Firestorm

By: Nevada Barr

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Accomplished storyteller Nevada Barr captivates fans with her tightly-woven plots, vibrant descriptions, and believable characters. In this thrilling mystery, her resourceful sleuth, middle-aged park ranger Anna Pigeon, travels to northern California where she joins the forces battling an out-of-control forest fire.

Ever since a fire began raging through Lassen Volcanic National Park, Anna has been acting as medic and security officer for the spike camp firefighters. As the blaze dwindles and the camp demobilizes, she stays behind with a small crew to rescue an injured man. Suddenly a thunderstorm whips the remaining embers into a deadly firestorm. After the inferno passes, Anna discovers a crew member didn't make it, but a knife, not the fire, killed him.

Nevada Barr creates scenes so powerful you can almost feel the intense heat and smell the billowing smoke. Narrator Barbara Rosenblat brings out the nail-biting suspense as Anna searches for the killer within the small band of survivors.

Listen to more Anna Pigeon mysteries.©1996 Nevada Barr (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"While Anna, with her compassion, toughness, and abundant one-liners, calls Kinsey Milhone to mind, Barr's character is a true original. And for excitement, her line of work can't be beat". (Publishers Weekly)
"Anna Pigeon, Barr's down-to-earth heroine, is a delight, with her no-nonsense approach to crime solving and her commonsense approach to life....Top-flight entertainment." (Booklist)

Firestorm (unabridged)

This is my favorite of all her books. Not only does it have a good mystery to be solved,but Nevada Barr takes you right there on the mountain fighting the fire. There were times I could almost smell the smoke. Her ability to take you into the daily life of National Park Ranger Anna Pigeon sets her books apart from other mysteries. I enjoy reading about the beautiful yet perilous settings as well as the inner workings of the Park Service in all of her books. Barbara Rosenblat does a great job as narrator.

Sorry that it Ended

It's goin to see where Anna is going to turn up! I think her character is developing nicely and that she is building a life where we get to feel a part of. Great storytelling.

Not great

Narration was monotone and story too stretched out;confusing at times and cumbersome to follow.

Hell of a story, kept me guessing till the end.

As with all of Nevada Barr's stories this one delivered. I changed my choice of killers thru the whole thing. The end was, wow. Didn't see that one coming.
A different narrator would have been better for this reading. The voice was good for a person who has fought fires. The overly noisy intake of breath and swallowing were distracting and broke my concentration .

Nature can kick your @%#

Nothing can stop Anna Pigeon – not even a raging wildfire. Anna and a motley crew of good guys and bad guys emerge from their “shake and bake” fire shelters to a world where all the food and water has been burned up and the weather has cut off all help. They have to build a little community and survive for a few days, injured and traumatized – with a murderer in their midst. In a parallel story, Fred the Fed is back, nerding methodically along to help Anna solve her mystery before the murderer takes her out, too.

I missed Barr’s usual descriptions of the healing beauty of nature, but she gives us instead its unbridled power to kick our asses.