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Old Flames
Once a wild teenager in a renegade fraternity, now a heroic Fire Captain, Gerry Ormond visits his hometown and fights to keep his old crime hidden. With ace fire investigator Samantha 'Sam' Markham on his tail, his life begins to unravel. An old girlfriend becomes and obsession and old friends become enemies.
331 pages, ebook
First published April 23, 2011
3 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
E.R. Yatscoff
19 books29 followersRetired firefighter and world traveler. One time freelance astronaut.
Winner of several writing awards.
Winner of several writing awards.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 8, 2011
"Old Flames" by E.R.Yatscoff was a free download that I received for my Kindle through Goodreads Giveaway.This is the first firefighter novel I have read.Captain Gerry Ormond, suddenly thrust into the media spotlight due to a heroic rescue, visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence. He is the Local Hero Firefighter keynote speaker at a Fundraiser Gala.His old crime as a teenager in a fraternity comes to light and his life begins to unravel. Old friends are now enemies and an arson murderer seeks revenge for the old crime.This is a fast paced novel that I could not put down.The indepth desciptions of the fires, and scenes have you totally glued to the outcome of the novel. A very enjoyable read.
June 29, 2011
Apparently, the author says it’s the first mystery featuring a Canadian firefighter. Not that it matters where the guy’s from, right? Go Canucklehead, Go! About time our firemen got into the game. The Captain, Gerry Ormond is a pretty level-headed guy who falls for his old flame and tries to keep an old crime buried. The dialogue I really liked. It’s not like a super, over-the-top hanging-off-buildings Die Hard bullshit, but a regular guy who has to figure out how much he wants the world to know about his old crime yet reveal the arsonist. Looking forward to the sequel as the guy is a fire chief.
December 8, 2016
I received this book free from Amazon and I am voluntarily writing a review. Gerry is a Captain of a Vancouver Fire Department who was recently elevated to hero status by the public for his part in the rescue of a child from a fire. He is back in his home town to accept an award and spend time with his father who is recovering from a stroke. There have been a rash of arson fires following Gerry in Vancouver and now his home town that seemed to be linked to a secret from his reckless teen years.
June 29, 2011
Some good characters in the story. Tough women, too. The old crime is interesting because it (I won’t be a spoiler) leads in a different direction to an even older crime I never saw coming. The fireman author gets in the head of the character a bit and the ‘hero thing’ and stuff I found interesting. Have to give it 4 out of 5 stars. Not bad for a first novel.
December 13, 2011
Old Flames, is a suspenseful mystery. Yatscoff takes us into the life of a Canadian firefighter with a secret from his past. The tale has lots of twists and a reveal, that I didn’t see coming. Told from a male protagonist’s point of view, this novel offers a fresh perspective into firefighting, arson and revenge.
The main character is Captain Gerry Ormond. He is recently widowed and has been catapulted into the spot-light by a photograph of him carrying a young child from a fire. Ormond is a working man with a snarky sense of humor. He puts in an honest day’s work, cares for his team and his daughter. He is in a relationship, but not ready to commit. Recently, his team has encountered arson fires, one of them deadly. The arsonist only strikes when Ormond’s team is on duty, and everyone is beginning to look at him and his team. Ormond has a secret, involving an old man and a fire from his youth. Worried that this has something to do with it, he heads back to the home town he fled from twenty years ago. He spends time with his ailing Dad, meets his high school crush. Karen is married, but the heat that simmers between them could sizzle an egg. He learns someone has been calling his Dad’s home, saying “Gerry” and hanging up. Upon his return home, the calls become threatening. He confronts former friends from his past, and learns that most of the people involved in his secret are dead.
The tale that unfolds is gripping and totally from a male perspective. Yatscoff feeds us the details of Ormond’s past, as the arson continues to escalate. This was a fast paced action packed tale that kept me engaged. The details surrounding the fires were in-depth and fascinating.
The main character is Captain Gerry Ormond. He is recently widowed and has been catapulted into the spot-light by a photograph of him carrying a young child from a fire. Ormond is a working man with a snarky sense of humor. He puts in an honest day’s work, cares for his team and his daughter. He is in a relationship, but not ready to commit. Recently, his team has encountered arson fires, one of them deadly. The arsonist only strikes when Ormond’s team is on duty, and everyone is beginning to look at him and his team. Ormond has a secret, involving an old man and a fire from his youth. Worried that this has something to do with it, he heads back to the home town he fled from twenty years ago. He spends time with his ailing Dad, meets his high school crush. Karen is married, but the heat that simmers between them could sizzle an egg. He learns someone has been calling his Dad’s home, saying “Gerry” and hanging up. Upon his return home, the calls become threatening. He confronts former friends from his past, and learns that most of the people involved in his secret are dead.
The tale that unfolds is gripping and totally from a male perspective. Yatscoff feeds us the details of Ormond’s past, as the arson continues to escalate. This was a fast paced action packed tale that kept me engaged. The details surrounding the fires were in-depth and fascinating.
October 27, 2011
This book is action packed and extremely realistic. If you're looking for a good read with plenty of tension, this may be the book for you. The firefighting scenes are incredibly detailed and ultra-vivid and the main character has a wry, black humor wit.
Gruesome death is written in mind-blowing detail and the fight scene at the end of the book is riveting, but I won't say more to giveaway the ending.
The plight of the hero is horrfyingly real and almost too close for comfort. This is the kind of thing that could happen to someone if everything went wrong, you can really feel for the poor characters facing this dastardly and master-wrought conspiricy.
Also be sure to check out this author's upcoming next book which I'm sure will be even more entertaining.
--David
Gruesome death is written in mind-blowing detail and the fight scene at the end of the book is riveting, but I won't say more to giveaway the ending.
The plight of the hero is horrfyingly real and almost too close for comfort. This is the kind of thing that could happen to someone if everything went wrong, you can really feel for the poor characters facing this dastardly and master-wrought conspiricy.
Also be sure to check out this author's upcoming next book which I'm sure will be even more entertaining.
--David
June 29, 2011
I really liked this books. It was by far one of my favorite reads recently. It had action and some great suspense.
It's an awesome firefighter novel and the authors great detail really shows his in-depth knowledge. The characters are real and they keep you interested in the book from beginning to end.
Check out his website: www.yatscoffbooks.com
It's an awesome firefighter novel and the authors great detail really shows his in-depth knowledge. The characters are real and they keep you interested in the book from beginning to end.
Check out his website: www.yatscoffbooks.com
October 26, 2023
Fire Dream.
An excellent story. Well thought out, and well researched. Every aspect of Fire Dream comes across as real and plausible, with characters the reader really gets to know well, whether you come to like them, or wish them a meeting with a fast bus. The flow is well paced, and the reality injected into the action ticks all the boxes without going over the top.
Gerry, a Vancouver fire department Captain, has a secret from his past, but he also wears the recent badge of national hero for the rescuing of a little girl from a building fire, which puts him in the spotlight, even though he maintains it was a team effort.
After receiving the Canadian Governor General's Award, Gerry then returns to his hometown due to his father's recent stroke, and he finds the spotlight is on him for more than one reason, not knowing that that reason has also been teasing the fringes of his life in Vancouver with respect to recent acts of arson occurring during his shifts of duty.
Gerry's situation reminded me of a nursery rhyme from when I too was somewhat wayward...
Shadow, shadow lurks behind
Bares its teeth
Bides its time
History's mystery
Turned and twisty
Taps the shoulder
When memory's misty
Shadow, shadow lurks behind
Bares its teeth
Bides its time
Returning to Fernly, and discovering that some old wounds are just as fresh twenty or so years on, Gerry's lurking shadow brings both good and bad to his life, and he's juggling many balls to keep his secret below the radar, while also riding his newfound fame, which both fuels and funds an important charity. Gerry struggles to maintain just the right altitude so as to manage the varying forms of attention coming at him like licks of flame in a burning house.
The read is well worth the investment of time.
An excellent story. Well thought out, and well researched. Every aspect of Fire Dream comes across as real and plausible, with characters the reader really gets to know well, whether you come to like them, or wish them a meeting with a fast bus. The flow is well paced, and the reality injected into the action ticks all the boxes without going over the top.
Gerry, a Vancouver fire department Captain, has a secret from his past, but he also wears the recent badge of national hero for the rescuing of a little girl from a building fire, which puts him in the spotlight, even though he maintains it was a team effort.
After receiving the Canadian Governor General's Award, Gerry then returns to his hometown due to his father's recent stroke, and he finds the spotlight is on him for more than one reason, not knowing that that reason has also been teasing the fringes of his life in Vancouver with respect to recent acts of arson occurring during his shifts of duty.
Gerry's situation reminded me of a nursery rhyme from when I too was somewhat wayward...
Shadow, shadow lurks behind
Bares its teeth
Bides its time
History's mystery
Turned and twisty
Taps the shoulder
When memory's misty
Shadow, shadow lurks behind
Bares its teeth
Bides its time
Returning to Fernly, and discovering that some old wounds are just as fresh twenty or so years on, Gerry's lurking shadow brings both good and bad to his life, and he's juggling many balls to keep his secret below the radar, while also riding his newfound fame, which both fuels and funds an important charity. Gerry struggles to maintain just the right altitude so as to manage the varying forms of attention coming at him like licks of flame in a burning house.
The read is well worth the investment of time.
April 26, 2013
This story read more like a history/mystery than a fire fighting drama. Instead of focusing on the arson fires that are mentioned in the beginning of the book, the story is more about Gerry’s trip to his hometown. We learn a lot of his history growing up, and how things have changed, and haven’t changed since then.
Gerry was a hard character to like. He wasn’t fully good or bad. He had a bad boy history as a teenager that is relived quite a bit in the story, and even though he is a hero in his fire fighter persona, he seems to be a jerk on a regular basis.
The plot of the story is a bit messy, without a clear purpose. It is a quite predictable and I guessed who the bad guy was early on.
Overall, this was a family drama type story that just happened to have a male fire fighting protagonist. There is little fire fighting action, but where it appears, it was intense and emotional. I wish the whole story was like that. Instead, it seemed a bit lack lustre.
Gerry was a hard character to like. He wasn’t fully good or bad. He had a bad boy history as a teenager that is relived quite a bit in the story, and even though he is a hero in his fire fighter persona, he seems to be a jerk on a regular basis.
The plot of the story is a bit messy, without a clear purpose. It is a quite predictable and I guessed who the bad guy was early on.
Overall, this was a family drama type story that just happened to have a male fire fighting protagonist. There is little fire fighting action, but where it appears, it was intense and emotional. I wish the whole story was like that. Instead, it seemed a bit lack lustre.
May 7, 2020
This is a novel for those interested in firefighters, wrapped in a personal story and mystery. There's lots of realistic firefighting description and an interesting premise. A series of fires in Vancouver, Canada, seem targeted at our firefighter hero, Gerry, and might be related to a secret from his past and the fire dream that haunts him. Gerry is a real hero, who travels to Ottawa to receive a Governor General's award for rescuing a child in a fire. I liked his genuine modesty about his heroics. He's a widower, with a "goth" teenage daughter, a jealous colleague and a girlfriend he doesn't like, but can't break up with. From Ottawa, he goes to his small Ontario hometown, where most of the story takes place. Here he confronts his past and ultimately deals with the mystery of the Vancouver fires. I find Gerry a generally sympathetic character, with plenty of angst to carry him through a mystery series. I look forward to reading about his future adventures.
June 7, 2020
In Fire Dream, the author's background as a career firefighter brings the reader into the dramatic scenes with his vibrant descriptions of on-the-job firefighting. The life of Captain Gerry Ormand is vividly portrayed as a firefighter and as a guy who returns to his hometown where he deals with people who are still living their glory days in high school. Pulling him back into the memories of his 17-year-old rough and tumble life, strong emotions return to him as do the secrets he has tried to cover up all these years. The characters in the story are ones who the reader will care about. I enjoyed the action scenes and the touching romantic scenes. The story caught me; I had to keep reading to discover the surprising end. I recommend this novel to mystery readers. I received a copy of Fire Dream from the author and I am voluntarily offering this review.
October 24, 2021
A well plotted mystery about a hero firefighter whose teenage misstep threatens to bring him down (literally, as in murder) decades later. Gerry Ormond, the main character, uncovers who's behind the effort and it's a great reveal that makes sense but is unpredictable-the best kind. The book starts with a fire and description of the main character, Gerry Ormond, then really gets going when Ormond goes to visit his dad in his hometown. For me, that was the real beginning of the story, although I really like the inside track on an arson fire and
April 23, 2020
Author has signed with BWL Publishing and now rebranded the novel as FIRE DREAM A rare Canadian firefighter mystery novel. It was released a few years ago as an eBook by Publishing. If you're tired of the usual cop and lawyer stories, give his one a go. It's got some tough women in here.
January 9, 2014
Very good read, as a firefighter I was happy to see Ed keep very true to the realities of fireground situations. Character development also very true to form as I could see many co-workers fitting the mold of the various characters. Look forward to reading more.
May 21, 2020
I wish I could give it ten stars!
Facebook is extremely well-written. It sucks you inside as if you were watching a movie. I hope this book shows up on Audible! It is absolutely top shelf!
Facebook is extremely well-written. It sucks you inside as if you were watching a movie. I hope this book shows up on Audible! It is absolutely top shelf!
August 19, 2021
Well-written but somewhat laborious to read. Main character is not likeable. Maybe 3 1/2 stars, but no more.
September 28, 2023
They say, “Write about what you know”, well, E.R. Yatscoff knows about firefighting. And, he knows about crime writing. From the start, you’ll know this is no ordinary “whodunnit” novel, the firefighting angle is original and fresh. Tracking down an arsonist, dealing with hometown skeletons and layer on a relationship roller-coaster. Once you pick the book up you won’t want to put it down until you know… who’s making the phone calls?
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews