Rating: Summary: Good Read Review: This was my first Earl Emerson book. I come from a fire fighting family and that is what caught my eye. As far as the fire fighting stuff it was very well done. You get caught up in "what will happen next" mode and it is hard to stop reading. They only thing that was a little disappointing was the ending. The last chapter just sort of bluntly ends the story and there was alot more that could have been added. With every other chapter he goes into great detail about all the fire fighting aspects of it but in the end it is just done. Otherwise a great book, I am now ordering more of Earl's books to check them out as well.
Rating: Summary: Good Read Review: This was my first Earl Emerson book. I come from a fire fighting family and that is what caught my eye. As far as the fire fighting stuff it was very well done. You get caught up in "what will happen next" mode and it is hard to stop reading. They only thing that was a little disappointing was the ending. The last chapter just sort of bluntly ends the story and there was alot more that could have been added. With every other chapter he goes into great detail about all the fire fighting aspects of it but in the end it is just done. Otherwise a great book, I am now ordering more of Earl's books to check them out as well.
Rating: Summary: Thriller Review: Vertical Burn is an intricately plotted, fact-driven thriller. Emerson strikes a fine balance between fact and fiction, delivering both in needed and necessary amounts. As a reader of his other mystery series, I missed some of the close character development that the author established over many years and volumes. But as a stand-alone novel, this book has the same quick-witted dialogue and wonderfully drawn characters as his other works. If anything, I felt a deeper sense of right and wrong and tolerance for the human condition in this novel. It's tense, fast-paced, and truly scary. Emerson really writes what he knows.
Rating: Summary: VERTICAL BURN SIZZLES! Review: 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!
Rating: Summary: Page burner Review: 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.
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