Book Review: Flashover

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Flashover     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Suzanne Chazin
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Firefighting / Firefighters   Thriller
Series: Georgia Skeeham # 2
Putnam, May 2002, 22.95, 352 pp.

Georgia Skeatan was a firefighter before she became a fire marshal. Her supervisor and lover Mac Marenko is having a little commitment problem as well as a major legal fight, but otherwise Georgia’s life is perfect. At least it is until her latest arson case involves two doctors who served on the One – B – Board, a committee of physicians who judge whether a firefighter is eligible for a three-quarters disability pension.

The arson team doesn’t even have a chance to investigate the fires before it’s handed over to a unit of the police force. It seems the two deceased doctors were involved in a dispute with firefighters who were injured in a warehouse fire that involved hazardous chemicals. Nobody involved got a three-quarters pension in that affair. Now somebody who vividly remembers that fire which happened twenty-five years ago is threatening to blow up a big chunk of the city unless he gets $1 million dollars. He wants Georgia to deliver the money while she is worrying that Mac might be tried for the murder of his ex- girlfriend and Georgia’s best friend.

FLASHOVER is a fantastic thriller that showcases the spread of corruption and the pain it causes even over a twenty-five year period. Remnant of Turk 186, it’s evident the author knows the inner workings of the fire department because the minute details come across as believable and realistic. The heroine is a great role mode as a person who crashes the gender ceiling while adhering to her personal values.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner