Book Review: Attack from Within by James Bultema

Reviewed by Peggy Kurkowski

A thrilling sequel where the symbol of American freedom is the target for a ruthless cabal of Iran-backed Hezbollah operatives inside the U.S.. 

Navy pilots Sarah “Danger” Freeman and her boyfriend Jessie Hampton must work together with local law enforcement and the FBI to stop Hezbollah terrorists from blowing up Independence Hall in Attack from Within by James Bultema. 

Following up on the first book of the series, Sea of Red, Sarah and Jessie are on leave from the Navy, spending time with Sarah’s aging father in a suburb of Detroit. On the table for the in-love but often-separated couple is whether they can make their relationship work. 

Meanwhile, in Dearborn, Michigan, FBI Special Agents Harley Jennings and his Lebanese partner, Ali Mohsen, are on a stakeout of a known member of the Warren Bros, a Muslim street gang. As part of their work in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division (CTD) for the International Terrorism Operations Section (ITOS-II), they are on the lookout for any cooperation or collaboration with the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, Hezbollah. 

Harley and Ali are effective partners, and Ali brings his own personal reasons to his work: in 1983, his father was killed by a suicide bomber at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. Using his Lebanese descent as a cover, Ali enters the local Dearborn mosque and gleans additional information essential to their investigation. In his heart, “the desire to confront the terrorist who took his father’s life further motivated him.”

Meanwhile, in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, twenty-two-year-old American Ahmad Nadar is “no ordinary Hezbollah terrorist newbie.” Growing up bullied after the events of 9/11, Nadar chooses to fight back and shun the country that made his childhood hell. Nadar attracts the eye of senior leaders within Hezbollah, as well as their shadow backer, Iran. 

Nadar is soon selected for the elite Quds Force, under the command of the Supreme Leader of Iran. His mission is top-secret and high-level: return to America, assemble a local team of recruits, and plan a devastating attack to shock and awe America: the destruction of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July. 

Bultema moves easily between multiple locations and characters who come together to notice suspicious individuals and actions. While Sarah and Jessie enjoy their visit and decide to take their relationship to the next level, they witness something on a dusk jog that puts the hair up on their necks. 

Fearing terrorist activity at a secluded power station along their route, they contact the FBI. Indeed, events escalate as Nadar successfully infiltrates the Warren Bros and recruits willing Muslims to fight for Hezbollah (and serve as dupes for Iran’s grand plan). 

Bultema cobbles together a likable assortment of goody guys and gals, from former Marine Jennings, Mohsen, Freeman, Hampton, and the humble former Philadelphia police officer-turned-security guard at Independence Hall, Kordell Jackson. Bultema expertly captures the mindset of law enforcement, as Jackson muses on the nature of his work: “In war, they call it post-traumatic stress disorder; in police work, they tell you to cowboy up…”

The action is cinematic in scope and savagely real (and not for the squeamish). Bultema takes the reader everywhere: Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and back to Detroit, Dearborn, and D.C. But the climax is Philadelphia, July 4, and all hands are on deck to stop Nadar before he can achieve his fanatical holy quest to strike at the heart of the country he loathes. Will this group of ordinary Americans who are called to do extraordinary things be able to stop the unthinkable? 

Immediate and timely, Attack from Within is movie ready with a climax readers will not believe. Bultema continues to grow his story-verse with this sequel that anticipates another entry, but certainly not soon enough for us.

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