Wild Fire

Presley, Oklahoma firefighter Shelby Fox hears a scream from the nearby home of M.B. Perry. She races over to insure the schoolteacher is okay only to find the woman on fire in her bed with a man watching. The apparent arsonist attacks Shelby. Police Detective Clay Jessup visits his close friend Shelby at the Presley medical Center where she recovers from her beating, but cannot remember the assault or why she was found unconscious in the home of M.B. by her crewmates working the fire at that house. Shelby plans to find out one way or another what her selected amnesia hides from her. As they follow clues at new arsons that use microwave ovens amongst other devices to set deadly infernos she begins to recall bits of the atrocity she observed and how she became a victim. The arsonist killer wants his only witness dead while Clay wants the woman he loves safe and sound by his side. Rightfully so, the romance takes a back seat to the well written arson investigation that has the two protagonists seeking a serial killer who in turn is seeking the heroine before she identifies him. The action-packed story line grips the reader from the moment that Shelby intrudes on the horrifying burning of her friend and never slows down through a series of fires until the final confrontation. Though the romantic relationship never heats up, the third Hot Zone thriller (see MELTING POINT and BURNING LOVE) is an exciting tale worth reading. Harriet Klausner