California Fire and Life - Softcover

Don Winslow

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712678506 ISBN 13: 9780712678506

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated, 1999

Synopsis

Greed, Deceit and Death Jack Wade is the best arson investigator California Fire & Life Mutual has ever had. He knows fire, can read the traces it leaves behind like a roadmap. Fires talk to him, tell him how they started, what they did. Pamela Bale has died in a fire at her home, and Wade is sent to investigate the unusual claim her husband has filed on the very morning her body is found in the rubble. The tracks of the fire that killed Pamela Vale tell Jack Wade that something's wrong. So wrong that he violates his own cardinal rule (You don't get involved"), plunges into the case and very quickly discovers he's in over his head; the Russian mob, Vietnamese gangs, pervasive corruption at California F& L ... Now his expert knowledge, defiant integrity and outrageous behaviour may be the only things that can keep the investigation from being snuffed out, and keep him alive.

About this title

Review:

Before he became a bestselling novelist with The Death and Life of Bobby Z, Don Winslow spent 15 years as an arson investigator. His expert knowledge pays off in California Fire and Life, a giant fireball of a thriller about ace arson investigator Jack Wade. Want to know why thick, oily soot on glass might be a sign of arson? Or why arsonists never burn their dogs? Or what the presence of "alligator char" means? You'll learn about this and much more, as Jack sifts through the ashes of a mansion in Orange County on behalf of the insurance company that he works for. A young wife and mother named Pamela Vale burned to death in the fire. Bentley, the sloppy and possibly corrupt sheriff's department fire investigator, claims that it was a case of drinking too much vodka and dropping a cigarette. Jack has his doubts--especially when he meets the woman's ex-husband, Nicky Vale, a slick Russian entrepreneur (read mafia chief) born Daziatnik Valeshin.

Before signing off on the multimillion-dollar insurance policy on Mrs. Vale's life and house, Jack does some more digging. Meanwhile, his old girlfriend--a policewoman who just happens to be the dead woman's half-sister--finds a link between Nicky Vale's Russian mob and a Vietnamese gang of criminals. Jack's insurance firm begins to act strangely, pressuring him to settle the Vale claim. There may be a little too much technical data in California Fire and Life, but Jack--who lives only to surf and investigate arson--is still a fresh and fascinating creation. --Dick Adler

From the Inside Flap:

Jack Wade, a claims adjuster for California Fire and Life Mutual Insurance Company, is one of the best arson investigators around. He's a man who knows fire, who can read the traces it leaves behind like a roadmap.

Real estate mogul Nicky Vale's house is one of the most valuable properties of the Southern California gold coast. After a blaze tears through a wing of the house, it's only normal that Vale would file an insurance claim. But a $3 million claim is rarely normal, especially not when it's filed within hours of the death of the owner's wife. The County Sheriff's Department has declared the fire accidental--caused by Mrs. Vale's passing out in bed with a bottle of vodka and a lit cigarette--although a careful look at the evidence points to something more sinister.

Jack draws on his skill, experience, and sheer stubbornness to uncover the truth of what's going on, but each step leads him further into a situation that's becoming increasingly dangerous. Soon arson is the least of Jack's worries, as the case grows to involve the Russian mob, Vietnamese gangs, real estate scams, counterfeiting, and corporate corruption.

As the investigation spins out of control, Jack finds himself pulled so far in that he might not make it out. His outrageous behavior and defiant integrity, usually about as helpful to him as third-degree burns, may now be the only things that will keep the investigation--and Jack himself--from being snuffed out.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0712678506
• ISBN 13: 9780712678506
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352