Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Every novel needs conflict, or so I’ve been told. Here we have opposing forces: Walker and Sharpe, two arson investigators, on one side, and Danny Cole, a convicted con man (though with a heroic streak) on the other. When Danny gets out of prison he plans a major heist against the backdrop of a fire of his own making. The plot is as implausible as it sounds, but it moves along nicely with engaging dialog between Walker and Sharpe who have just been thrown together and are getting to know each other. In the ethos of this book, every rich person is evil and deserves to have his/her house and fortune burn down. At least that’s Danny’s view. There’s some good detective work and plenty of exciting crime plotting and firefighting scenes. The author seems to have done a lot of research, at least enough to seem knowledgeable to me. Four stars is a stretch, but it’s a fun read if your hopes aren’t set too high.