Burn Zone [Kindle Edition]

James O. Born (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

ATF agent Alex Duarte, who debuted in Born's Field of Fire (2007), remains a man of action but, alas, little else, in his second outing, an otherwise snappy, well-plotted crime drama set in Panama and New Orleans. Duarte and several other federal agents are trying to track down a drug lord known only as Mr. Ortíz, a shadowy Panamanian suspected of shipping tons of marijuana to the U.S. In reality, Ortíz is exporting something far more dangerous: a nuclear bomb. Born, himself a state police officer in Florida, offers the kind of real-life detail one would expect from a law enforcement professional. His previous series, which featured Florida cop Bill Tasker (Walking Money, etc.), stood out from the pack largely because of the layered persona of his protagonist. In contrast, Duarte has the requisite toughness, but aside from being a man of few words—particularly around the ladies—his character has few distinguishing features. Hopefully, Born will make his hero more a leading man than a background player in subsequent adventures. (Feb.)
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Product Description

It was supposed to be a low-level bust for ATF agent Alex Duarte, with the hope that he could work it up the ladder to someone important. He just didn't know how important. In New Orleans to check out a mysterious Panamanian named Ortiz who likes to trade guns illegally and import marijuana by the truckload, Duarte suddenly finds himself in the middle of something bigger than he has ever known. Because guns and drugs are bad enough-but there are other things that are much, much worse.

A shadowy colonel who is not what he seems . . . a white supremacist intent on becoming "the man who changed America". . . an attractive FBI agent with a lot of pull and a lot of secrets . . . Alex Duarte knows he's in deep with these characters. He just hopes he's not over his head.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 283 KB
• Print Length: 332 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 039915454X
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (February 14, 2008)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0012DHDTA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,046 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I was always interested in writing and even took a shot as an undergrad at Florida State but aside from one article on street construction in Tallahassee I was unsuccessful.

I moved on to police work. When I was new to police work, as an agent with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, I had an unrealistic view of what my job would be like. On television, DEA agents are in shoot-outs and get the chicks but in real life they follow suspected drug violators around until they can make a case. If you're a new guy, no one in the DEA much cares about family life or other interests, you just drive. I read a lot of Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin because I liked the idea of learning something about the military. I would read the occasional police book but felt the books didn't reflect my experience as a cop. I was not a CIA trained assassin. I could not rip a shotgun out of someone's hands without suffering a catastrophic injury. I didn't crawl out of crushed police cars and shake off the injury. Neither did any cop I knew. So I wrote a book based on real police work with a ficitonal plot.

The most exciting part of being an author is that my editor, Neil Nyren, is also the editor of my two favorite military writers, Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin.

The third book in the series, Escape Clause, was released in February, 2006. The story follows the main character to a prison to investigate an in custody death that isn't what it appears. By chance, I was assigned to investigate a death at South Bay correctional, the area I had used as a model for the town and prison in my book. Talk about life imitating art. Then, once at the prison, a Department of Corrections Inspector asked me if I was the guy who wrote the books. I gave him a post card for Escape Clause and watched his face as he realized I had written about the Department of Corrections.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Below standard, April 24, 2008

By 

T. E. Vaughn (Chattanooga, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burn Zone (Hardcover)

Having read all of James Born's published works, I was pleased to see that he had a new offering. The fact that it reprised Alex Duarte made it seem even better. However, it was a disappointment on a number of levels. The plot wandered, the "romance" between Duarte and his forensics friend was labored, and all in all I kept feeling as if I'd read it all before somewhere... and better written. The main complaint though is the extremely annoying editing, particularly as regards firearms. Glocks become SIGs ( often on the same page), SIGs become Berettas, and while it might be acceptable once or twice, it happened throughout the book. Doesn't anyone read for content anymore?! The book could've stood some editing and while some may whine that I'm being too picky about the guns, I'm sure that Born, and indeed anyone with a law enforcement or military background, know that such details are important.

Write again, Mr. Born. But take better care.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This One Didn't Light My Fire, April 15, 2008

By 

Gloria Feit (Long Beach, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burn Zone (Hardcover)

This novel is the second in the series featuring Alex Duarte, ATF agent living and working in Florida. Alex, whose family is from Paraguay, is now nearly thirty years old, and seems to have commitment issues. His nickname is Rocket, because of his focus and drive; he believes "once you hit your stride, you never let up." He is called in by his friend, DEA agent Felix Baez, working out of the agency's headquarters in West Palm Beach, to assist in the attempt to shut down a smuggling operation run by a mysterious Panamanian named Ortiz--guns and drugs seem to be involved, thereby bringing it under Duarte's jurisdiction as well. With the informal help of his girlfriend, a crime scene tech [or `forensic scientist' as he prefers to think of her], Alex joins the hunt for this infamous and slippery criminal.

The ensuing investigation pits them up not only smugglers, but a white supremacist group intent on "changing America." The man called Ortiz is seen to be a sadistic brute, but sadism is the least of his failings. A helluva combination, as it turns out.

This is a thriller which doubtless will be enjoyed by many. This reader was disappointed, however: Having enjoyed Field of Fire, I expected more from its successor novel in the series. The identity of the alter egos of the two `bad buys' was apparent to me early on, which might have been intentional on the part of the author, perhaps to heighten the suspense--if that was the purpose, it didn't work, at least not for me. The book began with a great opening line, addressed to Alex by his ATF partner: "You ever think we should write some of this b***s*** down and put it in a book?" With the author's background, it just may have originated that way, and while I am sure the scenarios laid out are possible, this thriller just didn't hold up for me. I found the characters almost caricatures and the whole not nearly as well written as the prior entry in the series. That said, I would probably read the next chapter in Alex Duarte's life, in the hope that it will come up to the level seen in Field of Fire.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Fire Fizzled, April 18, 2008

By 

Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Burn Zone (Hardcover)

This novel started out well enough, but then seemed to fade. It did not really hold my attention well, and I found myself skimming some parts. It is OK, but not great, and I did not like it as well as an earlier novel by the same author.

I think that the main problem is that the novel has too many characters with too many agendas. Also, the hero came across at some points as an indestructible Fearless Fosdick, and the villains seem to take dumb pills. I would like to think that our Homeland Security can do a bit better than the characters in the novel, but maybe I expect to much from the government. Radiation detectors locked away because people are afraid they might lose them? Hmmm, maybe security procedures need to be reevaluated.