Firestorm

by Nevada Barr

Book Overview

A raging forest fire in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park traps exhausted firefighters, including Ranger Anna Pigeon, in its midst. Afterward, Anna finds two from her group have been killed.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039914126X
• ISBN13: 9780399141263
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Hot, Hot, Hot in Barr's best novel - a 'locked room mystery'

Nevada Barr has 2 books that are closed to "locked room" mysteries - that is, where the action and events are in a tightly controlled environment. Firestorm has it's events in the middle of a firestorm, on a mountain top where rescue is delayed. (Blind Descent is the other - inside a subterranean cave.)Barr's description of the firestorm, and being trapped inside of a tiny fireproof tent are gripping! The murders are solved by Frederick and Anna. Frederick is working on the outside, and supplies info to Anna via hand radios. Anna uncovers facts and fights the growing tension between survivors who are trapped on the mountain together. There are suspects galore - but I was totally surprized by the identity of the true murderer and Anna's judgement call in handling the murderer. This is probably one of Barr's best novels - a "hot, hot" read!

Smokin'...

This is the second Anna Pigeon novel I have read, and my only consolation for being such a latecomer to Nevada Barr's writing is that I can occupy myself with her backlist while waiting for new books. So many mysteries are either not very mysterious, or clunkily written, or feature annoying characters, that I was delighted beyond belief when I finally found Anna Pigeon and realized she is a real person, and Nevada Barr is a real, skillful, writer. Not everyone can make you giggle, hold your breath, and mutter a sympathetic "ew" in the space of a couple of pages. Barr's characters, marooned by a forest fire that practically rises to the level of a character itself, have to contend with injuries, filth, hunger, and the knowledge that one of them killed one of their colleagues in a most creative manner. From the "shake and bake" (which is really something) to the final solution, I was riveted. This is an extraordinarily imaginative take on a classic locked room mystery. I didn't figure it out until the end, and I was gravely hampered because my list of those I didn't want to have done it had gotten so long. You can really get to know people when you're stranded with them in the mountains, and that's what happens here. Even if Barr wasn't so ingenious at devising murder plots, I'd read her work. She's amazingly good at creating hard-headed, soft-hearted characters who try to do the right thing -- most notably, Anna herself.

Makes you want to grab a pulaski and hit the fire line...

Anna Pigeon is a jack of all trades. Not only is she a park ranger with law enforcement training, but she's also an emergency medical technician and a trained firefighter. One wonders a bit how much time it took her to obtain all that training, and whether that's the norm for National Park employees, but quibbles aside, this is a superb book. Barr uses the drama of a fire to isolate her cast of characters in classic locked-room mystery fashion, then cuts them off from the outside world while Anna races against time to figure out who she can trust before she becomes the next victim. If there's a flaw it lies in the fact that a vital clue is a bit too obvious. I can't say more without giving away too much, but people who've read lots of mysteries will probably figure out part of what's going on simply from the way the story is constructed. Firestorm, however, is really a story of fire, firefighters, and the southern Cascades in the vicinity of Mt. Lassen National Park, and minor imperfections in the mystery barely detract from it at all. Highly recommended.

Fire everywhere -- no one is safe!

Anna Pigeon, Park Ranger, has been called to Northern California's Lassen Volcanic Park to fight a blaze of suspicious origin. Danger exists in the air she breathes and the exhaustion that takes a toll on all firefighters that have been brought in to save the park. Nevada Barr convincingly shows why rangers are called from many locations and the need to work as one in the midst of a Firestorm. The problem in working as one is that there is a murderer who has no compunction about covering up the first death with more. The most intense scene is when the Firestorm is blasting down the trail and the only way to survive is as dangerous as the fire itself. Ms. Barr is a great storyteller who writes what she knows. I have no doubt that she has experienced survival in various parks and on a myriad of projects. She brings with her the full power that a writer can when she has lived the events--perhaps not the murder itself, but survival in it rawest form.

Exceptional

I don't understand why this book isn't at the top of the bestseller list. Anna Pigeon is a ranger with the National Park Service. She is currently serving as security and EMT at a fairly routine fire in the Lassen Volcanic National Park when things suddenly go to hell in a hand basket. The firestorm scenes are absolutely riveting. The characters are all very well developed. Some are easy to love and some are easy to hate. There is plenty of sophisticated, witty humor sprinkled throughout. Some of it made me laugh out loud. The landscape descriptions were the next best thing to being there. And tying it all together is a whopping good murder mystery. I probably shouldn't make comparisons but I will. Nevada Barr has Sue Grafton beat by a mile