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The men and women needed to fight a major fire are drawn from a small but committed fraternity-Forest Service rangers, EPA and other environmental agency field personnel, and volunteers with experience on the fireline. These firefighters are tough, usually brave enough to be reckless. The crews form a bond as they work together under combat-like conditions, a bond that may temporarily overcome past resentments and hatreds.
The Jackknife effort consists of dozens of hastily assembled crews operating from a series of spikes extending out as much as 20 miles from the project's command center, Incident Base. The fight on the fireline is turning the tide against the blaze, but the forecast of an imminent cold front followed by snow convinces the incident director to begin demobilizing his transient army. Anna Pigeon, a 40-year-old widow, and John LeFleur, the aging veteran of 37 project fires responsible for the 10-man San Juan crew, welcome the weather and prepare to leave the spike. The crew is just finishing collecting its gear when the cold front unexpectedly produces a wind shear that sends a searing firestorm racing down the crew's escape path. Unable to outrun the inferno, each firefighter seeks his own refuge, burrowing into crevices and cowering under a reflective shelter called a shake 'n' bake.
In the firestorm's smoldering wake, Anna and LeFleur emerge from cover and try to reassemble the crew. One firefighter has been incinerated; seven more fighters have been burned, one seriously; and the last shelter contains a murder victim. Crew member Len Nimms has been knifed in the back.
Anna's effort to identify the killer among the blackened and worn survivors is the most challenging and harrowing of her career. Firestorm is Nevada Barr's fourth Anna Pigeon mystery and by far her most emotionally charged and intricately plotted. Barr brings the forest to life and replaces firefighting's glamour with the grim reality on the line.
John Messer is a freelance reviewer in Ludington, Michigan.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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