Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this twisty crime yarn from bestseller Goldberg (Movieland), a cop and a criminal match wits in the California heat over the course of eight years. U.S. Marshal Andrew Walker apprehends master thief Danny Cole after Danny fleeces a cartel boss for a million dollars. Instead of sitting in prison, though, Danny becomes part of California's volunteer convict firefighting program and lives in a low-security camp in the woods. While working a fire one day, his best friend on the team is killed. Eight years later, Walker has joined the L.A. County Sheriff's arson department, and Danny, having served his time, hits the streets with a plan to avenge his friend's death and pillage mansions left vulnerable during wildfire season. He gets his old gang of criminals back together, sets the plan in motion, and soon finds himself on a collision course with Walker and his relentless new partner. Goldberg's well-drawn characters will keep readers rooting for both crooks and cops, and he hangs everyone's fates on a clever, complicated con. The result is as explosive as a wildfire. Agent: Amy Tannenbaum, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Master thief Danny Cole has a fatal flaw: He doesn't want to see anyone innocent get hurt during one of his cons. That's what landed him in prison in California, where he worked in the inmates' wildfire-fighting program. He's out now and is determined to avenge the needless death of a fellow prison firefighter. Danny pulls together his old crew to take advantage of October and the wildfires that make that season hell in Southern California. Danny plans to aim the firestorm at one rich, entitled man's neighborhood. During the chaos, he will steal invaluable possessions, destroy the houses, and provide for a widow. What's standing in his way? Arson investigator Walter Sharpe, who knows every trick when it comes to arson. And Sharpe's new partner, former U.S. Marshal Andrew Walker, knows all of Danny's tricks. Walker is able to put together a few clues, and he recognizes a Danny Cole plan. None of the three realizes that the flames will trap all of them with several innocent teens and a deadly enemy. VERDICT The author of the Eve Ronin mysteries returns with a fast-paced, over-the-top caper that entertains while keeping readers guessing.--Lesa Holstine
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Goldberg returns to the wildfire he memorably chronicled in Lost Hills (2020) from a strikingly new angle. Not many con men are also trained firefighters. But when Danny Cole was convicted of a typically bold con eight years ago after a heroically unselfish act derailed his escape, he volunteered for service as a convict firefighter alongside a crew of other convicts that included car-leasing scammer Arnie Soloway. Arnie's death fighting a fire around the extravagant home of millionaire Roland Slezak, who leaned on his connections to make sure the blaze spared his home at a high cost to others, has made Danny hunger for vengeance, if possible with substantial financial profits on the side. So he comes up with a staggeringly audacious plan: to persuade underwater real estate developer Levi Brisker, Slezak's neighbor, to host his surviving cohort while they set a fire that will burn down every home in the area but Brisker's, whose value will accordingly skyrocket. As Danny methodically lays the groundwork for his coup once he's released from prison, LA County arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his new deputy, former U.S. Marshal Andrew Walker, who Sharpe aptly says "could make delivering pizzas a high-risk job," learn of an Icarus drone that's gone missing from CAL FIRE and trace its theft to Danny. While heroes and villains race against the clock and each other, Goldberg creates such a maelstrom of loyalties that it's hard to know who to root for. Could Danny possibly get his revenge even while justice is done in a technical sense as well? A businesslike thriller that shows how rewarding it can be to revisit the same story from a new point of view. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
