Burn Out

London firefighter Pat O'Keeffe's second novel is another authentic, hard-hitting evocation of a world where crime and fire are equally lethal.

Wales is supposed to be a rest cure, a chance to exorcise the demons of injury, guilt and betrayal. But before Steve Jay has even reached the remote clinic, he has had to deal with a house fire and a clear case of murder. Then he is caught in a forest fire, an elemental force: awesome, destructive, deadly. Steve Jay, seeking rest and isolation, has landed on an anthill, a vicious eco-war between the Welsh and a multi-national mining conglomerate. By degrees he is drawn into the battle, lured by a beautiful woman with a past: a past that will engulf him. He returns to London not whole, but functional; not healed, but rested, with breath enough to try to regain his position and self-respect.

But he has scarcely time to settle in when a huge explosion rips the heart from a building and presents him and his crew with the most dangerous incident they have ever faced - the eco-war has followed him to London.

Jay is forced to go back to Wales and discover the truth, but not before a woman he thought he'd never see again returns with trouble on her mind and Jay in her heart.