Marilyn reviews Fire Lover: A True Story by Joseph Wambaugh, William Morrow Publishing, 2002. The author has written a page turner about a real life arsonist. Not just any arsonist, but one who is exceptionally sly and crafty. For several years, California was plagued by mysterious fires that were both in retail areas and in the forests. These fires seemed to be different because they were always set in groups on the same day, and they were in close proximity to each other. Because the fires had ranged from Northern California to Southern California over a period of years, the only way to catch the arsonist was to form a joint task force of both firemen and policemen. The task force had to be quiet in their investigations of the blazes because the arsonist knew their trained eyes were watching him in particular.
As an added bonus, readers should know this true life crime story by Joseph Wambaugh was adapted into a HBO movie called Points of Origin. The book has also featured on the website, GoodReads.