Don Winslow è sicuramente uno dei più significativi autori di thriller di questi anni. Se paragonata al “Potere del Cane” e a “L’inverno di Frankie Machine”, “La lingua del fuoco” si può considerare un’opera minore, ma possiede una forza raramente riscontrabile nei thriller che ho letto negli ultimi tempi. Winslow riesce a stupire cambiando meccanismi e spunti a ogni libro pur restando fedele a se stesso e alle sue passioni, tra cui il surf, e ad un certo disincantato romanticismo che accomuna tutti i suoi personaggi da Bobby Z a Art Keller, da Frankie Machine a Boone Daniels fino a Jack Wade. Il mondo si restringe ad una tavola da surf, una longboard, e alla ricerca della Grande Onda. E’ una mitologia che se ben sfruttata, fa già metà del romanzo. L’altra metà è la capacità di Winslow di costruire l’intreccio letterario, che pare dividersi in mille rami, ma è comunque saldamente nelle sue mani. Il gioco di fili, ti porta in una direzione e ti lascia spesso a bocca aperta, perché tutto si ricollega piano, piano mentre la storia subisce svariati capovolgimenti da una pagina all’altra. La storia inizia con un “semplice” incendio, dove una donna viene trovata morta nel suo letto. La polizia liquida la faccenda come un incidente accidentale. La donna, Pamela Vale, si è addormentata ubriaca con la sigaretta in mano. Ma Jack Wade non la pensa allo stesso modo, secondo le prove da lui raccolte minuziosamente, la donna è stata uccisa prima che l’incendio avesse inizio, quindi è omicidio e l’incendio è solo una scusa per coprirlo. Jack Wade è un ex rappresentante delle forze dell’ordine, allontanato perché accusato di adottare metodi poco ortodossi, anche se utili all’incriminazione dei colpevoli. Specializzato in tutto ciò che riguarda gli incendi, si è reinventato perito di una grossa compagnia di assicurazioni. Jack, tra le poche passioni che coltiva, c’è la sua ora di surf all’alba, sulla sua longboard, e l’altra è il suo lavoro, perché come gli diceva suo padre: “E’ importante fare bene il proprio lavoro”. Quando Jack si imbatte in una richiesta di risarcimento danni come quella presentata di Nick Vale, dà prova di essere una vera star del fuoco. Nick Vale, è secondo Wade , l’accusato principale. Lui è il marito della donna, che gli aveva appena chiesto il divorzio e non ha perso nemmeno un secondo a richiedere il risarcimento dei danni, nemmeno il tempo di far raffreddare letteralmente il corpo della sua povera moglie. Ma la cosa non è così semplice. Entrano in scena gangster, traffici interraziali, frodi assicurative, un variegato panorama di personaggi che recitano tutti la loro parte per avvincere e stupire. E Winslow non sbaglia un passaggio, non perde una sola occasione per toccare le corde del lettore. E così tutto tiene, tutto ti costringe a leggere pagina dopo pagina. Una cosa è certa: Winslow dimostra di essere non solo un bravo intrattenitore, ma anche uno di quegli scrittori “molto attesi”, di quelli che dopo aver letto un suo libro ci si chiede quanto si dovrà aspettare affinché ne esca un altro. “La lingua di fuoco” non delude, e risulta superiore alla precedente “La pattuglia dell’alba”. Gli intrecci narrativi sono molteplici e relativi a contesti disuniti che s’innestano alla perfezione nel corpo della trama primaria. Winslow denuncia un’intera economia sommersa che ruota attorno alla categoria del risarcimento danni, mantenendo alta l’attenzione del lettore con continui colpi di scena e facendo una vera e propria disamina del fuoco. Voto: 7,5/8
California Fire and Life is the book that comes right after The Death and Life of Bobby Z in Winslow's oeuvre, toward which I was semi-lukewarm, and is a couple back from The Dawn Patrol, which I liked a bit. In it, Winslow shows the growth curve that eventually landed him with Savages, which is the good news here.Jack Wade isn't quite the archetypical Winslow surfer-slacker semi-hero; he's actually fully employed as a fire claims adjuster with the titular insurance company, and is even good at it, something Winslow usually reserves for his criminals. Wade's assigned to investigate a fire in the mansion of megarich property developer Nicky Vale. The fire not only caused seven figures in damage, but it killed Vale's uber-hot wife. This turns out to be one of those cases that everyone tells Our Hero to not investigate, but he does anyway, and finds out that -- shock horror! -- nothing's as it seems.The things Winslow did well in the other books, he does well here, too. He nails the vibe of late-20th-Century Dana Point and Laguna. The settings are drawn with enough detail for even the most committed flatlander to picture in his/her mind's eye. The dialog is naturalistic and sounds much like what you'd expect coming from characters such as these. The prose is loose-limbed, opinionated, profane, and bursting with color, while not quite as out-there as was Savages. Some of the supporting cast (including Wade's boss and his lost love) are fully-realized characters, something Bobby Z had a problem accomplishing, and the author left out a few of his stock character types, which is also commendable. The bad guys are, as usual, very, very bad, but this time there's a reason for it, unlike in The Dawn Patrol, where they were bad because that's what they were.Even though he's now a working stiff, Wade has the requisite painful, soiled past, complete with lost love. He's not quite as personable as Boone Daniels or Tim Kearney; he's more about competence than charm, which is refreshing. It's interesting to watch him do his very technical thing and use science to tease out the clues to the crime. Fans of forensic procedurals might actually dig this novel. Winslow gives us a fair amount of background in arson investigation (possibly more than strictly necessary) disguised as the saga of Wade going through the academy in his past life. When something breaks right for Wade, it's usually because he earns it, another nice change from Bobby Z.Where'd the fifth star go? When Winslow gives you backstory, he doesn't sprinkle it out with a teaspoon -- you get chapters of backstory, and while it's relatively entertaining to read, it stops the story cold. Wade has a couple of genre-required pointless confrontations with Vale that just make Our Hero look like a dolt. The ending turns into a near-literal Gotterdammerung and a few too many of the plot problems become, shall we say, self-correcting.California Fire and Life isn't a bad way to become acquainted with Winslow, and is perhaps a better start than Bobby Z for established fans to explore the roots of his SoCal/surfer noir works. The arson angle makes for a different sort of crime story, and the words go down like a fresh margarita. If you've read later Winslow and haven't picked up this earlier book yet, get to it.
What do You think about California Fire And Life (2001)?
Don Winslow is a good writer. That said, this wasn't my favorite of his novels. The basics are all there:fast-talking, smart main character, lots of California scenery and of course, surfing. But it got a little bogged down with too much fire inspection specifics. Evidently, having been a fire inspector, Winslow knows a lot about fires and arson. And he just over-shares a little, in my opinion. That really slowed the narrative down. Plus, there were a lot of people to keep track of and a lot of plot points, so by the time it all came together I was a little confused. Still, it was a way above-average read and I did enjoy it.
—Megan
All I have to say is, "too much information." And usually that's not the case. But with Don Wilson's California Fire and Life, it is totally the case. There's so much more information on fires: cause of, investigation, residuals and effect, chemical compounds, ending results, and everything in between, than I ever wanted to think about, let alone know. I don't really care about fires, commercial, residential, arson, natural, or even the misnomer, "act of god." I mean I'm sure I'd care if I was in one and/or I was burning up and yeah… but I'd like to think that I'd be more inclined to getting my ass out of said fire, than document any reason for, or Fahrenheit of, or use of accelerants, or whether or not it was the whim of some bored deity. And because of this aforementioned abundance of information there were pages (read: plural) where I skipped ahead, ignored, agonized over, and now: am bitching about. And yeah, the title is California Fire and Life, so any moron should've figure out the book might just possibly have a lot to do with a bit of fire insurance, and maybe even some life insurance, and the first sentence: "Woman's lying in bed and the bed's on fire" should have clued me in. But I now have to totally admit that it was an airplane book. I mean, I picked up California Fire and Life off a friend's bookshelf to read on a cross country flight, that of course was delayed (2 fucking hours, thank you Delta), and there I was stuck with the damn thing – longingly looking at the horrifyingly bad "best sellers" being offered in the LAX concourse newsstand. And then I'd go back to reading: "What's known in the trade as a BLEVE, a boiling liquid evaporation explosion. Also known as a chimney effect. The fire ignites at the point of origin, and the super heated gases rise and form a fireball." Fuck me. It's nice that Wilson knows how to do research. Obviously he's very thorough. But could you dumb it down a notch? Just say, the damn fire started. Because there's already enough useless information trapped inside my brain, I don't need to know all the particulars a Pyroanalyst needs to know. However, I will say that even with ample opportunity to find another book, I did finish this one on the return flight.
—Patrick O'Neil
While I wanted to read Winslow's Dawn Patrol [set in the surf world around San Diego:] it hasn't arrived so I'm reading CFL, set around Dana [named after THAT Dana:] Point. So far so-so. It is full of unpleasant characters and the hero's main qualities are: he is very good at his job [insurance adjuster for CFL:] and he likes kids and dogs. It may not be enough to make up for the plethora of truly unappetizing folk in this book. Then again I'm only 1/3 if the way. Maybe they lighten up.But no. Another slew of really unappetizing folks have shown up. And the villain's back story has taken the place of any plot movement what so ever, to the point where I have totally forgotten what the hero of this sordid tale does. To add to the woes there are endless pages of info dump about arson investigation, which could make this an arson reference book, but slows the plot such as it is to a crawl. I'm giving it 3 stars [rather than the one it deserves:]because this never was a book for me and I only kept reading to see if the hero would make a reappearance [no as far as I got:]. In fact, if you like Hiaasen and don't mind the total absence of humor or a deft light touch, or just like violence for the sake of violence, then you might like this book.
—P.
