Book Review: Vertical Burn

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Vertical Burn     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Earl Emerson
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Firefighting / Firefighters   Thriller   Conspiracy
Ballantine Books

Earl Emerson, experience Seattle firefighter from a firefighting family, has a firefigher's nightmare happen to him. In a warehouse fire, a wall collapses and his long-time partner, aging firefighter Bill Cordifis is trapped in the rubble. Because Earl himself was injured, he can't get Bill out. So he leaves his radio and goes for help. Everything goes wrong, and Cordifis dies. But NOT the way Earl remembers it happening. The two firefighters who went in to get Cordifis out tell the media that Earl was too incoherent to make sense and that without directions they were unable to find Cordifis. Cordifis himself leaves a haunting message on the radio dispatcher's tape.

Six months later, other firefighters still seem to be blaming him for Cordifis' death, as does Earl. Was he *really* that incoherent because of the smoke inhalation? He does not think so. But the nightmare is still with him. Then, after scoring the highest test on the exam, he is passed over for promotion; a long-time enemy of his father's using the warehouse fire as an excuse. When another fire breaks out when the department is short of help again, Earl starts doing some research. What he finds, no one will believe, but Earl is convinced there is a much more dangerous game in play.

Once again, author Earl Emerson takes you into the scorching, flammable world of firefighting. Even *more* dangerous than the fires, he takes you behind the scenes to the incompetence, corruption, and mismanagement capable in a government bureaucracy and into the lives of the firefighters themselves. The *slightly* over the top climax is made for the big screen but provides an inside look at fighting fires in modern-day skyscrapers.

Webspinner - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Webspinner - RAM