Hotshots

June 3, 1996
"Nobody's house is worth risking a firefighter's life for," says a young hotshot (a forest-fire fighter) early in the seventh outing of Albuquerque lawyer Neil Hamel. Van Gieson (Parrot Blues) gives that moral statement a human face, and, through Neil's unsentimental sleuthing, delivers her message with a maximum of adventure and a minimum of preachiness. The mother of Joni Baker, one of nine hotshots who died battling a fire on federal land, wants Neil to represent them in a civil suit against the government for negligence. The government report blames the hotshots for their own deaths. Mike Marshall, Joni's boyfriend and a hotshot who survived, claims the Forest Service sat on information that could have saved his colleagues' lives. Neil makes contact with Ramona Franklin, a Navajo firefighter who served as lookout during the fire, but later on the enigmatic woman makes herself scarce. The only cheerful people Neil encounters are those who can pull enough strings to get firefighters to protect their homes. When Neil goes hunting information in the burned area, an arsonist gives her a closer look at fire than she ever wanted, and another life is lost. Neil's character is enriched in this adventure as Van Gieson focuses on the almost-40 lawyer's developing relationships with the firefighters and with her young Hispanic boyfriend, known as the Kid. After reading this tale, readers will view TV news clips of forest fires wit heightened respect.