California Fire and Life

Zusatztext “A smoking! smoldering threat of a book that flickers and flames and inevitably goes inferno. . . . Cover to cover! it is hot! hot! hot.” — Austin Chronicle “The best crime thriller of the year. . . . Mixes two parts of Elmore Leonard with an equal portion of Carl Hiaasen to form an irreverent! ribald hybrid of a thriller that's pure fun.” — The Providence Journal “[Winslow finds] a dark! sinister lyricism in the forensics of fire.” — The New York Times Book Review “A jazzy California thriller. . . . Think Philip Marlowe if he were still sleuthing--and had taken up surfing.” — Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice) Informationen zum Autor Bestselling author Don Winslow has written nineteen books and numerous short stories, as well as writing for television and film. He has received the Raymond Chandler Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award.  A former private investigator and trial consultant, Winslow lives in Southern California. Klappentext FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CARTEL.When Jack Wade is called in to examine a suspicious arson claim, he follows the evidence into the crime infested inferno of the California underworld. Jack Wade was the rising star of the Orange County Sheriffs Department's arson unit, but a minor scandal cost him everything, except his encyclopedic knowledge of fire. Now working as an insurance claims investigator, Jack is called in to examine a suspicious claim: within hours of a disastrous blaze tearing through a wing of real estate mogul Nicky Vale's house- causing the horrific death of his young wife-he filed a 3 million-dollar insurance claim. The tracks of the fire tell Jack that something's wrong, and as he follows the evidence the case grows to involve the Russian mob, Vietnamese gangs, real estate scams, counterfeiting and corporate corruption. Things get so hot and deadly that Jack might not make it out alive . . . that is until he decides to fight fire with fire. 1 Woman's lying in bed and the bed's on fire. She doesn't wake up. Flame licks at her thighs like a lover and she doesn't wake up. Just down the hill the Pacific pounds on the rocks. California fire and life. 2 George Scollins doesn't wake up, either. Reason for this is that he's lying at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck. It's easy to see how this might have happened--Scollins's little Laguna Canyon house is a freaking mess. Tools, wood, furniture lying all over the place, you can hardly walk across the floor without tripping on something. In addition to the tools, wood and furniture, you have paint cans, containers of stain, plastic bottles full of turpentine, cleaning rags . . . This is also the reason the house is a bonfire. Not surprising, really. Not surprising at all. California fire and life. 3 Two Vietnamese kids sit in the front of a delivery truck. The driver, Tommy Do, pulls it off into a parking lot. "Middle of freaking nowhere," says Tommy's buddy, Vince Tranh. Tommy doesn't give a shit, he's happy to be getting rid of the load, a truck full of hot stuff. Tommy pulls over by a Caddy. "They love their Caddies," Tranh says to him in Vietnamese. "Let 'em," Tommy says. Tommy's saving for a Miata. A Miata is cool. Tommy can see himself cruising in a black Miata, wraparound shades on his face, a babe with long black hair beside him. Yeah, he can see that. Two guys get out of the Caddy. One of them's tall. Looks like one of those Afghan hounds, Tommy thinks, except the guy's wearing a dark blue suit that has got to be hot standing out there in the desert. The other guy is shorter, but broad. Guy wears a black Hawaiian print shirt with big flowers al...

Product details

• Authors: Don Winslow
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 04.09.2007
• EAN: 9780307279859
• ISBN: 978-0-307-27985-9
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 17 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense