Fireplay

I haven't read in awhile and I just happened to see Fireplay by Suzanne Chazin and grabbed it because I have read her first two novels. Frankly, I thought it would be awhile before I read it. Wrong! I loved this book. I'm not going to give a play-by-play description of the plot since that has already been done. What impressed me most was the emotional aspect of this book. In the first two books, you learned a lot of information about the technical side of firefighting with mystery and suspense. In Fireplay, you still get the suspense and mystery, but Ms. Chazin takes us a step closer in understanding the recurring characters. We see our heroine, Georgia, thrown into a situation way beyond her control, but she never lets up for an instant. All the major characters find themselves not knowing whom to trust or keeping things from each other. This adds to the drama. The ending-well, I never saw it coming. Fireplay is a great novel. You can pretty well read this one without the first two. However, I have to recommend you read those as well. Ms. Chazin has a great series going on here. I will be looking for the next novel, even if I don't read anything else in between.

It started out as a routine fire in a restaurant basement. But then two firefighters were killed, and New York Fire Marshall Georgia Skeehan must sort through the evidence to determine who is responsible for the arson--and two murders. She is elated when an answering machine tape at the restaurant yields a clear-cut confession from a notorious torch, Michael McLaughlin. But suddenly there are Feds involved, and the fire department is ordered to keep their hands off McLaughlin. He's a confidential informant, and the magnitude of the FBI's case takes precedent over an arson case. Georgia, who is a bit hot-headed, is livid over the Feds' high-handedness and finds herself part of the FBI's investigative team. It's the only way they'll keep her quiet. Soon she's working undercover with gangsters and terrorists, she almost gets blown up, and she realizes she has become a pawn in McLaughlin's little game. She also discovers she and McLaughlin have a history she didn't even know about, and the mysteries, lies and dead bodies pile up until Georgia doesn't know who to turn to, who to trust. Fireplay is a really outstanding mystery that incorporates elements of a police procedural and a taut, woman-in-jeopardy story. The emotions were honest, and realistic details about fires and arson made me believe, for a couple of hours, that it was really happening. I can't give much higher praise than that. The only thing I didn't care for was the very last twist, which was so far-fetched it killed the believability factor. But it was almost an afterthought, thrown in as details of the mystery were being wrapped up, so it didn't really spoil the story for me.

Fire Marshall, Georgia Skeehan, investigates a fire at a restaurant that kills two firefighters. A "probie" (rookie firefighter) survives, but is emotionally scarred from the experience of his first big fire. In the course of her investigation, she is forced to work with a long time master arsonist that is under the protection of the FBI. Working undercover, Georgia discovers the father of her child, who she hasn't had contact with in eight years, is involved. As she digs deeper into the present case, she must confront another case previously thought solved, the death of her own firefighter father. In this gritty and realistic portrayal of firefighters, Georgia has to deal with everything from helping a rookie overcome his ordeal, to her own emotional scars from her father's death, to working with an arsonist she detests. Not a book to be breezed through, this is an intricately plotted and emotionally complex book. This is a wonderful entry in a really outstanding fire fighting series. Chazin shows her experience and expertise in this part science lesson, part human drama, and part crime novel. Don't miss the other two books in this series THE FOURTH ANGEL and FLASHOVER. All are excellent.

Third in Ms. Chazin's Georgia Skeehan series, the latest installment finds this fire marshal for the FDNY resurrecting ghosts from her past, including the fire where her father was killed and the reappearance of her long-lost boyfriend, the father of her eight-year-old son Richie. But the crux of the novel centers around a fire at trendy Café Treize, that resulted in the death of two veteran firefighters and led Georgia and her partner, Randy Carter, to investigate `Freezer', aka Michael McLaughlin, former member of the Irish gang, the Westies, and all-around extortionist. McLaughlin is as street-wise as he is savvy, as he turns to the FBI to protect him from the FDNY, claiming to help the feds find Coyote, a ruthless member of the Green Warriors, who use terroristic acts to aid their leftist environmental causes. While Georgia's sense of justice is sometimes at odds with her duties as a fire marshal, she shows a greater maturity in this latest read than in previous novels, especially when she is asked to go undercover as Freezer's girlfriend, much to the dismay of her boyfriend and boss, Mac Marenko. Georgia must face some difficult choices when she finds out that her ex, Rick, might be involved with the mob and seems to know the members of the Green Warriors. Could he be a suspect in a recent arson, and does she want him to meet the son he abandoned eight years ago? Georgia, the tough but loving woman and fire marshal, gives the reader insight into the emotions involved in the valiant profession of firefighting, even as she vows to arrest McLaughlin for his horrific crimes. Always suspenseful and compelling, Ms. Chazin's novel, written with her inside knowledge of the FDNY, puts Georgia on a par with April Woo, Leslie Glass' NYPD detective in her critically acclaimed April Woo series.

A fire breaks out in the basement of a fancy restaurant in Manhattan and when the firemen go in, they lose sight of the entrance. When it is time for them to get out only one of the three makes it, a rookie who feels like he should have been the one that died. Fire Marshall Georgia Skeehan and her partner Randy Carter determine immediately that it was arson.The duo learns that extortionist torch Freezer called talking about the fire and asking for money. Randy knows that Freezer is Mike McLaughlin, who doesn't care if somebody gets killed in his fires. When they go to bring him in for questioning, the FBI force them to free Freezer. He is their informant for a domestic terrorist organization called the Green Warriors and they have every hope that Michael will find out the identity of their leader so the Feds can make an arrest. Georgia isn't about to let the killer of two fireman get away with murder so she goes undercover, risking her life many times over to bring him to justice.Suzanne Chazin captures the mood of the New York Fire Department over a year after the tragic events of 9/11. Readers will empathize even more with these brave men and women who continue to risk their lives. Knowing who the villain is only makes this thriller more interesting because it looks like he will get away with murder and the audience hopes as they read feverishly that he will just make one slip. FIREPLAY is a very hot and juicy thriller.Harriet Klausner