The Smoke Room

Jason Gun, a risk-taking rookie firefighter who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, has found in his firehouse the family he never had as a child. Then, in one ill-fated turn of events, it all begins to go wrong.

A bizarre accident brings a thrill-seeking woman into Engine Company 29–and into Jason’s life. Suddenly, his future on the job is at risk. Two fellow firefighters know that he missed a call because of some sexual heroics at the wrong time and place. Now, deeply in their debt, he will find out what kind of men his partners really are.

When these two firefighters come upon a fortune in missing bearer bonds–money found in a dead man’s house–Jason is forced to become an accessory to their crime. And when evidence of their greed, foolishness, and thievery begins to emerge, Jason is witness to an even darker deed.

Suddenly, the twenty-four-year-old, who only wanted to do the right thing, is trapped behind a wall of silence. Trying to undo his mistake, Jason moves further into the darkness, where a beautiful young woman might just be his emotional rescue–or yet one more very wrong move. Unfortunately for Jason, the worst isn’t behind him. Like a fire hit by wind, the killing has raged out of control.

Capturing the thin line that separates a hero from a criminal, and an enemy from a friend, Earl Emerson’s new novel is a gripping tale of a man’s dangerous fall from grace–and of his fierce battle for redemption.

From the Hardcover edition.

From the terror of a lightless, smoke-clogged building to the secrets kept by the men and women who trust their partners with their lives, Earl Emerson knows the world of firefighting like no other author--and writes about it with passion and piercing honesty. In his remarkable new thriller, Emerson fuses together a gripping drama with unforgettable scenes of peril that, in this realm, can explode at any second.

Jason Gun, a risk-taking rookie firefighter who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, has found in his firehouse the family he never had as a child. Then, in one ill-fated turn of events, it all begins to go wrong.

A bizarre accident brings a thrill-seeking woman into Engine Company 29--and into Jason's life. Suddenly, his future on the job is at risk. Two fellow firefighters know that he missed a call because of some sexual heroics at the wrong time and place. Now, deeply in their debt, he will find out what kind of men his partners really are.

When these two firefighters come upon a fortune in missing bearer bonds--money found in a dead man's house--Jason is forced to become an accessory to their crime. And when evidence of their greed, foolishness, and thievery begins to emerge, Jason is witness to an even darker deed.

Suddenly, the twenty-four-year-old, who only wanted to do the right thing, is trapped behind a wall of silence. Trying to undo his mistake, Jason moves further into the darkness, where a beautiful young woman might just be his emotional rescue--or yet one more very wrong move. Unfortunately for Jason, the worst isn't behind him. Like a fire hit by wind, the killing has raged out of control.

Capturing the thin line that separates a hero from acriminal, and an enemy from a friend, Earl Emerson's new novel is a gripping tale of a man's dangerous fall from grace--and of his fierce battle for redemption.

Kirkus Reviews

A good man, a skilled and dedicated firefighter, cracks his moral compass, in the best yet from the Seattle firefighter and Shamus Award-winning author. Twenty-four-year old Jason Gum thinks he has his future planned. He likes his job, knows he's got the right stuff for it and is studying for the lieutenant's exam, confident he'll pass. Then a pig, a double-ribbon winner at a county fair, off-loads himself out of an airplane at 11,000 feet and lands on Iola Pederson's roof, starting a conflagration. After that, nothing in Jason's life goes according to plan. He rescues Mrs. Pederson and becomes her lover-perhaps a pardonable mistake. He's young, after all, and she's sexy and determined. Dallying with her, he misses a call and Engine 29 leaves without him. Two of his colleagues, though aware of his dereliction, choose not to rat him out, and he soon discovers he's in their power. Robert Johnson and Ted Tronstad, who share Jason's shift, are both seriously unstable, Tronstad downright pathological. Then Engine 29 responds to a 911 at the home of a retired bank-robber, where Tronstad finds a bundle of stashed swag and elects for grand larceny. This leads to an alliance between Johnson and Tronstad, with Jason as odd man out. It also leads to a series of cold-blooded cover-up homicides. Inexperienced and scared, Jason doesn't do what his better angels tell him to: call the cops. "I am the king of inaction," he says of himself bitterly. At length, he faces the loss of everything he cares most about: his career, the woman he loves, his view of himself as worthwhile. Is there a way out? Well, there shouldn't be, and he knows it. Life, however, is a game-player. Emerson (Pyro, 2004, etc.), alwaysreliable, surpasses everything he's done before with this sometimes painfully funny, occasionally poignant suspenser that adheres to its genre roots while achieving considerably more.

From the Hardcover edition.