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Captain Trey Brown, an African-American Seattle firefighter, is pressed into investigating an act of arson where 14 black people died. Jamie Estevez is a TV journalist who hand-picked Trey to help her look into the crime on behalf of a community organization intent on finding the truth behind the deaths. Trey isn't happy with the task. The way the fire department fought the fire becomes a reason for race rioting in the community. Also bothering him is that by taking on such a high-profile political task he'll have to come into contact with the mayor, a man whose family adopted Trey when he was little and then forced him from the home when a false charge of rape was brought against him 19 years ago. Writer Earl Emerson is a real-life firefighter and the man knows how to write about fires with real passion. I learned a lot about what goes on at a fire and how fighting a blaze can go downhill fast. It was fascinating. FIRETRAP is supposed to be a novel of suspense, but in that the reader is filled in on the truth behind the blaze right away, there's little tension to be found in the main portion of the book about the fire. All of the tension comes from a secondary story that has to do with Trey's bad history and painful present day connection to the family who rejected him because of a lie. The relationship with his adoptive family bring out some tension as certain members try to ruin him personally and also professionally as they plot to bring his findings on the arson into question. Unfortunately for the story, ruining Trey's word would have had little effect on the overall report because tough journalist Jamie Estevez would have supplied the truth no matter what happened to Trey. This lack of thought in the follow-through of the plot weakens the book even further. Cleanly written, with great details about firefighting but with many weaknesses dealing with plot, FIRETRAP is an uneven book that fails to satisfy.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, May 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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