California Fire and Life [Mass Market Paperback]

Don Winslow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

An insurance claims investigator, Jack Wade speaks the language of fire. He can walk into charred remains and know where the flames ignited and why. Now Jack is investigating a claim he knows isn't just fraudulent, it's murder.

The house was a multi million-dollar beauty looking out over the Pacific. The woman died in her bedroom, her alcohol-soaked blood baked on to a $350,000 canopied bed. It's a case Jack could turn away from but won't--because old scores need to be settled. So Jack takes the plunge into a world of crime, ambition, and evil he never knew existed under the bright California sun. And for Jack, getting out again is going to mean fighting fire with fire. . . .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Before he became a bestselling novelist with The Death and Life of Bobby Z, Don Winslow spent 15 years as an arson investigator. His expert knowledge pays off in California Fire and Life, a giant fireball of a thriller about ace arson investigator Jack Wade. Want to know why thick, oily soot on glass might be a sign of arson? Or why arsonists never burn their dogs? Or what the presence of "alligator char" means? You'll learn about this and much more, as Jack sifts through the ashes of a mansion in Orange County on behalf of the insurance company that he works for. A young wife and mother named Pamela Vale burned to death in the fire. Bentley, the sloppy and possibly corrupt sheriff's department fire investigator, claims that it was a case of drinking too much vodka and dropping a cigarette. Jack has his doubts--especially when he meets the woman's ex-husband, Nicky Vale, a slick Russian entrepreneur (read mafia chief) born Daziatnik Valeshin.

Before signing off on the multimillion-dollar insurance policy on Mrs. Vale's life and house, Jack does some more digging. Meanwhile, his old girlfriend--a policewoman who just happens to be the dead woman's half-sister--finds a link between Nicky Vale's Russian mob and a Vietnamese gang of criminals. Jack's insurance firm begins to act strangely, pressuring him to settle the Vale claim. There may be a little too much technical data in California Fire and Life, but Jack--who lives only to surf and investigate arson--is still a fresh and fascinating creation. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Jack Wade is "basically a Dalmatian": when a fire happens he's there. Jack, who works to live and lives to surf, was a sheriff's department fire investigator until he got caught planting evidence in a warehouse arson to protect a witness, and is now the top claims adjuster for California Fire and Life. That means sifting around in the ashes of other people's livesAor in this case, deaths. When Pamela Vale passes out drunk and accidentally burns down the west wing of her Dana Point mansion, along with half a million dollars of her husband's antique furniture, Jack thinks maybe it wasn't an accident. There's no smoke in her lungs, and the smoke from the fire should have been yellow or orange, not the reported blood red, plus the dog was outside. "People will never burn the pooch," Jack knows, and he begins to search through the remains. Winslow (The Death and Life of Bobby Z), who himself worked more than 15 years with L.A. arson investigators, follows Jack through the burned char of the Vale house, where, in the novel's most compelling scene, he tracks down the history of the fire and reads its secrets. Pitted against him is a formidable adversary: Pamela's estranged husband, Daziatnik Valeshin, now known as Nicky Vale, who has survived a Russian prison camp to make himself over into the model of a perfect Southern California gentleman. Jack's investigation is packed with extrasARussian organized crime, faked freeway accidents, a $50 million insurance scam. But Southern California is captured perfectly in all its hyperbolic splendor, its overdeveloped beachfronts, its sudden, mysterious blazes and freeway chills. If the plot contains a few too many contrivances and coincidences, Winslow's knowledge of his subject and his territory, and the narrative's rapid pace, keep the entertainment value at steady flame. 60,000 first printing; simultaneous Random House audio. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804116113
• ISBN-13: 978-0804116114
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Winslow (b. 1953) is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen crime and mystery novels as well as short stories and film screenplays. A Cool Breeze on the Underground, Winslow's debut and the first novel in his popular Neal Carey series, was nominated for an Edgar Award. Before becoming a fulltime writer, Winslow worked as a private detective in New York and California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Live and Fry in LA, October 30, 2005

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: California Fire and Life (Mass Market Paperback)

Having just finished reading Michael Connolly's groundbreaking "Lincoln Lawyer", I thought I'd pretty much tapped out my stash of superlatives in book reviews. Then I picked up "California Fire and Life" - and let me tell you, if you looked up "blockbuster" in the dictionary, a picture of Don Winslow holding a copy of this book would pretty much sum it up.

Jack Wade is the stereotypical Southern California Zen surfer dude, though while pushing forty, an aging one. But he is no slacker. The ace claims adjuster for the fictional California Fire and Life, Jack possesses an uncompromised work ethic and speaks fluently the language of fire. When a multi-million dollar cliff-top home burns, taking the young mother and wife with it, Wade gets the job of confirming that the fire was in fact accidental before writing the big checks. Jack meets homeowner and less-than-grieving widower Nicky Vale, aka Diaziatnik Valeshin, a Russian immigrant who took full advantage of the American dream, transforming himself from penniless cab driver to multimillionaire real estate developer over a short couple of decades. The sheriff's department has ruled the fire accidental, Cal Fire and Life is ready to pay the claim, but the maverick Wade sees the evidence differently. Convinced that the fire was arson and that Nicky is guilty of murdering his young wife, Wade takes on the system, and is engulfed in a fiery orgy of chainsaw-toting Russian mobsters, corrupt cobs, Vietnamese gangs, outlaw bikers, scams, cons, and deception. While this may sound like central casting for the standard LA crime novel, Winslow uses these usual players effectively as props to back this classic tale of the good Jack vs. the evil Nicky and his creepy "Mother Russia".

Winslow writes in the easy ebb and flow of SoCal vernacular, but where the "likes", "goes", and "dudes" could get old soon, Winslow keeps a watchful eye on the annoyance meter, resulting in a refreshingly hip and irreverent style that is all his own. Fans of Lee Child will see a lot of Lee Child's stoic loner Jack Reacher in this Jack, but unlike the nomadic Reacher, Wade likes Southern California just fine, and is content to remain there as long as the wild coast stays that way - undeveloped. Aside from a clever plot and characters able to stand up to the engaging dialogue, Winslow backs his story with an authoritative and highly educational tutorial on the science of fire and fire forensics, adding depth while building credibility. As with the finest authors, Winslow begins his tale with a number of seemingly disconnected threads, drops obscure hints along the way, and in the end succeeds spectacularly in whacking the reader with a powerful climax as rich in irony as it is in suspense.

In short, this is about as good as crime fiction gets; one of those books that you'll wish just didn't end, for you know it will be a long time till you find an equal. Well done, Mr. Winslow!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, July 28, 2000

By 

Pamela Stone - See all my reviews

This review is from: California Fire and Life (Hardcover)

California Fire and Life Don Winslow Knopf 1999 ISBN 0676549705 H.C. Mystery

I had never heard of Don Winslow before I was sent this book to review, now he is a favorite.

Jack Wade an arson adjuster for California Fire and Life Mutual, understands fires, its the people that he doesn't understand. Wade is a very engaging character, who really knows what he is doing. Jack must investigate a fire that he knows is arson, but others believe is accidental, his own company starts to pressure him to settle the case, but he cant and he breaks his own cardinal rule, "You don't get emotional and what ever you do don't get involved. As Jack gets further and further involved the situation becomes more dangerous. Soon arson is the least of Jacks worry, as the case grows to involve the Russian mob and Vietnamese gangs and much more. This book is a wild ride through the world of fire and insurance. The characters are cool and real life. I especially liked the details of the fire investagationing.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Half fascinating, half ridiculous, November 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: California Fire and Life (Hardcover)

The first half of this book -- the one that stays withinhailing distance of reality -- is engrossing. Details of arsoninvestigation and a sympathetically flawed hero kept me glued to the pages, not wanting the book to end. The portrayal of arson investigator school are especially crisp.

Somewhere in the middle of the book, though, it appears that Winslow freebased his James Ellroy collection. His prose starts hyperventilating, mimicking the Ellroy's staccato authority but throwing believability out the window.

Winslow stokes his novel with complication and conspiracy until the engine explodes, with fatal results. He ends up with a grotesque charicature of Hollywood pulp and Ellroy complexity. Given the cool confidence he displays in the beginning, it's a real shame.

Read the first half over and over again; read the second at your peril.