Caitlin Strong wages her own personal war on drugs against the true power behind the illicit opioid trade in Strong from the Heart, the blistering and relentless 11th installment in Jon Land’s award-winning series. The drug crisis hits home for fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong when the son of her outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters nearly dies from an opioid overdose. On top of that, … overdose. On top of that, she’s dealing with the inexplicable tragedy of a small Texas town where all the residents died in a single night.
When Caitlin realizes that these two pursuits are intrinsically connected, she finds herself following a trail that will take her to the truth behind the crisis that claimed 75,000 lives last year. Just in time, since the same force that has taken over the opiate trade has even more deadly intentions in mind, specifically the murder of tens of millions in pursuit of their even more nefarious goals.
The power base she’s up against–comprised of politicians and Big Pharma, along with corrupt doctors and drug distributors–has successfully beaten back all threats in the past. But they’ve never had to deal with the likes of Caitlin Strong before and have no idea what’s in store when the guns of Texas come calling.
At the root of the conspiracy lies a cabal nestled within the highest corridors of power that’s determined to destroy all threats posed to them. Caitlin and Cort Wesley may have finally met their match, finding themselves isolated and ostracized with nowhere to turn, even as they strive to remain strong from the heart.
“Caitlin Strong is my kind of gal!” –Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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I think I may have a problem.
Reading about gun battles, explosions, and illegal drug operations with a grin on my face can’t be normal, but that’s how I read most of Strong From the Heart.
Another stellar installment in the Caitlin Strong Series, this four-hundred-page read ended far too quickly for me.
Caitlin’s Captain calls her human flypaper because wherever she goes the worst of the worst sticks to her and he nails it in that one comment because only in her world can there be a connection between Cort Wesley’s teenage son’s drug overdose, the entire town of Camino Pass killed with no visible means of cause of death, and an illegal drug operation that could lead to some of the highest offices of corporate America and the government.
A side story involving Caitlin’s great-grandfather, William Ray Strong, and his connection with the same town… and involvement with Pancho Villa is so engrossing, I’d read it as a standalone book!
At one point in the story, Caitlin says she’s “getting the band back together,” and the familiar faces are all accounted for. Besides Cort Wesley and his son’s Luke and Dylan, Colonel Guillermo Paz is back peppering every sentence with philosophical quotes while issuing his brand of justice—and oh, my God, teaching a phys ed class for all of two days. I loved it!
D.W. Tepper is still trying to not smoke while smoking… and giving Caitlin “space” more times than not, while Leroy Epps, the ghost of Cort’s friend, shows up to guide him, and drink root beer.
Much to Caitlin’s chagrin, her half-sister—and legendary assassin—Nola Delgado is always closer than she likes, but Nola’s skills will come in handy. She may or may not be a psychopath… okay, she is, but I love Nola’s character.
Caitlin truly is up against the worst of the worst this time as someone with money and power is trying to stop her investigation and they will take as many lives as necessary with no remorse.
Timely themes enhanced the story not only with Luke’s overdose while partying with friends, but Caitlin’s use of prescription pain meds since a job-related injury several months ago. She’ll have a reckoning of her own while trying to deal with a drug operation in the midst of the opioid epidemic.
The Ranger’s reputation proceeds her as everyone expects bullets to fly and people to die when she shows up. In her defense, Caitlin never fires the first shot, but she always fires the last one.
And I love that!
You will too.
Enjoy!
Many of us are aware of the opiod epidemic and Caitlin Strong will be facing it in Strong From The Heart by Jon Land. I wouldn’t want to be the culprits that she is seeking.
The Prologue reeled me in and my mind was whirling with the possibilities.
We start out with a wayward mailman who is on a mission, but it’s not to deliver his mail.
WTH…happened in Camino Pass? Caitlin Strong is on the case and will get to the bottom of it.
She has stepped into a snake pit and I am rooting for her, as she defuses a volatile situation at the Canyon Ridge Elementary School, where ICE attempts to pick up six children. We have the usual posturing between law enforcement divisions for control of the situation. She will not allow that, and her trusty friend Guillermo Paz is by her side. I love Caitlin’s attitude and the humor that Jon Land adds to his thrillers.
“Kids are safe and I didn’t even have to shoot anybody.”
Cort, her outlaw boyfriend is at the hospital after a call telling him his son ODed on opiates. Caitlin would stop at nothing to trace who was providing the drugs to him and the other kids at school. I love that Jon Land tosses in current events.
“Just one Texas Ranger, son?”
“You ever hear the motto, one riot, one Ranger? Because it’s damn near true.”
“You are like human flypaper Ranger, and wherever you go, the worst of the worse just sticks to you.” An apt description of Caitlin Strong, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Jon Land’s writing makes the story flow smoothly, increasing the danger and suspense over the course of the story. We have more than one story line going on and the past creeps into the present. Jon Land always gives us tidbits of Texas Ranger history and I love that.
I worry for some of my favorite characters, because they do not run from trouble and danger, they run towards it.
I had been waiting to read Strong From The Heart by Jon Land for when I really needed a pick me up, a get lost for hours book. I started reading during College Game Day (and anybody that knows me, knows I don’t want to be disturbed during football) and figured I would read during those dull moments, commercials, and half time. I finished it shortly after the Alabama vs Ole Miss game. I got so involved that I couldn’t put it down..
I needed some distraction from current events and I want to thank you, Jon, for helping me to get lost and escape through your words.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Strong From The Heart by Jon Land.
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Strong from the Heart by Jon Land takes on the drug culture. The son of her lover, Cort Wesley Masters, nearly dies of a drug overdose after attending a party. Then there is the investigation of a town of 300+ residents that have all died in one night. How in the world could something like that happen? How did they die?
Caitlin Strong has to figure out what is going on in these two instances. They both appear to be connected somehow. But how? Caitlin is a Texas Ranger but in this case, Homeland Security, and other people involved in the case, her half sister Nola and Captain Guillermo Paz. Cort Wesley even has a ghost who encourages him on.
There is the side story of Caitlin’s Great Great Grandfather, William Ray Strong, one of the first Texas Ranger. This side story also included Pancho Villa. At this point in the story, we learn that it involves Cameron Pass, the same town where all the people died. How are they related?
This is the 11th book in the Caitlin Strong series. You know when you read a series, it can get bogged down and boring? Not this series. I have not read all the books but have read a few. I enjoy the side story as much as the story of Caitlin and how she handles the investigation. This one tackles the horrible illicit drug dealings and the fact that the people involved are really high up in the government.
I loved the love-hate relationship between Caitlin and her half-sister Nola Delgado. Nola is in a relationship with Cort Wesley’s son Dylan and Caitlin hates it. Nola is a psychopath and a killer. Not the kind of person she wants Dylan to associate with. But Caitlin needs her assistance in solving part of the criminal activities that are going on. The mystery of why all those people died in one town, how are the drugs being distributed and by whom, how is the government involved?
I loved the book, the excitement, the page-turner of a book. I love a book that has all the elements that this one does. We do have a drug problem in this country and I think the author did a good job writing about it and I look forward to reading the next one. Fingers crossed that there is one coming.
An entire town is wiped out. Each person died in their home as if they just fell asleep. What could have killed over three hundred people? Caitlin Strong, Texas Ranger, is on the case. When two survivors are found, perhaps an answer can be found as to why they didn’t die. The opioid explosion has hit Texas and becomes personal when Cort Wesley Masters’ younger son almost dies from an overdose. Cort, in his own take charge manner works to uncover who supplied the pills. With the help of the continuing secondary characters, can Caitlin and Cort solve both complex cases that seem to be connected in this thrilling story? Woven through each amazing Caitlin Strong story is the history of her past family members in the Texas Rangers. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)
Wow, what a great novel! It is the first time I’ve read one of the Caitlin Strong novels, and I’m looking forward to reading more! I very much enjoyed learning more about a few of the top Texas Rangers in their extraordinary history. Seeing their reach within the state today and the respect they have garnered from the point of view of the fictional Caitlin Strong and the four generations of Strong rangers
before her has been fascinating.
Caitlin was finishing a situation at an elementary school when she is called away by Homeland Security for a unique case to be investigated by a special task force she is part of. All residents of Camino Pass, a small town near the Mexican border, are dead, without a clue or a trace of whodunit or how. They find only one of less than 300 residents who survived it, a man closeted in the local clinic while he slept off the drinking he did the night before. Whatever went down was during the night, as evidenced by most residents found in their beds. Their only hope of discovering the source is testing the dead as well as the survivor.
Caitlin had vague memories of hearing her great-grandfather having had a case in Camino Pass over 100 years earlier and tries to learn more about it. It seems like everyone except her knows about it, from her captain to a former colleague to the sister she only recently learned she had. Nola is a gunfighter who has taken up protecting Caitlin on tough cases despite her trying to send Nola away. Throughout the novel, Caitlin learns about William Ray Strong’s experience a little at a time. As has occurred in the past, sometimes Caitlin can help solve the current challenges based on lessons her ancestors lived.
While this case is her priority, a young man to whom she has been a mother figure to since his mother was murdered years earlier was taken from his school dorm to the hospital due to an opiate overdose. Luke and his brother Dylan are sons of Cort Wesley Masters, a former bad guy who Caitlin has teamed up with for several years. Cort Wesley wants to find where Luke got the drugs from and their ultimate source. He and Caitlin may not be able to take down every drug source in the country, but they can certainly get one source put away.
This powerful, compelling read captured my attention from the first page. It sweeps from the Texas desert all the way to Washington DC and back as they try to determine the both how to get one drug source off the street as well as discover what – and who – killed off a small town. This novel includes history that was fascinating and pulse-pounding thrills as the battle against good and evil is waged. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys reading about the Texas Rangers, a bit of
Texas and Ranger history, corruption in least-expected places, and characters you won’t soon forget.
From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this novel; a review was not required.