But when one's father is incapable of love, is the next best thing a share in his hatred?Joan, the boy's mother, hopes not.But as events explode out of control, Will may find himself involved in a terrifying drama.Six desperate individuals, cast into an abyss of intrigue and murder.To save a boy's life and win a woman's love, Billy Tree will need to unravel a conspiracy that he could scarcely have imagined possible in a town he once called home.But who can be trusted?And who knows what deadly hatreds seethe beneath the glimmering surface of America's heartland?AUTHORBIO: Born in Nebraska, David Wiltse has written 11 novels, including the spectacularly well received John Becker thriller series.He has been honored with an Edgar Allen Poe award for a television feature film, a Drama Desk Award as Most Promising Playwright, and has had two novels selected as Most Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and by Time Out Magazine in London.He lives in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wiltse's routine suspense yarn is a far cry, both geographically and dramatically, from his previous novel, the appropriately titled Blown Away, which featured a vibrant cast and a colorful New York City setting. The backdrop here is Falls City Nebr., a "scratch on the Great Plains with a population of a mere five thousand people," where Secret Service agent and Falls City native Billy Tree is recovering from a botched operation that left his partner dead and Billy severely traumatized. Settling in with his sister, Kath, Billy once again encounters his old friends and foes all straight out of central casting. Pat Kunkel, the town's crusty sheriff, resumes his paternal friendship with Billy, who rekindles his not-quite-consummated affair with high school sweetheart, Joan, who's divorced from abusive Duane. Then there's Kath's drunken husband ("Peripatetic Stu, as Billy called him") and Huford Peck, the town's simpleminded hobo. The list goes on. It takes Billy no time at all to realize that this Norman Rockwellesque burg has surprise a seamy underbelly. But when a shooting takes place at the local high school, the investigation seems no more pressing than the townsfolk's assorted peccadilloes. Though Billy's renewed relationship with Joan produces a few affecting moments, it's difficult overall to empathize with him. His mocking self-pity quickly wears thin, as does his habit of assuming an Irish brogue (homage to his ancestry) in times of stress. And the novel's set pieces action scenes making vivid use of the local landscape are undercut by lackadaisical pacing. Wiltse's frequently florid prose and his characters' homespun philosophizing are a further hindrance "Do you think it's just cornfields and a deranged boy with a gun? There are lives being lived here, Billy." Lives, maybe, but not a whole lot of life.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

You'll never look at a grain silo in the same way after reading this novel. Wiltse injects his small-town Nebraska setting with Hitchcockian terror: a cornfield, a school yard, even pieces of farm equipment all move from ordinary to horrific in the blink of an eye. Agent Billy Tree, who investigated the homes of crackpots as part of pre-event security for the Secret Service, has returned to his hometown of Falls City, Nebraska, to recover from physical injuries and his deep shame after his partner was killed on a house search. Billy wants nothing more than to hole up at his sister's home, watching the road and replaying the scene where he failed his partner. But the plight of his old girlfriend and her son, victims of harrowing psychological abuse from the ex-husband, forces Billy to rejoin life. And when a school shooting wounds his girlfriend and kills others, Billy can no longer ignore the sheriff's pleas to help him investigate. What Billy discovers is that the seemingly pure midwestern small town harbors big-time vices. What Billy feels is still shame, skidding over into cowardice and increasing the overall tension. The book's climactic scene, played out in a grain silo, has to be one of recent fiction's most terrifying. Heartland delivers a wrenching psychological portrait along with blood pressure-raising suspense. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312269579
• ISBN-13: 978-0312269579
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,022,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wiltse is back and he is hot!, February 20, 2001

By 

JM (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartland (Hardcover)

After a hiatus that lasted much longer than any of us thought we could endure, David Wiltse has finally brought us a new book. While Heartland does not feature John Becker, it has a protagonist that will seem familiar in many ways. After enduring a terrifying standoff in which his partner was killed, Secret Service agent Billy Tree retreats to his boyhood town of Falls City, Nebraska to re-evaluate his life. An Irish-American who often reverts to a thick Irish brogue, Billy Tree is viewed as something of an outsider, even though the townspeople of this middle American, Small Town USA grew up with him.

The Heartland of America, with it's silos and pick-up trucks is a far cry from the sophisticated flavor we tend to associate with Wiltse's works. It is the perfect setting, however, for Billy Tree, who seems to be existing throughout this story as a man with one foot in each world.

The simplicity of life in Falls City Nebraska paints a jarring contrast to the complexity of the internal war Billy Tree is fighting. When he is called upon to aid the Sheriff in a murder investigation, Billy is forced to face demons he has been fighting to suppress. Readers of Wiltse, who will find this a familiar theme, will not be disappointed in the ease with which the author reintroduces this trait in the form of a new character. If you liked John Becker, you will love Billy Tree. And for those who are wondering if Wiltse has maintained his talent for that torridly sexual encounter his protagonist is capable of bringing to the fore, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!".

Heartland is a book written with the intensity and intelligence we have come to associate with David Wiltse. The plot is tight, the characters are vivid, the protagonist will win you over, and you will not put the book down until the last page. I read all night. Don't put this one off!!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Still My Heart, February 20, 2001

By 

E. Arthur (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heartland (Hardcover)

I can think of no book that I've looked more forward to than Heartland by David Wiltse. I must admit at first I was let down that this wasn't a John Becker book. That disappointment lasted about five breathtaking pages before I was quickly sucked into the story of Billy Tree, and I found him to be as compelling, if not more so, than John Becker. Both Billy Tree and John Becker are complex characters, but that is where the similarity ends. Billy is still grounded by his family, particularly his sister. He even takes on the brogue of his Irish ancestors as he takes over the book and the reader's imagination.

After being wounded in a shootout, Billy returns to his home in the heartland of America. His memories of small town USA are slowly replaced by those of a town that is not isolated from the woes of the big city. Before he has time to lick his wounds, he is helping the man he most admired, the town sheriff, solve a murder.

I've learned to expect excellence in books by David Wiltse and consider Heartland to be his best book. The plotting is superb, the characters well drawn and intriguing, and his depiction of the heartland is unblinkingly honest. I absolutely could not put this book down, and I did something I seldom do. I read it again immediately cover to cover. If you are looking for a book with intense and exciting action filled characters you can't seem to leave, I recommend you read Heartland immediately. It is the best book I've read this year, and I sincerely doubt anything will be able to top it. I'm on tenterhooks awaiting information on the next book by Wiltse.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartland, straight to the heart, November 13, 2001

By 

Peter Stanhope (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartland (Hardcover)

This is my first book by David Wiltse, but it certainly won't be my last. It is a fascinating story of a Secret Service agent, wounded in body and psyche who returns to Falls City, Nebraska, his home town on the prairie, to recuperate and find his spirit again. Terrified of guns after being nearly killed (and possibly killing his own partner)Billy Tree becomes embroiled in what appears to be a shooting of school teachers by a deranged student. I don't want to give away the plot,but it is a gripping story with far more characterization and psychological insight than in most such tales, and the writing is on a higher level altogether. I'm hooked and can't wait for the next Wiltse book.