Recently I have been reading the Kelly Turnbull political action novels by Kurt Schlichter. You can read my review of the first book here (Review of “People’s Republic”). Written in 2017, the second book in the series is “Indian Country” and is a prequel to “People’s Republic.” “Indian Country” begins in Baghdad in 2022 with an exciting terrorist hunt, and then changes the setting to Indiana, where Southern Indiana was preparing to secede from the People’s Republic (PR). Indiana was part of the People’s Republic after the United States split into the Red USA and the Blue People’s Republic of North America. All of Indiana had gone to the PR with the Treaty of St. Louis.

Captain Turnbull returns with his Wilson Combat 1911A1 .45 in this action thriller where the nation is divided into two after Hillary Clinton’s election as President in 2020. In this alternative USA, the Army base at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is where people earn the right to vote and hold office during U. S. Army Basic Combat Training. Writing in 2017, Schlicter was quite prescient. For example, Indian Country had Kanye running as a third-party presidential candidate in 2020, a vicious People’s Volunteers paramilitary group of thugs that sounded quite a bit like Antifa, and a $19 an hour minimum wage in the PR. Additionally, Schlichter mentioned an absurd concept that now exists—that of an animal psychologist who connects with animal feelings. PR President Elizabeth Warren’s progressive policies turned the People’s Republic into the dystopia that you might expect.

The book follows Turnbull’s insurgency in Jasper, Indiana, with the goal of making the town ungovernable so that the U.S. can negotiate for this Red patch of land in Blue territory. The showdown with People’s Volunteers at end of Chapter 5 was a masterful, suspenseful scene pushing all of the right buttons of drama and persuasion, all while set in the middle of a PSYOP. One of my favorite characters was Pastor Bellman, who prefers Amazing Grace to new songs with bass guitars and drummers. Two other endearing characters were Larry Langer, the local bad boy, and Ted Cannon, a Dubois County Sherriff’s Deputy. The book builds to a final showdown between Turnbull and his former mentor, Colonel Jeff Deloitte.

Schlichter employs an effective literary tactic of changing perspective, where he explores the battle strategies and characters from both perspectives. Given the level of strategic detail that he writes into his battle scenes, this makes the novel incredibly engaging to a detail-oriented reader. As usual, the battle scenes were intense, detailed, and an unpleasant look at the unpleasant business of warfare. My favorite line was Larry Langer’s “Damn, that is messed up.”

With more background and character development than “People’s Republic,” “Indian Country” takes the series to the next level of writing and leaves me looking forward to the next book in the series, which is “Wildfire.” Now that they are in the business of filmmaking, I encourage “The Daily Wire” to make the Kelly Turnbull novels into a series of films!