Rating: 
Summary: great pleasure to read
Review: Once again a great story from the Neal Carey adventures-author.
Not as funny ,but surely more thrilling and mature.
Hope to get the audio soon,so I can- again-enjoy this fine mystery novel.And easy reading for those not born and raised in English.
Rating:
Summary: Involving and clever
Review: One of the better mysteries I've read in a while - sicko villains, very involving fascinating details about arson investigations, fast pace.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Part murder mystery and part text book on arson, this compelling book pulls you in and holds you. Some people may find the exhaustive research a little bit much to get through, but for true mystery fans, this book should not be missed. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Hot stuff
Review: Part murder mystery and part text book on arson, this compelling book pulls you in and holds you. Some people may find the exhaustive research a little bit much to get through, but for true mystery fans, this book should not be missed. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT AT THE SAME TIME!
Review: Simply put, this book is a wild ride through the world of fire and insurance from someone who knows what he's talking about. You wouldn't think that necessarily sounds exciting, but the characters are cool, real-life (if slightly over dramatized) people and you won't be able to put the book down. As for believability: WHO CARES! The book works! Indiana Jones got a little out of hand when Harrison Ford swam to the Nazi submarine - IT WAS STILL A GREAT MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: One hot read
Review: Take the Southern California angst of Micheal Connelly's Harry Bosch. Add the techno-element of a Tom Clancy. Toss in a dash of the international intrigue of a Robert Ludlum. Set it on fire-- and you have California Fire and Life.What a treat to find this book. So many of the "new" Southern California school of mystery writers seem to be the same. Sure there are elements here - Jack surfs and his girlfriend is a Latina. But this is a book with a solid driving plot and an interesting angle -- arson. I must admit I started out planning on only four stars for this book because of the sometimes overwhelming detail about the chemistry and physics of fire. Still the section on fire as a "seduction" is a gem. However, my husband convinced me that this detail (which he heard on tape and couldn't skim over) was one of the best parts of the book. Must be a guy thing. So, for those who love the best of the classic elements in mystery/thriller reading but are looking for a refreshing change -- my solid thumb up.
Rating: 
Summary: some of the most hideous writing ever printed.
Review: The bio infers that the author is not an experienced writer, but a man who knows his subject; and it was consoling to think that a major house would not publish a novel by someone utterly lacking in writing talent unless he could really craft a great story, but the language is so hideous that it detracts significantly from any merit this story might have. It's painful to read.
Rating:
Summary: The first half is good...
Review: The first half of the book was great. The main character is engaging and the details of fire investigation are really fascinating. Somewhere around the start of the second half, though, the story becomes one ad hoc scene after another... the author seems to plot each chapter as a dramatic movie scene, then forces his characters to act out the scene whether or not it fits their previous style or characteristics (or the previous plot). By the end, I was quite upset I'd ever started reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Half fascinating, half ridiculous
Review: The first half of this book -- the one that stays withinhailing distance of reality -- is engrossing. Details of arsoninvestigation and a sympathetically flawed hero kept me glued to the pages, not wanting the book to end. The portrayal of arson investigator school are especially crisp. Somewhere in the middle of the book, though, it appears that Winslow freebased his James Ellroy collection. His prose starts hyperventilating, mimicking the Ellroy's staccato authority but throwing believability out the window. Winslow stokes his novel with complication and conspiracy until the engine explodes, with fatal results. He ends up with a grotesque charicature of Hollywood pulp and Ellroy complexity. Given the cool confidence he displays in the beginning, it's a real shame. Read the first half over and over again; read the second at your peril.
Rating:
Summary: Red Hot
Review: The first smashing three pages of "California Fire and Life" set the tone of the book and launch action that never flags. Jack Ward is a claims investigator for the firm of the title, and is called to examine the case of a very pricey fire in which a woman died. Nothing rings true to him about this claim, which his old adversary "Accidently Bentley" has ruled to be-that's right - accidental. The whole setup is fishy, and the fire scenario frankly phony, but why is Jack headed off at every turn, even by his own company? Maybe he's wrong. Maybe the Russian mafia un-broken-up husband is telling the truth. Maybe all those witnesses who have now disappeared really are on vacation. By the time author Don Winslow is finished, not only are the Russians involved, so are the Vietnamese, land developers, bikers, surfers, a parrot, and an elderly lady with a missing set of spoons. Everything pays off in this book and pays off in just about the least expected way. Winslow, creates characters we enjoy and care about, and struts an unusual and quirky literary voice You'll learn a lot abut fire in this book, the kind of stuff only a former fire investigator like Winslow could flash convincingly. A smart read so cool it's hot.
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