5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Red Flag Warning, April 19, 2010
This review is from: Red Flag Warning (Paperback)
Kurt Kamm goes beyond the standard suspense format in this novel. He has created a story with remarkably human characters who are as unpredictable as the wildfires he writes about. The setting is Southern California. The Santa Ana winds (known as the "Devil" winds) are picking up. A series of small fires puzzle the Los Angeles County Fire Arson Unit. Someone is playing games.
In the first chapter, we meet NiteHeat. Actually, we become NiteHeat, because Kamm has created a presence, ghostlike and ethereal. NiteHeat's presence is one of thought, of attitude. As NiteHeat, we sit in the "lucky thirteenth pew" of an empty sanctuary. We savor the "blood red and deep orange stained-glass windows." We recall a "perfect Christmas day" in 1992, a sermon about the "burning bush and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone." In a mere two pages, we experience NiteHeat's anticipation as fire season draws near.
Next, there is arson investigator Captain Jim Kendall, brought back on duty after a personal tragedy to investigate a series of fires "using flares" which means "beyond coincidence." He discovers a renewed sense of purpose as the investigation progresses and the threat of a much bigger fire materializes. He begins to have suspicions that may be too personal to explore. Kendall questions himself. Is he imagining things? Should he trust his instincts about the arsonist's identity?
Then, there are the motley crew of characters who become intertwined in the investigation. They are outsiders, on the margins of respectability, but all have one thing in common, the sense that they are all reaching for something, waiting for something, and that the "something" has to do with fire. We get to know these characters. We even learn to like them. We may even suspect them.
There is Mikey Yoder, whose license plate reads, "My other car is a fire truck." Mikey once dreamed of becoming a firefighter, but never got his high school diploma. So, now, he imagines starting a "badass" fire, one with "walls of flame 50 feet high and fanned by the Santa Ana winds."
Raphael "Ruffy" Lozano works 12-hour night shifts at the 911 Dispatch Center of the Los Angeles County Department Command and Control Building. Overweight and out-of-shape, he has managed to get himself into a training program for firefighters, hoping it might improve his social life.
Father Dom, the muscular priest with tats, performs mysterious rituals in the fire-prone Santa Ana Mountains and toys with the idea of becoming a firefighter himself. He offers his services to the arson investigators.
Kurt Kamm's subject is wildfire and he writes about it with a great deal of authority, respect, and humility. In the process, he manages to inject his characters with humanity and an undercurrent of humor. He's funny. His attention to detail is meticulous. And,through it all, his admiration for the individuals who work in the firefighting professions prevails, whether it's in the coming-of-age story of his first novel, about a young man who needs to prove himself as a firefighter, or, in this story, about a serial arsonist and the characters who become entwined in an arson investigation. Without being aware of it, one gets an education from reading these books, as well as an increased sense of awareness and appreciation for the demands placed on the people who choose to go into the firefighting professions. Add a heavy dose of entertainment and an unpredictable ending an you've got this book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Promises Kept, April 14, 2010
This review is from: Red Flag Warning (Paperback)
When Kurt Kamm published his first book 'ONE FOOT IN THE BLACK' this reader made the following comment: 'Kamm has the gift to tell a story well: his grace in writing will doubtless move into a more sophisticated realm as he moves to his next book. The flaws here are those of pacing and disruption of story flow, a factor the author elects to overcome by naming each chapter with the names of towns that reference his character's development - not a bad technique but one that prevents steady growth of character development in favor of episodic asides that slow the momentum of the story.' In RED FLAG WARNING Kamm has not only repaired those minor flaws, but has also added another dimension to his ability as a novelist.
As with his previous book Kamm utilizes his first hand knowledge about firefighting, continues to describe the treacherous wildfires that plague California each summer, but in this finely tuned novel he adds the ability to include suspense to his writing. No longer is this novel just one about mountain fires that are so vividly described that one can feel the heat on the page, but this story includes the presence of an arsonist NiteHeat which adds immeasurably to the page-turning aspect of Kamm's writing. The manner in which he explores the psyche of an arsonist, not by scrutinizing in a psychological dissection but instead by examining the progressive destruction and fear this arsonist leaves in his path is the stuff of which fine detective stories are made. Kamm now seems as though he can enter other arenas than the fire fighting one he knows so well because his technique in writing as grown considerably. This is a book that will fascinate Californians who watch and hear those flames rise each summer fanned by Santana conditions, but it will also be a book that is so readable that the audience should steadily grow across the country. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, April 10
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