Customer Reviews

Vertical Burn

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Vertical Burn, the latest from Earl Emerson was well worth the wait. Although initially disappointed to hear it was not a Mac Fontana or a Thomas Black book, that disappointment faded before I finished the first page. His knowledge of fire fighting and his own experiences over the years all lend credibility to this intense and suspensful story. John Finney is a character you can not only like, but respect. Mr. Emerson shows a whole new dimension to his talent in this book. Earl Emerson books have always been at the top of my list, and VERTICAL BURN tops them all. Now the whining starts again as the wait for his next book begins!

When Carol Burnett was just starting out, she appeared on Talk of the Town (later called The Ed Sullivan show) and sang a song titled, "I Saw Every Movie That Ann Sheridan Ever Made." Well, I've read every book Earl Emerson has ever written. And Vertical Burn is well worth the long wait.

This stand-alone novel is one of those books that will keep you reading well into the early hours of the morning, turning the pages and absorbing the details of the action as quickly as possible. It's literally a can't-put-down book.

Given his background as a firefighter, Emerson brings a vast wealth of knowledge to this tale of the youngest firefighter in the family who slowly realizes he is being framed to take the fall for starting several horrific fires, two of them resulting in the deaths of his partners at the time.

This is a meticulously well-plotted book (which explains why it was three years in the writing) with no strings left dangling; some mad and wicked and greedy villains and a climactic high-rise fire scene that will leave you breathless.

As always, Emerson writes with a certain lyricism and with no excess fat; his characters are fully developed with very real, very human strengths and weaknesses. The narrative pacing is in top gear all the way through. It is an enormously entertaining book, even if the conspiracy at its core is a tad hard to believe.
Highly recommended.

If there can be a literary equivalent to cinema verite, no one is better qualified than Earl Emerson to immerse his readers in the life and death realities of the world of professional firefighting. In VERTICAL BURN, Emerson, a twenty-four year veteran of the Seattle Fire Department, gives us a graphic and gritty, warts-and-all, microcosmic vision of that world...its daily routines, terrible stresses, moments of glory and terror...as seen through the eyes of his hero, John Finney, who has dedicated his own life and honor to his profession only to find himself at the mercy of a political/criminal cabal that threatens the one and would tarnish the other. Branded a coward and denied promotion after the (to him) inexplicable death of his long-time friend and partner in a questionable fire and sensing a cover-up, Finney starts his own investigation into its circumstances and uncovers evidence of a horrifying pattern of arson for profit being executed with diabolic ingenuity, apparently aided and abetted from within the department itself. Talk about smoke and mirrors! No one except his fellow firefighter Diana Moore is willing to take him seriously when he predicts that there will be more fires, and when his worst fears are realized, he is again demonized by the political powers-that-be as a glory-seeker and an arsonist. Helpless to prevent the initiation of the arsonists' final scenario, his focus narrows to putting his own life on the line to save those of hundreds as the novel culminates in a stunning confrontation between deadly treachery and death-defying heroism high in the skies above Seattle.

VERTICAL BURN is the ultimate in you-are-there suspense fiction. Although its premise seems almost unbelievably horrific in the abstract, Mr. Emerson's skillful craftsmanship...his superb pacing and vivid characterizations...quickly caught me up in the story that he had to tell and made me completely willing to suspend my own disbelief that such things actually could be and simply accept as real his world wherein they well might and apparently do happen. Especially set in juxtaposition to the events of 9/11, I found living in that world an immensely moving and enormously satisfying reading experience.

Other reviews will give you the plot. I will add that Emerson creates vivid, breathing, flawed human beings whose thoughts and feelings and actions interest me, and none more so than firefighter John Finney. This book is begging to be made into a movie!

As for another reviewer's remark that Emerson wrote this book to cash in on 9/11, that's an unjustified accusation of his character. This book was probably already in the publisher's hands by 9/11, or near enough to, in order to be galleyed and proofed, and a book tour planned, for an April/May release.

I'm glad to see Emerson's publisher is finally throwing some weight into supporting one of his books. With a little PR this guy could be on the bestseller lists in another book or two. And IMHO, it's long overdue.

Vertical Burn is a fast moving suspense story set in Seattle. The characters are believable and the plot well thought out. Woven through this story are details of firefighting equipment and strategy. As a result, this reader now listens to reports of fires with new knowledge and interest. I enjoyed this book and would be surprised to hear that anybody could put it down once the plot is established. It is a page-turner that ranks with the best!

Being a diehard Earl Emerson fan, I looked forward to this book with both avid anticipation and some measure of doubt. Anticipation, because Emerson is a born storyteller/writer and student of human nature--his series characters (Thomas Black and Mac Fontana) are completely believable and engaging, unlike so many mystery book characters who are promoters of the plot, not 'living' people involved in it. Doubt, because VERTICAL BURN is a stand alone book, and I feared that characterization might suffer in favor of action/thriller themes. No need to worry on that score--the lead characters in VB are drawn with Emerson's fine artist's hand, and you come to care about their lives and situational hazards almost immediately. That Emerson is a 24-year veteran of firefighting lends veracity to the plot and action--this writer KNOWS his stuff, and carries you with him into the most terrifying and tension-filled treatment of firefighting I've **ever** read. That the end highrise fire immediately brings to mind the tragedy of 9/11 is both disconcerting and fascinating; I feel now that I understand so much more about what happened in the WTC towers on that awful day. But VB is NOT based on 9/11 (was written long before)and reveals WHY every fireman's worst nightmare is battling a highrise fire. I promise--VERTICAL BURN will have you trembling with tension, and if you can sleep peacefully after completing it, you will have managed the aftereffects better than I. This is a terrific book. You'll be scrambling to find other Emerson books and, like me, you'll be eagerly awaiting his next!

John Finney is a Seattle firefighter, son of former chief and brother of a captain. Six months before story opens, a long-time friend and partner is killed in a fire and John barely escapes with his life. The rumor is that John panicked and left his partner to die. John is sure he gave directions to the location of partner who is pinned under a beam, but his chief says he was babbling. This is a thriller from page one and doesn't let up.
I started right after meeting Earl Emerson at a local bookstore and read nearly straight through the next 2 days.

Earl Emerson is back and, though too long a wait, Vertical Burn was well worth the wait. This is not one of his series novels (Thomas Black, Mac Fontana), but a stand alone book that you wish was first in a series. Not only are the characters ones you'd like to hang out with again someday, but the plot and suspense are great. Fasinating insight into the world of firefighting, but it's the story that counts. And it's a great one. I hope Earl Emerson doesn't stay away so long next time.

This is the first novel that I have read by this author, and I have to say that it is pretty darn good!! The suspense in this book is plenty, and it really keeps you guessing what is going to happen next with the characters. I have found that I have become somewhat concerned for the characters in this book, this is how real the author makes it sound. Excellent book to read on those cold nights with the fire roaring.

In a departure from his two ongoing series (Thomas Black - Seattle detective and Mac Fontana - rural Washington fire-chief), Earl Emerson has come up with a top-notch mystery thriller. (Though some aspects of the fires and characters did borrow from similar ideas originally in the Fontana books.)

Again the scene of the action is set in Seattle. A fire breaks out in a warehouse and musicians are supposedly trapped inside. For some reason most of the fire companies are answering false alarms and nuisance calls, so the fire fighters are seriously short-handed. The fire gets out of hand while Jack Finney and his partner are still searching for the victims. A wall falls on the partner and the lack of air and the heat force Finney from the building. Outside of the room where the partner is trapped, Finney runs into the chief and another firefighter. He tells them where his partner is before he is forced from the building. But the partner is never discovered until after the building has burnt to the ground.

Six months later, Finney is still haunted by the fire especially since everyone blames him for leaving his partner to die. He has scoured the ruins of the warehouse repeatedly and studied all aspects of the official details on the fire. His suspicions grow that the fire was not an accident ... and fears that something worse is yet to come.

Don't read this book before bed, because you'll never get to sleep! I couldn't put it down. Emerson's detailing of the fires and the heroes who risk their lives fighting them is superb. He knows the territory first hand and his writing puts you on the fire trucks and in the heart of the inferno! I liked his series books, but VERTICAL BURN is in a class by itself. It earned my *****+ rating, and I recommend it to all of you.