Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: An ordinary freeway accident between two trucks during a Pacific Northwest winter. Six months later people begin dying. Attributed to the accidents but from the onset of the first symptom to the last they are all dead within a week. What do they have in common? A white waxy substance on the backs of their hands. Is in their minds or is it a syndrome on the loose from that one accidend? Are companies covering up their involvment to protect their assets? Jim Swope and Dr. Stephanie Riggs begin to turn over the stones in this suspense novel to find the answers before Jim becomes just another statistic.
Rating: 
Summary: A pleasant surprise...
Review: Being cooped in up the house in this storm, I've had plenty of time to read in the evenings. A novel I just finished was Into The Inferno by Earl Emerson. Looking at the cover, it would appear to be a firefighting story of some sort, but in actuality it's a medical thriller that has a firefighter as the main character. One day they are called to an accident scene involving a number of cars and some overturned cargo from a semi. Nothing appears to be suspect in the load, and everything is cleaned up with no problems. But five months later, the members of the fire station involved in the response start dying off and/or going brain-dead over a week when they start to show symptoms of an unknown disease. The main character recognizes that the source must be from the cargo spillage, and he races to find out the killer substance that is going to render him brain-dead in seven days unless he can solve the mystery. When he finds out the true source, the question becomes whether the condition or a gun will kill him first. A good read for something that I picked up at the library just scanning through the shelves. Pleasantly surprised and pleased, even though it wasn't the type of book I thought it would be...
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise...
Review: Being cooped in up the house in this storm, I've had plenty of time to read in the evenings. A novel I just finished was Into The Inferno by Earl Emerson. Looking at the cover, it would appear to be a firefighting story of some sort, but in actuality it's a medical thriller that has a firefighter as the main character. One day they are called to an accident scene involving a number of cars and some overturned cargo from a semi. Nothing appears to be suspect in the load, and everything is cleaned up with no problems. But five months later, the members of the fire station involved in the response start dying off and/or going brain-dead over a week when they start to show symptoms of an unknown disease. The main character recognizes that the source must be from the cargo spillage, and he races to find out the killer substance that is going to render him brain-dead in seven days unless he can solve the mystery. When he finds out the true source, the question becomes whether the condition or a gun will kill him first. A good read for something that I picked up at the library just scanning through the shelves. Pleasantly surprised and pleased, even though it wasn't the type of book I thought it would be...
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling
Review: Earl Emerson's experience as a firefighter is evident in this fast-paced, page-turning thriller. The plot is slightly implausible, but overall the plot is so suspensful that any implausibility can be forgiven. Emerson is a first-rate writer.
Rating:
Summary: Emerson strikes again!
Review: I am always impressed by Emerson's talent, and I wonder after each new book when he finds the time to write--given his full-time job as a firefighter. But it's his first-hand experience as a firefighter that informs the best of his work and Into the Inferno is no exception. With fully drawn, exceptionally well-conceived characters, Emerson takes us along on a death trip with deeply conflicted womanizer Jim Swope. While Swope's view of himself is not a pleasant one, the reader cannot help but like this fellow because he's just so utterly likeable--particularly in his interaction with his two daughters. Given that I picked out the villain of the piece right away, it's a testament to Emerson's narrative gift that I stuck with the story, waiting for Swope's "aha!" moment. And it's delivered very well. There's so much action that there's scarcely breathing room--either for the characters or for the reader. There are also some very profound observations on life and what is, and isn't, valuable. Yet these observations are delivered within the context of the character and ring very true. For sheer entertainment value, Emerson's hard to beat.
Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Very predictable
Review: I expected a sit on the edge of your seat book like "vertical burn". It started out with a who-done-it theme and I got dissapointed. As I read, it came around. A good read!
Rating:
Summary: A mysterious syndrome endangers a group of firefighters.
Review: Jim Swope is a nervous firefighter in the Earl Emerson's new novel "Into the Inferno." Swope works in Washington State's North Bend Fire and Rescue Company, and this group of paid and volunteer firefighters have run into some serious trouble. One by one, the North Bend firefighters have either become seriously ill or died in violent accidents. Are these events coincidental or is there something more insidious going on? Swope is terrified when he begins to experience the same symptoms as his fallen colleagues. With the help of Stephanie Riggs, the sister of one of the victims, Swope starts investigating the "North Bend Syndrome" and what he and Stephanie find out is shocking and horrifying. Earl Emerson sustains the reader's interest throughout this unusual novel. I loved the character of Jim Swope, an individual whose childhood traumas have left lasting scars, especially in his ability to relate to women. Jim is also a loving father and a courageous man who is willing to learn from his mistakes. I liked the character of Stephanie Riggs, as well. She is a tough and intelligent doctor who is dogged in her pursuit of the truth about the syndrome that has destroyed her sister. Emerson balances the book's humorous and serious aspects skillfully and he maintains a high level of excitement throughout the novel. I recommend "Into the Inferno." It works both as a thriller and as a quirky psychological study of a beleaguered man who is pushed to his limits.
Rating:
Summary: A great thriller
Review: See book summary above. This is the first title I've read by Earl Emerson, and I am duly impressed. This is not so much about firefighters as it is about one mans race against time. A race to save his own life, as well as others. The suspense is here as is the character development. A first rate thriller. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Once again, Earl delivers
Review: The mark of a great book for me? I have to put my hand over the page to stop from reading ahead because I'm desperate to know what's going to happen yet I want to savor every word. This is what I had to do with Into The Inferno, which I raced through in a day. The prose is some of the finest and honest I've seen from Emerson, but considering this is a writer who always surprises me, I shouldn't be surprised. Again he's created flawed characters who it's impossible not to become attached to, which makes Jim Swope's race against time all the more critical. And what a fine talent the author possesses in mixing his daily working life with the writing life.
Every Earl Emerson book is a keeper for me, but Into The Inferno goes to the top of the list.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh? or Cry?
Review: This was my first Earl Emerson book. The local librarian recommended it, and I'm sure glad. This was an exciting, suspenseful page-turner; and I really didn't know whether I should laugh or cry as I read it. Jim Swope, a firefighter, is facing the fact that in 7 days he will probably be reduced to a vegetable in a nursing home. His sense of humor was awesome, and I laughed out loud many times. At the same time, there were some very tender moments, especially with his daughters, that made me so sad. It made me glad that I am a reader.
| 
