California Fire and Life

By: Don Winslow

Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Jack Wade, a claims adjuster for California Fire and Life Mutual Insurance Company, is one of the best arson investigators around. He's a man who knows fire, who can read the traces it leaves behind like a roadmap. When he's called in to examine an unusual claim, the tracks of the fire tell him that something's wrong. So wrong that he violates his own cardinal rule - "You don't get personal, you don't get emotional. Whatever you do, you don't get involved" - and plunges into the case.

Real estate mogul Nicky Vale's house is one of the most valuable properties on this stretch of the Southern California gold coast - large, luxurious, crammed with antiques, set on a nice piece of land with a perfect ocean view. After a disastrous blaze tears through a wing of the house, it's only normal that Vale would file an insurance claim. But a $3 million claim is rarely normal, especially not when it's filed within hours of the horrific death of the owner's young and beautiful wife. The County Sheriff's Department investigator, Brian "Accidentally" Bentley, has declared the fire, well, accidental - caused by Mrs. Vale's passing out in bed with a bottle of vodka and a lit cigarette - although a careful look at the evidence points to something more sinister.

When Jack begins his investigation, he draws on his skill, experience and sheer stubbornness to uncover the truth of what's going on, but each step leads him further into a situation that's becoming increasingly dangerous. Soon arson is the least of Jack's worries, as the case grows to involve the Russian mob, Vietnamese gangs, real estate scams, counterfeiting and corporate corruption. In addition, Jack's forced to confront his own ghosts, including a fatal professional error, and to cope with the sudden reentry into his life of the best thing that ever happened to him: Letitia del Rio, a Sheriff's deputy whose bombshell looks are exceeded only by her smarts and guts.

©2012 Don Winslow (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Intriguing and suspenseful." ( The San Diego Union-Tribune)

"[A] jazzy California thriller... Think Philip Marlowe if he were still sleuthing - and had taken up surfing." ( Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice))

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don Winslow knocks it out of the park with this one! Ive read all of Don's books. While this one is technically heavy he really stretches out with his prose beautifully here and proves once again, that he is a master of the craft. The reader is great as well.

Almost great but still immensely enjoyable

Like in “The Force”, my first of this author’s books, I couldn’t stop listening to this book! Don Winslow’s painstaking research and vivid detail about fire behavior/fire investigation (and the whole insurance and underwriting industry), as many other reviewers have already commented, was bizarrely compelling and sometimes even riveting. I learned so much about such a strange topic, and enjoyed it.

The dog-headed main character, Jack, is immensely relatable and likable, despite his somewhat Rain Man-like repetition of certain phrases and the redundant cadences Winslow has given to his character’s “voice” (listen to it and you’ll know what I’m referring to!). At times I found this a little annoying, almost like he had a tic, but mostly it just served to cement the vibrant character we come to know Jack to be.

The pacing of the story, while mostly enjoyable and finding an easy rhythm, was also somewhat inconsistent: at times a bit slow, then nearly perfect starting about three/four hours from the ending (when I couldn’t stop listening!). My only complaint is that as the book reached its conclusion, Winslow seemed to be in a real hurry to weave together a number of complicated plot lines and extra characters at a pace that seemed a huge departure from the rest of the book. The otherwise-simple story became a bit confusing at times, and almost lost me once or twice. In the end, he wraps things up way too abruptly for my taste, after having taken such time to build texture and nuance. I found this to be slightly jarring and a bit disappointing, as I was expecting and hoping for a big, suspenseful blowout of an ending after all the buildup. (You do get a big ending, but it just wraps up too neatly with its glossy bow, and by the conclusion, you will have expected the final plot twists for quite some time.) It’s almost as if Winslow got tired of writing, or ran into a production deadline

I’d give it 4 1/2 stars instead of 5 for these reasons.

Nonetheless, a very enjoyable listen, and admittedly hard to put down. I will continue to buy Don Winslow‘s books and can’t wait to pick up the next one!

Winslow rocks

Winslow simply has great stories, great characters and fully formed endings that are often bittersweet with poignant reflections on love, life and family. I plan to read everything he's written. So far my favorites are santori and the cartel

California Vibes

Is there anyone else that captures the SoCal lifestyle like Winslow?

This book isn’t as gritty as his others, but there are the usual graphic sex scenes.

Like his other novels, it’s apparent that Winslow has researched the hell out of anything related to the central topic of the novel. I like that. It makes it authentic.

Narrator was top-notch.

Worth a credit, especially if you’ve enjoyed other Winslow novels.

A complete surprise

I loved this book. Especially since I had no expectations of what it was. So like a passenger in a commercial aircraft I put my faith in Captain Winslow and was rewarded with yet another intellectual thriller filled with interesting scientific sidebars and conspiracies that cut uncomfortably close to the real world. Brilliant.

Almost believable

I really enjoy his writing and I enjoyed the book, but at Chapter 260 things get almost too far fetched for me too go along with. How about call the police? All in all a fun read and great character.

Fun way to learn about fire and insurance

This is a decent crime story with a good hearted main character. Good primary villain and plenty of plot twists too. A little ridiculous at the very end but by then the story was worth putting up with a little silliness. I never knew how much science there is in firefighting or claims adjusting.

Good solid Winslow

I have been on a pretty serious Winslow kick lately after discovering him just in the last couple of months when his latest book city of Hope came out. I’m going to have to say that this story felt slightly contrived compared to everything else I’ve listen to by him so far. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it, and couldn’t wait to keep listening, but some of it just felt a little forced.

Four

This reminds me so much of a series written by Joseph Hansen in the 70s (I think). I loved those books.
I read this one because one reviewer said she was amazed how interesting the author made all the fire facts. She was correct, the nitty gritty was fascinating. Overall, this book is a very good read/listen

Started out slow, but ended on fire!

I have now learned more about insurance than I really need to know but the narrative enhanced the story and it is one heck of a story. The Russian Mafia piece was very interesting. Made The Godfather
look like a teddy bear. Definitely worth the listen. Don Winslow never lets me dowen.