Customer Reviews

Summer of Fire (Yellowstone series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the summer of 1988 in Houston, firefighter Claire Chance watches her best friend and peer Frank Wallace die in an inferno in which she hopelessly observes his death just before she could grab him. Needing time away, Claire accompanied by her teenage daughter Devon accepts a temporary assignment at Yellowstone National Park battling a wildfire.

During an out of control wildfire, Claire rescues Park Ranger Steve Haywood, who she learns survived a plane crash in which his wife Susan and their child Christa died. He escapes his survivor guilt by overindulging in alcohol. Meanwhile Devon blames the split of her parents on her mother though her father Jay was sleeping with another woman whom he married immediately after their divorce. In a fight with Claire, Devon runs off at night with an inferno heading their way. Distraught Claire obtains some comfort in Steve's arms as they have fallen in love, but first must find a missing seventeen year old before the fire finds her first.

The lead couple is a courageous admirable duo while the support cast especially the rescue workers are also brave individuals. However, the star of the tale is the 1988 fire that engulfed Yellowstone National Park threatening the entire wooded treasure. Linda Jacobs, researching the devastation of seventeen years ago, provides a deep passionate thriller in which the romance and the family drama, though well written and entertaining in their own right, take a back seat to a fiery "villain". Ms. Jacobs pays homage to those intrepid firefighters and other responders who risked their lives to battle a raging conflagration

Harriet Klausner

BOB BARBEE - YELLOWSTONE SUPERINTENDENT 1983-1988 read SUMMER OF FIRE and called it "uncannily accurate." He also wrote,

"Linda Jacobs has produced a gripping novel about one of the most electrifying events in the annals of American wildfires - the great Yellowstone fires of 1988. Through her fictional characters, Jacobs has captured the essence of the emotional coaster, high drama, and the outstanding performance of America's finest wild land fire fighters. She has done her homework well and the setting is completely accurate. This is a compelling work and I had difficulty putting it down."

"Summer of Fire is at once a beautiful and disturbing voyage through the type of hell only firefighters understand. Human, brutal, wrenching. Clare Chance is as genuine a character as they come - brave, vulnerable, well-trained and thrown by her own act of escape into a forested hell. Beautifully crafted and shudderingly real."
John J. Nance-NY Times Bestselling author of seventeen aviation thrillers - His 2003 Fire Flight is about the fires of 2000 in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks.

If you've ever wanted to learn more about the Yellowstone Fires of 1988, the courageous people who fought them and the park and surrounding areas then you MUST read this book. Ms. Jacobs has written an intense and suspenseful tale about wounded souls who find love and personal forgiveness in the midst of the fires.

I lived through the summer of 1988, watching my favorite place on earth burn to the ground, where it was rumored to look like a moonscape for the rest of eternity. The world knows now that's not true. I was excited to know that someone had written a novel set in this time and place. Well, I'm not excited anymore.

It's obvious that the author did a lot of historical and technical research in writing this book. The whole thing reads as a perfect timeline of the "greatest hits" of the summer of '88, where the story and characters just glide from big event to big event. Parts of the book read like they were verbatim quotes from non-fiction books and articles, which took away from the already sparse storytelling. Choppy exposition mixed with weak pacing mar a marginal cast of characters.

The characters spend the entire novel, save for the last two chapters, on a dreadful "poor me" pity parade. All these characters did was feel sorry for themselves and act like brats at every chance they got. Let me tell you, it got old very quickly and led all four of the major players Clare/Deering/Steve/Devon go straight into too-stupid-to-live territory. The fact that any of them make it to the end of this book alive is a miracle of melodrama. That, following their atrocious behavior throughout the entire novel Clare/Deering/Steve/Devon all get a beautiful happy ending wrapped in silk ribbon is rather trite. In fact, this Disney ending left me feeling more disappointed than if there'd been some ambiguity for these unlikable people.

To the publisher: Honestly, a typo in your author's bio? After all the other typos and formatting errors throughout the entire book, you had to mess up her bio? Sad.

It's a pity. I was looking forward to a nail-biting retelling of one of the summers that truly shaped my life.

Worth your time at any price. This is a very well done write, good reference to what realy whent on. Show the hard and true side of things.

I just finished reading Summer of Fire and found it to be so good I hated to put it down. I could almost smell the smoke and feel the heat from the fires in Yellowstone. Very well written, full of suspense with believable characters.

This was a hard book to get through. Although the author was obviously very well versed in facts about Yellowstone and the horrible fires of 1988, the melding of those facts among this work of fiction was not smooth. I found myself skipping over the more technical points to try to get back to what there was of the story.

Probably the most detrimental to the story was the protagonist, Clare Chance. Although understandably shaken by a recent personal and professional loss, her 'all over the place' behavior is unpleasant to read about. A love triangle that is meant to be scintillating, I'm sure, is more obnoxious than anything and I found myself hoping that adrenaline junky, Chris Deering, would go down in a helicopter accident and never be heard from again. The sudden and unbelievable tying up of his part of the story was contrived.

The building of the relationship between Clare and Steve Haywood was nice if somewhat trite given the extreme circumstances of them trying to do their respective jobs in an inferno.
One part of their story that really rankled was the consummation of their relationship while Clare's teenage (and extremely immature) daughter was missing in a fire ravaged area. I don't know of many mothers who would be content to take a roll in the sheets while their child's whereabouts and safety are unknown. Clare lost a ton of respect points in my book over that one.

This book was not terrible, but could have done with less fire facts, more straight forward story telling, and a reworking of the heroine's motives and behaviors.

The famous Yellowstone Park fire in 1988 provides a fascinating background for this well-written book. Single mother, Clare Chance, is one of thousands of fire fighters who joined the battle to save America's most famous park. This was the perfect escape from her job on Houston's FD, following the death of her best friend & fellow fire fighter in a fiery roof collapse that she survived. As the fires rage in the park, Clare is thrown together with a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot with personal problems & a Park Ranger/biologist, who is grieving the loss of his wife & child in a plane crash that only he survived. In the middle of this maelstrom, Clare is juggling her job as a well-trained & experienced fire fighter, the guilt only an absent Mom can feel & a teenage daughter sent to the scene by her ex-husband, who would rather take a trip with his new wife than be a good father. The pressures build as Clare must focus on the fire threatening to overtake them, her developing feelings for 2 men & her daughter Devon, who goes missing at the worst possible time.

Linda Jacobs did a wonderful job researching the data for this historic fire. The issues of park management, fire protocols & natural fire vs planned are all worked into the story. I found myself reading long into the night to follow Clare's progress. This was a wonderful read - an interesting subject, a well-written heroine & a enough tension to make you continue reading to the end. Jacob's writing style is comfortable, without a lot of superfluous dialog. Clare's thoughts were very human, written with compassion & humor, making her a heroine to capture your interest. Added to this, is the historical data about the multiple fires that almost devastated Yellowstone. Makes you aware of the heroic persistence of fire fighters & the debt we all owe their dedication.
A free copy of this book was given to me in exchange for my review.

Not at all what I normally enjoy reading. But enjoy is exactly what happened when I did read Lindas' book. Give it a shot and you may be suprised too.