Firestorm

Rating:
Summary: arson investigator with psychic ability
Review: Kerry Murphy works as a fire investigator with her dog, Sam. No one knows the real reason Kerry is so good at her job, and it isn't Sam's superior evidence-sniffing ability. When Kerry was a little girl, her mother died in a fire. As Kerry was running out of the house to get help, an unknown man hit her in the head with a metallic object. She was in a coma for two years and when she awoke she possessed a psychic talent which is triggered by fire.

Brad Silver is also with psychic abilities. He is able to invade other people's minds and control their thoughts. Brad is after the man who created Firestorm, a method of spontaneous combustion, the same man who killed his brother and sister-in-law. Brad needs Kerry's psychic ability to sense where and when fires will happen to catch this psychopath.

I usually don't like books of paranormal nature, but I was really drawn into this story. While the plot is not realistic, it is suspenseful. The characters have rather unique traits and are very likable. If you like your thrillers of a more gritty and realistic nature then this book is not for you. If you don't mind some unbelievable plot twists, and a bit of romantic suspense, then you will like this installment from Iris Johansen.

Rating:
Summary: Not a must-have in hardcover
Review: Some call it "mind reading," others perceive it as "psychic ability" or extrasensory perception. Iris Johansen doesn't give it a particular label, but, in her new book, FIRESTORM, the main characters have extraordinary sensibilities that allow them to do things ordinary men and women can't even dream of. When Kerry Murphy, was eight years old she emerged from two years in a coma. She had been hit on the head by the arsonist who torched her house and killed her mother. When she woke up, she "had a special psychic talent triggered by fire. If [she came] anywhere near the area of a fire ... [she] received vibes; sometimes [she could] actually see it being done." As an adult she started her career as a firefighter but the pain her visions imposed upon her forced her to quietly use her talent in a different way. She became an arson investigator with an amazingly accurate record.

Kerry Murphy is good at her job. But because she works with a canine "fire-sniffer" named Sam, and she gives him all the credit for her success rate in identifying arsons. Sam is a dopey looking gangly animal and "as an arson dog he's a complete washout." Kerry wants "everyone to believe [that Sam has the best nose] in the southeast. [She] didn't want [anyone] to know the truth; that the only way [she] knew where and how the fires were being set was [because she] saw it being done." Sometimes, she even felt the blistering heat on the skin and the smoke choking her lungs.

One day, Brad Silver barges into her life, and forever things change for them both. He had been comatose as a result of a serious car crash and emerged with a different kind of psychic power. He has the ability to enter the minds of others and not only read them but, if necessary, alter their thoughts for good or ill. He needs Kerry to help him find and stop "a monster that makes the man who killed [her] mother angelic in comparison." He tells Kerry that he can help her remember the face that she glimpsed that horrific night ... that their mutual therapist, Travis, had given him her name and that he knew she could help stop more deaths.

Kerry is not interested. She knows that often after a person wakes from a coma s/he has altered brain chemistry and may even be "rewired" but this information does nothing to soothe her rage or make her feel less like a whacko. After Silver makes his pitch ... "she said through her teeth, "I don't want anything to do with you ... you're a freak and you want to make me one too." In the years she had worked with Travis in an attempt to come to terms what she deeply considered an affliction, "he said [she] wasn't a freak, that the visions were telepathic, and that [she] had to learn to live with them. He said [she] wasn't alone and that there were others [with these extraordinary abilities as a result of childhood comas.] He and his wife were trying to reach out to find and help them ... because [they] went through it themselves."

But Silver realizes he has his work cut out for him if he is ever going to persuade Kerry to help him catch Trask, a truly "mad" scientist who is taking a scorched earth approach to those he perceives as his enemies. The project he had been working on for the government was shut down because the technology was so dangerous that it would be better for the United States not to develop it in order to keep it out of the hands of rogue nations. But, Trask has already sold his "baby" to the North Koreans and is perfecting it by using it to burn his nemeses to death. If their families or innocent people get in the way, tough!

FIRESTORM is a romantic tale of suspense whose plot is simple and linear which makes it very one-dimensional. The characters are never really fleshed out; their dialog is pedestrian and banal; and the story itself is riddled with soft spots ... too many to give much substance to what could have been a really suspenseful book. Iris Johansen is very popular and prolific writer. She has at least twenty-two previous novels in print all over the world ... thus one can only hope in her next endeavor she gives her readers a richer story populated with multi-dimensional characters.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: More of a Whine-Storm
Review: The premise is interesting as are some of the characters, but you won't like it unless you enjoy identifying with a weak, pessimistic, whiny protagonist who spends most of the story agonizing in inner turmoil or arguing defensively with other characters, coming off overall like a rebellious teenager (she's supposed to be a capable adult!). Then there's the writing. I had to hold my nose, some of it was so bad. The hyphenate "cliché-ridden" would have been coined for this book if it hadn't existed already. "Repetitive" is another adjective that comes to mind. The two main characters have the same argument over and OVER again. And I was about to scream the 5th time I read, "She moistened her lips," (which the author often had the main character do right before she spoke.) Little did I know she would be moistening her lips MANY more times before the book ended, leaving me with the overwhelming impression of a defensive, fretting, saliva smearing, whiner who I actually wished would die in the end. No such luck!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely Want More
Review: This is my first Iris Johansen book, and I chose Firestorm because it had a paranormal flair to it. I was not disappointed. While my usual genre is historical romance, my recent forays into different genre have been immensely enjoyable and Firestorm ranks as one of the best. I loved the chemistry between the characters, and while the antagonistic relationship between Kerry and Silver is not an original plot twist, it was pulled off very well in this story. I think my favorite scene is where Silver comes to Kerry in the hospital when she is seeing the fire that kills her friend. He is clearly moved by her pain but his need to stay apart emotionally from people is such a struggle for him that the reader is immediately sympathetic, despite his often cold and self-serving demeanor. I enjoyed the comic relief of both Sam the arson dog, such as he was, and George the mysterious butler who at times was so well written that I questioned his loyalties. My only critique of this story was the ending. I wish the author had fleshed it out more. It was too easy. I would have like a bit more struggle for the 2 characters. The fact that 11 months had gone by was hardly evident in the way the whole thing was resolved. However, all in all, I truly enjoyed it, and read it in half a day. I am already searching out more of the authors novels and am hopeful more have a paranormal flair. This one will remain in my collection.