Earl Emerson, Firetrap

Firetrap

Earl Emerson

Ballantine, April 2006, $24.95

ISBN: 0345462920

In Seattle, thirteen black civilians and one white firefighter died in the Z Club inferno. The city is divided on how the fire department responded. While many African-Americans claim they watched the white firefighters toss water on the blaze from a safe distance, while inside blacks hysterically screamed for help, whites insist the firefighters risked their lives as evidenced by one dying.

African American firefighter Captain Trey Brown was burned fighting the blaze, but left town with his mother and brother to recuperate in Vegas. He comes home to a Seattle battered by rioting over an alleged lack of response by his department; feelings have been inflamed by opportunist politicians and reporters. Though he points out he has a conflict of interest having participated in the event, needing a black face, the brass assigns one of the few African-Americans in a managerial position, Trey, to investigate the response by the department. As he begins his enquiries, TV reporter Jamie Estevez continues her investigation into the response. As their paths cross an attraction grows between them, while the discoveries of what really happened on that fatal night at the Z Club is mind-bending to both of them.

This strong entry starts off with an incredible opening sequence involving Trey reflecting on some of his relationship failures, including family estrangement and on the fire (that comes from real events in the Bronx and Rhode Island). The storyline is action-packed as Trey and Jamie rotate their respective enquiries, until they merge their cases into one. Though the romantic interlude seems forced and the final twists unnecessary, as the investigation into the fire and its aftermath hold the audience's attention, Earl Emerson provides a strong thriller.