Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
Red Flag Warning
Author: Kurt Kamm
Published by Aberdeen Bay 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1-60830-029-7 (ISBN-10: 1-60830-029-3)
Serial Arson Mystery (294 pages)
Available for sale at KurtKamm.com for as low as $13.95 or $6.95 on kindle.
Red Flag warning is a detailed mystery set in California during the Santa Ana Winds. Often, the Santa Ana winds will create conditions which are ideal for wildland fire ignition and propagation. These conditions are dubbed “Red Flag Warnings” by the United States National Weather Service.
Kurt Kamm (author) offers a unique mystery surrounding fire set in the Southern California area of Los Angeles. As the reader, you will follow Arson Investigator Captain Jim Kendall while he tries to discover who is setting deadly fires. Kamm also puts you over the shoulder of potential suspects and gives you a decent look into their lives. The interesting thing is that you also get to understand what the arsonist is doing as Kamm introduces NiteHeat. NiteHeat is the arsonist, however it is up to you to figure out who NiteHeat actually is.
This story had me on wanting to finish the book every time I picked it up to read a few more chapters.
With each chapter, the details had me flip flopping on who I thought the actual arsonist (NiteHeat) was. Even up to the last chapter I was still guessing, trying to remember details I had read in the book and attempting my luck at putting two and two together.
This is a book any firefighter will enjoy.
Kamm doesn’t just throw a book together from the comfort of his living room. In the acknowledgments of the book, you can plainly see he did his homework on this book. Kamm, who is not a firefighter, spent two years in wildland firefighting camps and countless other hours with investigators, 911 centers, and even a short stint in jail (for research) to ensure he was getting it right to write a book on this topic.
His ability to entrench himself in the life of the characters he is writing about is outstanding. He spares no detail in building up each character making them seem real to life and does a great job of helping the reader develop the characters in their imagination.
Kamm has lived through several wildfires in his home in Malibu, California.
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