Rating: 
Summary: Wiltse is back and he is hot!
Review: 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!!
Rating:
Summary: Action-Packed!
Review: Billy Tree, Secret Agent, is scouting for trouble in advance of the President's route. Along with his partner, they stop to question Avi Posner in his home. After a confrontation, Billy the soon-to-be-hero, will plead for his life. Horribly wounded and embarrassed, he is treated for wounds both mental and physical. He then will return home, to Nebraska, still very affected by his experience. Demons will haunt him. One of the things that makes this book so special, is the characterization of Billy Tree. Not often does a reader see such a severely haunted "hero", carry on so heroically. The peaceful town he has returned to, has turned out to be not so peaceful. It's a town full of secrets, and every kind of "bad guy" you could think of. Besides Billy, the reader meets sister Kath, friend Joan, the sheriff who is also the coroner, and the tough guys and hoods from Billy's childhood. Those tough guys have sons, and they will be part of the force that drives Billy to help with a school shooting. There's not a page to be turned in this action-packed book, without something happening. Besides the action, there's a mystery, some romance, and of course the small-town experience. Heartland is a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining mystery in middle America
Review: David Wiltse established himself as a detective novelist a dozen or so years ago, with a series following a truly chilling FBI profiler who was almost a serial killer himself. Now he's gone in a different direction, establishing a new character who's a former Secret Service agent, wounded physically and psychologically by a horrific shootout with a Jewish fanatic who he has to kill. Billy Tree survives this incident only sort of intact, and resigns from the Secret Service, returning home to Falls City Nebraska, staying with his long-suffering sister, looking up an old girlfriend, and generally trying not to do anything. There is, however, a shooting in town, and the local sheriff wants Billy to help with the investigation. At first very reluctant, Billy finally agrees, and the result is a clumsy investigation of many things, drugs, infidelity, white supremacists, and so forth. Wiltse handles all of this quite well, and Tree is a well-made character. The mystery isn't that hard to figure out, though, and parts of the plot are a bit predictable. On balance, though, this is a good book, and worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing, engaging and intelligent
Review: David Wiltse knows how to write amd Heartland is a great read. Billy Tree is a washed out Secret Service agent who got shot up doing his job. So he retires to safe, serene Falls City, Nebraska. WRONG! Falls City has more than its share of bad guys, horrid secrets and interesting characters. What I loved about his writing was that his characters drove the action. You understand or suspect their motives. Every so often Billy stumbles across another body and the portrait of small town America shifts again. This is a very well written and well constructed story. Take the time and get acquanted with David Wiltse's other books. I know I will.
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Summary: A Wiltse triumph
Review: Finally, David Wiltse is back after all these--has it been years and years, or does it just seem that way? This book is a bit of a departure from the Becker books with more characterization (not that it was lacking in the others) and fascinating ambience that made it a unique reading experience. The plot concerns a wounded Secret Service agent returning to his hometown and his efforts to deal with a web of murder and conspiracy that awaits him there. As usual with Wiltse, the plot is a lively one, with twists and turns impossible to anticipate. Bravo! Just don't go away for so long again, please, please.
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Summary: Undiscovered treasure
Review: He's done it again. I just love this author, he's so much better than all of the more famous thriller writers. Why isn't he better known? Why doesn't he write more books? Something is askew here if such a treasure lies undiscovered.
This one is about a new character, Billy Tree, not John Becker who featured in many of his earlier, excellent works. Billy Tree is an even more complicated, more interesting, maybe more human creation that Becker, whom I love...Boy, do I like Wiltse. Unlike so many of the famous guys, he can really write. It's like reading a literary novel but with a thriller plot.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Becker
Review: Just when I thought I couldn't get by any longer without another John Becker book by David Wiltse, he turns around 180 degress and gives us Billy Tree, a character even more interesting and exciting than Becker himself. The setting of this novel is the great plains which the author describes with an eloquence that is breath taking. No less effective is his way with people, none of the characters quite what you'd expect, and none of them that you would change one iota. Particularly interesting to me was his portrayal of Joan, the local woman whom Tree becomes involved with. And what an involvement! Does anyone write better sex scenes that Wiltse?...There are a number of other characters, of course, all of them limned with perception, but none more fascinating than Billy Tree, a hero in spite of himself. I shall not miss Becker anymore as long as I am provided with Billy Tree.
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Summary: Heartland, straight to the heart
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: This is my first read by Wiltse and it looks like I am 3 yrs behind the crowd. I use the library exclusively for my reading material. So this one did not come to me with reccommendation by a friend. I grew up on the "prairie" and his descriptions are so on target it is scary. I had an uncle die in a grain storage accident so it happens for sure. By the end and the unveiling of one of the guilty parties, I was left to wonder which of the characters now living or dead were actually guilty of what.
Wiltse is a very decriptive writer and I laughed til I couldn't see with some of the scenes, especially the "stinking condition" Billy would get himself into. Wiltse has my vote however belated.
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: This is my first read by Wiltse and it looks like I am 3 yrs behind the crowd. I use the library exclusively for my reading material. So this one did not come to me with reccommendation by a friend. I grew up on the "prairie" and his descriptions are so on target it is scary. I had an uncle die in a grain storage accident so it happens for sure. By the end and the unveiling of one of the guilty parties, I was left to wonder which of the characters now living or dead were actually guilty of what.
Wiltse is a very decriptive writer and I laughed til I couldn't see with some of the scenes, especially the "stinking condition" Billy would get himself into. Wiltse has my vote however belated.
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