Chasing Fire

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Nora Roberts delves into the world of elite firefighters who thrive on danger and adrenaline—men and women who wouldn’t know how to live life if it wasn’t on the edge.

Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. Flying past towering pillars of smoke, parachuting down to the edge of an all-consuming blaze, shoveling and sawing for hours upon hours, days at a time, all to hold the line and push back against the raw power of Mother Nature.

But there’s also little else as thrilling - at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are one of the most exclusive firefighting squads in the nation, and the job is in Rowan’s blood: her father is a legend in the field. She’s been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home - even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering in the air.

Fortunately, this year’s rookie crop is among the strongest ever - and Gulliver Curry’s one of the best. He’s also a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kids’ arcade. He came to Missoula to follow in the footsteps of Lucas “Iron Man” Tripp, yet he’s instantly more fascinated by his hero’s daughter. Rowan, as a rule, doesn’t hook up with other smoke jumpers, but Gull is convinced he can change her mind. And damn if he doesn’t make a good case to be an exception to the rule.

Everything is thrown off balance, though, when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year’s tragedy. Rowan knows she can’t complicate things with Gull - any distractions in the air or on the ground could be lethal. But if she doesn’t find someone she can lean on when the heat gets intense, her life may go down in flames.

©2011 Nora Roberts (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

This book could have been 40% shorter

I was at about the last 20% of the first part of the audio when something finally happened. Rowan Tripp is Wonder Woman and then some. She can drink men under the table and beat them up in bars. Hard to identify with that. Gulliver Curry is a rookie smoke jumper who has a way with him. He gets Rowan to break her long-standing rule about not getting involved with anybody on the job (although the way he goes about it the first time, pushing into her room, might get him suspended or fired for sexual harassment currently). The really interesting romance in the first half of the book is the one between Rowan's father, a retired smoke jumper, and a grandma who's a high school principal. Then there's a body & arson and the book takes off. At one time I suspected the doer but conversations with him lulled my suspicions. The second half of the audio was much better than the first and held my interest. Wish I hadn't had to plow thru so much verbiage to get there.

Great book

Great book intense hard to put downa a a a a a a a a a a a aa a

Good nook

I listened to it twice, it was that good. powerful main characters. Lots of action. Everything you want to know about forest fires. I never figured out the protagonist till they told me

Wow, Wow, Wow!

Best book she has ever written! I mean it! The characters in this novel made the book for me! I wanna be Rowan! She is tough, smart, funny, strong, and can take on any man! And who wouldn't fall for the hero Gull? Makes you want to go fight some fire!

Too Much Fire

As always in a Nora Roberts book, the setting and details are well researched, the imagery is vivid and compelling, and the characters are interesting but relatable. However, if you did a page count in this book, I suspect there is more written around the mechanics of fighting wildfires than to the story and character development. So the story loses a bit of momentum and you end up “fast forwarding” through the oft stated process of preparing for and fighting the many fires. Fortunately, the narrator is GREAT, which certainly helps to keep you listening. But unless you have a genuine interest in the process of fighting wildfires, I would recommend another of Ms. Roberts books.

Lots of fire 🔥

The story was ok. Lots of details about fire and fire and more fire. Maybe too much. Anyway, the book passed the time. Not my favorite.

Simply wonderful!

Could not stop listening. I’m a fan of Nora Roberts and I think this will rank at least in the top 10!! She’s a wonderful storyteller

Hot !!!

I loved this book maybe I’m partial because the love of my life is a firefighter but if that’s not your thing then this book isn’t for you…..I found it had everything …..love for the job, love for family. The characters where funny and touching and just a fun relationship. Must read/listen. 🚒🔥🧯❤️‍🔥

Slow but decent

Both the story and the narration were pretty slow for this book. The narrator was very good, albeit slow - I ended up listening to the book at 1.25x speed and that worked well for me.
The story is about a smoke jumper, and the first 10 chapters basically chronicle the life of a smoke jumper, with a couple of slow simmering romances peppered in. If you can make it to chapter 10 without getting too bored the plot gets much more interesting. I’ll just leave it at that so I don’t give anything away, but there does get to be some mystery & suspense along with a little romance. I enjoyed the listen in the end, but it was definitely on the slow side.

A Native Montanan Loved It!

I enjoyed listening to all the discriptions of locals that are familiar to me. The performance was amazing!