Rating: 
Summary: Fire Lover
Review: This book had a subject of much interest to true-crime readers and the general public. However, I wish a Truman Capote or Norman Mailer had written it instead. Mr. Wambaugh's lack of literary finesse and lack of respect for the intellect of his "audience" interfered with the seriousness of the subject. Mr. Wambaugh's use of gutter talk throughout the book and sexist allusions may have gone over well with the good old boys of the police and fire departments but did little to enhance the book itself. I don't think I needed to know a hundred ways to call a man's member or have to endure his figures of speech, crude and overblown, in his apparent attempt to titilate his readers. This was serious subject and flippancy was out of place and downright disgusting at times.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange book about a strange character
Review: This is an unusual book. I don't think I've ever read a book about an arsonist before, certainly not a non-fiction book, and the story that it tells is so fantastic that it's one of those stranger-than-fiction tales that defies belief.The book tells the story of John Leonard Orr. Orr was a frustrated individual, from a split household, who tried to become a policeman and failed, and wound up becoming a firefighter, both in the Air Force and then in the city of Glendale here in Southern California. He rose to become Glendale's senior arson investigator, actually teaching classes that other arson investigators, even Federal ones, attended. He was considered one of the leading authorities on arson fires and arsonists in California. Then suspicion fell on him and his activities, and he was arrested and accused of being an arsonist himself. The accusation was followed by a pair of trials. Now I live in Montrose (yards from the border of the city of Glendale) and used to actually live in Glendale, so it was interesting to read about the locale and the people of my new home (I've lived here for five years). Everything's reasonably well-recreated, though I didn't think Glendale was made that unique compared with other Southern California cities. Orr comes across as something of a nerd, a doofus who's always trying to fit in while never quite making it, and always cheating on the current wife with the prospective one, while paying child support to the ex. Wambaugh's writing style is interesting, in that he uses a lot of slang and emphasis to show what he means, and has a very conversational style. It'd be interesting to hear Ken Howard read this book: it reads as if it would sound better than it looks on the page. I will confess that the cast of characters is large enough that I had trouble keeping track of all of the investigators and attorneys involved, and I think it would have helped if the author provided a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book. One note: several of the other reviewers presented the idea that the author thinks cops are somehow better than firefighters. This is erroneous. It's his position, stated and restated through the book, that the crime spree was solved by a firefighter turned arson investigator, and that he was ignored by his cop colleagues until the evidence confirmed his suspicions. He does say, several times, that cops themselves sometimes think themselves firefighters, but he's clear that he thinks this is unfortunate. Strange when people have read the same book as you, and come to a different interpretation of what was written. Altogether a good book, though.
Rating: 
Summary: The Return of Joe Wambaugh
Review: This is one of Wambaugh's best. It is a return to the top quality books like The New Centurions and The Onion Field. The narrative flows and keeps the reader engaged even though the suspect has already been identified. As a 23-year veteran in law enforcement I especially enjoyed his analysis of a major failing in our profession. Law enforcement agencies don't work together which often results in crimes going unsolved. His take on federal law enforcement challenges the myths created by their PR units and Hollywood. Wambaugh's years as a police officer shine through his narrative on the judicial system. It brings to mind the comparison of this system to the making of sausage-you really don't want to see how it is made. This book should be required reading of all public safety administrators who without question, embrace and promote the ambitious shining stars in their departments. Wambaugh shows that they are not always who they seem to be.
Rating:
Summary: Totally biased, arrogant author
Review: This is the first Wambaugh book that I've read. I've heard lots of good things about his books. I work in law enforcement and have enjoyed other true crime books written by former law enforcement personnel, so thought I would Wambaugh as well. I had seen the documentary about John Orr and wanted to know more. However, although the author is an excellent writer, this book was very biased and Wambaugh comes across to me as very arrogant -- a trait that I cannot tolerate under any circumstance. In fact, his bias that police officers are better than firefighters is downright cocky. Although I knew the story of John Orr and felt he was guilty, while reading Fire Lover, I found myself wanting him to get off from page to page because of the cockiness of the writer. I would NOT recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Fear of Fleet Farm
Review: This is the story of the "Pillow Pyro" who tormented California for over a decade. Fires were intentionally set in displays of rapid flash polyfoam in retail establishments, frequently huge home improvement warehouses, during business hours. These fires were often accompanied by "diversionary fires" - set in supermarkets close to the "main event" - to divide responding Fire Departments. And there were plagues of grass fires. Joseph Wambaugh, former LAPD detective sergeant, has written another riveting "true-crime" account. This one "comes out blazing" and the heat never lets up. He tells of the crimes, the criminal, the investigators, and the victims. The exposure of the arrogant antagonism and superiority complexes displayed by "real" cops towards the Arson Investigators from the Fire Department side is dismaying and a real eye-opener. My only quibble is that, as with other Wambaugh works, there are no pictures. It would be informative to see a picture of the Fire Monster. I will never again feel comfortable in any home improvement warehouse. Since reading this book, I make sure I know where all the exits are before entering - and I guess that says a lot about its impact, eh?
Rating:
Summary: Good as Always
Review: Until Fire Lover, it had been too long since Wambaugh presented us with a new book. If you liked his other stories, you will like this one, too. All his characteristic features are here: authentic cop dialogue, witty, irreverent and cynical, and detailed character development, even for the villains. As always, Wambaugh brings out human qualities in his villains, fictional or real, and never dwells on their dark side to the exclusion of developing their humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Good as Always
Review: Until Fire Lover, it had been too long since Wambaugh presented us with a new book. If you liked his other stories, you will like this one, too. All his characteristic features are here: authentic cop dialogue, witty, irreverent and cynical, and detailed character development, even for the villains. As always, Wambaugh brings out human qualities in his villains, fictional or real, and never dwells on their dark side to the exclusion of developing their humanity.
Rating: 
Summary: He just hates him......
Review: Wambaugh is justly considered one of our best fiction writers,
and he is a master at the police procedural. Unhappily, this
entry is merely o.k., and the tenseness and plotting are not up
to his usual quite high standard.
The story is about a fire fighter who turns out to have been
setting fires himself, and it concerns the clues that various
law-enforcement men and a task force slowly uncover before
finally beginning to focus on the Glendale, CA arson investigator.
The most interesting part of the story is Wambaugh's explanation
of the different mind-set of the two types of people involved:
cops and firefighters, and how those differences affect their
view of the crime and possible suspects. Cops and firefighters
view the world quite differently, as does the world view them
in dissimilar lights.
And Wambaugh understands these differences.
In addition, he presents a couple of firefighters who have
uneasy feelings about the crimes and how the cops are responding
to them, and he explores how these two men have to work so
hard to try to convince the cops they might be missing something.
This is an interesting story, but the tension and drama just
are not there. The crimes took place over a period of many
years, and most of them were low-key, and we have to factor in
the fact that the defendant/criminal kept insisting, even after
he plead guilty to some of them, that he was not really guilty.
In addition, the prosecutors never required the guy to explain
his motivations or reasoning, and the system never developed
a coherent theory of why the defendant behaved as he did, even
though he was considered one of the most active serial-arsonists
in American history.
So the lack of great drama and tension in the story may not be
the result of Wambaugh at all; maybe the great, exciting story
we expected was just never there at all.
Rating:
Summary: o.k. entry
Review: Wambaugh is justly considered one of our best fiction writers,
and he is a master at the police procedural. Unhappily, this
entry is merely o.k., and the tenseness and plotting are not up
to his usual quite high standard.
The story is about a fire fighter who turns out to have been
setting fires himself, and it concerns the clues that various
law-enforcement men and a task force slowly uncover before
finally beginning to focus on the Glendale, CA arson investigator.
The most interesting part of the story is Wambaugh's explanation
of the different mind-set of the two types of people involved:
cops and firefighters, and how those differences affect their
view of the crime and possible suspects. Cops and firefighters
view the world quite differently, as does the world view them
in dissimilar lights.
And Wambaugh understands these differences.
In addition, he presents a couple of firefighters who have
uneasy feelings about the crimes and how the cops are responding
to them, and he explores how these two men have to work so
hard to try to convince the cops they might be missing something.
This is an interesting story, but the tension and drama just
are not there. The crimes took place over a period of many
years, and most of them were low-key, and we have to factor in
the fact that the defendant/criminal kept insisting, even after
he plead guilty to some of them, that he was not really guilty.
In addition, the prosecutors never required the guy to explain
his motivations or reasoning, and the system never developed
a coherent theory of why the defendant behaved as he did, even
though he was considered one of the most active serial-arsonists
in American history.
So the lack of great drama and tension in the story may not be
the result of Wambaugh at all; maybe the great, exciting story
we expected was just never there at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange
Review: Wambaugh returns with a fascinating bad guy, a fire captain arsonist, but the story bogs down in trial transcripts and we are left luke warm. Worth the read, but not up to the earlier works by the author.
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