While I told you about this book before back in February, tomorrow is publication day, so I am running my review again. Make sure you read Lesa Holstine's review here.
If you have read Lost
Hills by Lee Goldberg, you know that a part of that book involves a
wildfire on the rampage through the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu. That book,
part of the Eve Ronin series, is from the perspective of law
enforcement. Malibu Burning is that same fire from the
perspective of arson investigator, Walter Sharpe, and his new partner, Andrew
Walker.
Walker is a former United States Marshal
who has taken what he thinks will be a quieter job as an arson investigator
tied into the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Mentally he is having a hard
time with it as he left the service and changed jobs to ally his wife’s fears
as she is pregnant and had a lot of concern over his safety and the way he did
the job. Bad knees and other issues means he can’t be as physical as he would
like and has to slow it down a little bit. He prefers to work alone, as does
his new partner, Walter Sharpe.
The fact that both are loners by nature means
nothing to the powers that be who have chosen to put them together. From the
start, they do not exactly mesh well, but Walker needs Sharpe to teach him what
he does not know about fire investigation. And Walker can teach him a few
things about man hunting as they have arsonists to chase.
One of which is somebody known to Walker.
A former prisoner by the name of Danny Cole. He is a superb con man and a very
good thief. He should have gotten away on the last job, but made a choice to
help someone. That choice cost him his freedom. Now he is out and looking for a
big payday and to settle a score. He is planning to do it with a team pf highly
motivated folks, some of whom he has worked with before, and a wildfire.
Not that Walker and Sharpe knows this
from the start. The reader knows far more than the investigators do as numerous
flashbacks are sprinkled liberally through the read all the way up to present
day. That is intermixed with Sharpe teaching Walker, and by extension the
reader, basics surrounding fire and the dynamics of a wildfire through a couple
of other cases and the early stages of this fire.
The first of what clearly is intended to be a series, Malibu Burning, is an enjoyable read. While it comes across as a vehicle for a tv series more than anything, there is enough complexity and action to hold the reader’s interest. This reader much prefers the Eve Ronin series. However, this was a good book in its own right and I will be looking for the next one.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3ZjzK9j
My reading copy was an ARC by way of NetGalley.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
No comments:
Post a Comment