Vertical Burn

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.

If there can be a literary equivalent to cinema verite, no one is better qualified than Earl Emerson to immerse his readers in the life and death realities of the world of professional firefighting. In VERTICAL BURN, Emerson, a twenty-four year veteran of the Seattle Fire Department, gives us a graphic and gritty, warts-and-all, microcosmic vision of that world...its daily routines, terrible stresses, moments of glory and terror...as seen through the eyes of his hero, John Finney, who has dedicated his own life and honor to his profession only to find himself at the mercy of a political/criminal cabal that threatens the one and would tarnish the other. Branded a coward and denied promotion after the (to him) inexplicable death of his long-time friend and partner in a questionable fire and sensing a cover-up, Finney starts his own investigation into its circumstances and uncovers evidence of a horrifying pattern of arson for profit being executed with diabolic ingenuity, apparently aided and abetted from within the department itself. Talk about smoke and mirrors! No one except his fellow firefighter Diana Moore is willing to take him seriously when he predicts that there will be more fires, and when his worst fears are realized, he is again demonized by the political powers-that-be as a glory-seeker and an arsonist. Helpless to prevent the initiation of the arsonists' final scenario, his focus narrows to putting his own life on the line to save those of hundreds as the novel culminates in a stunning confrontation between deadly treachery and death-defying heroism high in the skies above Seattle.VERTICAL BURN is the ultimate in you-are-there suspense fiction. Although its premise seems almost unbelievably horrific in the abstract, Mr. Emerson's skillful craftsmanship...his superb pacing and vivid characterizations...quickly caught me up in the story that he had to tell and made me completely willing to suspend my own disbelief that such things actually could be and simply accept as real his world wherein they well might and apparently do happen. Especially set in juxtaposition to the events of 9/11, I found living in that world an immensely moving and enormously satisfying reading experience.

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!

John Finney is a Seattle firefighter, son of former chief and brother of a captain. Six months before story opens, a long-time friend and partner is killed in a fire and John barely escapes with his life. The rumor is that John panicked and left his partner to die. John is sure he gave directions to the location of partner who is pinned under a beam, but his chief says he was babbling. This is a thriller from page one and doesn't let up.I started right after meeting Earl Emerson at a local bookstore and read nearly straight through the next 2 days.

Vertical Burn is a fast moving suspense story set in Seattle. The characters are believable and the plot well thought out. Woven through this story are details of firefighting equipment and strategy. As a result, this reader now listens to reports of fires with new knowledge and interest. I enjoyed this book and would be surprised to hear that anybody could put it down once the plot is established. It is a page-turner that ranks with the best!