Customer Reviews

Field of Fire

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

James O. Born's first three books --- WALKING MONEY, SHOCK WAVE and ESCAPE CLAUSE --- featured Bill Tasker, a believable Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent in a series informed by Born's own FDLE experiences and the two-legged fauna that haunt the dark edges of the South Florida underworld. But none of Born's prior works (as uniformly great as they are) will prepare readers for FIELD OF FIRE, wherein Born breaks his own mold and begins again, with spectacular results.

FIELD OF FIRE is a bit disconcerting at first, but in a good, even excellent, way. The source of initial unease is Alex "Rocket" Duarte, a South Florida ATF agent who doesn't drink or smoke and will carry a firearm only with the greatest reluctance. Duarte is inordinately good looking but extremely slow on the uptake with the ladies, independent but living with his parents; he is a bit unsettling at first, but ultimately believable, given that to some degree we all know people like this. Duarte is like a character encountered in some wonderful collaboration between T. Jefferson Parker and Elmore Leonard.

The story is set against the insane backdrop of Broward County, in the streets, alleys and shops that are blocks removed from the sand and sun and frat-boy conviviality that deceptively rules the beachfront property. Duarte, gradually reacclimating himself to South Florida after a military tour of Bosnia, is hunting Alberto Salez, a gunrunner who is inordinately lucky and, unbeknownst to Duarte, as coldly vicious and homicidal as one can imagine. Duarte is also unaware that Mike Garretti, an explosives expert with an odd, unexpected tie to Duarte, is after Salez as well.

When one of Garretti's explosive efforts to eliminate Salez goes horribly wrong, the U.S. Attorney's office gets involved in the persona of Caren Larson, who has been dispatched by her Washington boss to see if there is any connection between the South Florida bombing and similar incidents in Virginia and Seattle. Larson is immediately attracted to Duarte; her gentle persistence, matched against his snail-like uptake, makes for some interesting reading as the two of them gradually uncover a scheme that leads somewhat uncomfortably back to one of them.

While the plot is more than enough to keep the pages turning, it is Born's ability to create off-the-wall yet believable characters that makes the book worth reading. Perhaps the main one of these is Duarte's father, a plumber who dispatches quiet, terse wisdom across the dinner table and who ultimately provides the key that Duarte and Larson need to blow their case open.

It is Duarte, however, who is the star of FIELD OF FIRE, and his instinct on when to follow and when to ignore the rules makes for intriguing reading. Similarly, Garretti, while no angel, is not all bad here either, and the rough and uneasy similarity between Garretti and Duarte creates some interesting, if unusual, chemistry. The result is a novel that, with Born's already impressive backlist, exponentially will increase his presence on the A-list of thriller fans everywhere.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

ATF agent Alex "Rocket" Duarte has returned from Bosnia and is working diligently to get a promotion to a supervisory position. At present he and his partner are searching at the migrant camp in western Palm Beach County for Alberto Salez so they can arrest for him violating firearms statutes. The wily man escapes and later that night Salez's car explodes by someone who used it to tripwire it.

Caren Larson, a lawyer for the Department of Justice is assigned to work with Duarte because there have been two other G-4 bombings, one in Seattle and one in Virginia. Assistant Attorney General Bob Morales believes that the men who were targeted in the bombings were trying to organize labor and someone wanted them to stop. Duarte's instincts tell him there is a cover-up going on and when another person gets murdered in California, by the same hit man involved in the other bombings; he believes Caren is holding back on him, something that could cost all the people working on the case their lives.

FIELD OF FIRE is a fantastic police procedural with a protagonist who once he gets the scent of a crime is like a bloodhound who needs to continue until he gets his prey. Women will adore the hero who is innocent when it comes to females but has superlative investigative skills that allow him to think outside the box. Surprisingly, the hitman has a conscience in spite of how he makes a living as he goes out of his way not to kill Duarte. He needs his own novel.

Harriet Klausner

I first read Born with his WALKING MONEY, enjoying it alot. Born is a real life law enforcement agent in Florida and he writes with the knowledge he has. Good cop stuff with his hero Bill Tasker.
This book we get a new protagonist, ATF agent, Alex "Rocket" Duarte. He is very likeable too, and since I live in Palm Beach County, Florida, the site of most of the book's action, that is fun. This character I liked, but the book itself sometimes was a little slow paced. I call it a beach read. Better than ok, but a little lacking. To be sure I will read James O.Born again. His stuff is good but not Elmore Leonard, yet, yet.

As other reviewers, I've read the previous 3 Born books with Bill Tasker as the main protagonist. They were a wild romp, not quite as inane as Tim Dorsey's Serge or Carl Hiaasen's Skink books, but better plotted than the crapola of Dave Berry's attempt at the genre.

Field of Fire brings us Alex Duarte an ATF agent. It began differently and seemed early to be heading along the lines of Stuart Woods but not as procedural as Mike Connelly or as dialogue nuanced as Elmore Leonard. However, by the time you reach the 1/2way point you begin to realize that Born's effort here was a thinly disguised run at Enron and the Bush Administration as being in cahoots and pure evil, even down to the similarity in the name of the Deputy Attorney General. The "heat" between Duarte and Larsen was very contrived and seemed to me that Born had yet to decide where he wanted the sex end to go. Born takes us all over the country in a blink of the eye as if bureacrats have carte blanche for travel and luxury hotels on whims. The two psychopaths running amok are as inept as they are lethal to all but their true intended victims.

I would pick up another Duarte book to read if stuck in an airport, but it's certainly not a collection I'd want to start.

First Sentence: The looked over the dash of the new Ford Taurus, already littered with PowerBar wrappers, thanks to his partner.

Recently returned from Bosnia, Alex Duarte is an ATF agent in South Florida. Partnered with attorney Caren Larson, they are on the trail of a serial bomber. But they are not the only ones on the hunt.

It's not fair to say I hated this book (according to 1 star)because I just couldn't finish it. If you like noir, this may be for you but it was just not the book for me. I didn't care about the characters, which is always the kiss of death. The violence against innocent people was the clincher. After 79 pages, I decided it was time to move on to another book.

James O Born brings us a new character and a new series -I hope he continues his Tasker books, but it's interesting to see the author branch out with a different Law Enforcement agency (ATF -Alchohol Tobacco and Firearms, this time) and an interesting twist on a sympathetic Hispanic American lead character; his work pressures his folks/culture and sibling issues, his take on the ladies. Florida based crime fiction with a plot that takes us to other parts of the country, too. Bring us more Alex Duarte -and- Bill Tasker books, Jim Born.

This book had a good set of blurbs, from Michael Connelly and John Camp, so I bought it. The premise had some promise, but it doesn't pan out at all, and frankly as I got further into the book, I was waiting for it to end. When it did finish, the ending was pretty much what you would expect, improbable and not very satisfying.

The book starts out with the main character, Alex Duarte, being called in to investigate a series of bombings that appear to have a connection to union organizing. Since Duarte works for ATF, and is an explosives expert, he's called in when the latest bomb explodes in a camp for migrant workers in rural Florida.

The investigation winds along for 340 pages, with various characters wandering in and out of the plot. Alex has assistance from a lawyer from Washington, a partner who's not as motivated as he is, a cousin who runs a pawn shop, his brother who's a sleazy lawyer, and a stupid (literally) FBI agent. The main plot becomes hard to follow, as it becomes obvious that the intended target of the bomb at the camp wasn't killed, and flees, leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, figuratively at least. The author switches point of view repeatedly, following first his hero, then the killer, and then the other killer. When you get to the end of things, the premise isn't exactly believable, to be honest.

There's also the issue of authenticity and believability in terms of characters, action, and setting. Much of the dialog is stilted and over-written, the sort of thing you might read in a book, but no one really talks this way. The main character is very inexperienced with women, and also can't relate to other men either. The main character at various points does things like torture bad guys, set booby traps, and other things that no one in law enforcement would really do. While the setting in Florida seems authentic (I assume: the author lives there) when the characters get on a plane and fly to California, there are some serious whoppers: the subway doesn't go to Beverly Hills, and Universal Studios isn't in Hollywood.

I must say I didn't really enjoy this book much at all. It's just a series of implausible events, hung together by bad plot development, worse dialog, as I said implausible events. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, blurbs notwithstanding.

I don't usually read books in this genre, but decided I just had to after reading a variety of reviews, particularly after noticing a distinct difference between those written by women and by men. I spent all day saturday reading Field of Fire, because I just couldn't put it down. I loved it! James Born created characters who are unique individuals and entirely credible. As I read, I could think of a number of interesting folks I've known who share various attributes with James' people in this book. The characters are developed enough that you feel comfortable with who they are and what drives them - well, at least one character made me feel very uncomfortable, but that was a good thing. Just enough information to know them as much as you want to. The storyline kept me engaged and I loved the way he wrapped it up. I'm looking forward to reading more about Alex Duarte in the future, as well as checking out this author's other books. Add one more avid fan to your tally, Mr. Born!

After throrougly enjoying the first three James O. Born novels (Walking Money, Shock Wave, & Escape Clause), I was looking forward to the fourth, Field of Fire. Born's years of experience with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement made his first character, Florida law enforcer Bill Tasker, a natural. His keen insight of both the FDLE and FBI and extensive knowledge of the Bureau of ATF make his newest character, ATF agent Alex Duarte, both intriguing and believable. His wealth of real life experience comes shining through once again in this riveting and exciting novel. I would highly recommend it to all!

"Not very good, to be charitable" is much too charitable.
"A spectacular page turner" Yes it is. Reading this is the much the same as watching a train wreck.
"fantastic police procedural" I sure hope not, if this is the way the ATF works they haven't gotten near enough bad press.
Life is too short to waste your time on this. Born may have written good books but this ain't one of 'em.