Dirty Fire

by Earl Merkel

Police detective John Davey once had everything—until bribery charges destroyed his career, his marriage, and his life.

Now he's been given a second chance. Davey is pressured into joining an investigation into the baffling murder of a wealthy Chicago couple savagely murdered before their North Shore mansion was set ablaze. To the city, it's a scandal. To Davey, it's overkill.

In the charred ruins, Davey finds clues to something more sinister than deadly premediated a criminal maze threading back through history, and a connection to billions of dollars in artwork that disappeared during the Holocaust. As more victims emerge, Davey begins to suspect the motives of those he is forced to trust, with betrayal layered on betrayal, until he has no one left to believe in but himself.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2003

Reviews

[Kelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is really well written, a happy surprise for a free Kindle download, so I was excited and drawn-in from the beginning. However, the back story and history lessons just got to be too much. I found myself falling asleep after a page or two and completely confused about who all the characters were. It took me months to get through this and I only finished it out of a desire for it to be over with rather than any interest in solving the mystery.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this police tale of corruption and art theft based in Chicago. A sympathetic lead character with the usual traits of near alcoholic and bad background which of course has a twist in the process.

One downside was the brief sex scene which was not worth the bother.

Liked the PoV tale telling and the descriptions of the other characters

Well worth the read if you like the hard bitten detective tale

[Jo Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cop story that morphed into the Cold War, Russian criminals, and Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive.

Though it started as an expose of bad cops and corruption, it quickly became a lot more complicated.

The protagonist was identified as the last honest man standing in the final pages despite having been defrocked earlier by the same crooked cops who were later exposed: bad guys attacking the good guys is a common theme in this genre.

There are too many books about crooked cops but I suppose this is because it has happened so widely and so often.

Again the protagonist prevails, his virtue intact, and he goes to a Cubs game.

[Vanezza Joongz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a book made you feel good, criticisms doesn't matter anymore. I'm not good at pointing out bad things about a book but I can tell this was neatly written. The story was good too. And I don't know if the author was trying to be humourous at the end but it was fun. I'd love to read more about Earl Merkel's works.

[william m murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Earl Merkel good job.

Was a good book,had a little too much explanations on subjects not really pertaining to main subject of story but ,was very well written. I think just about anyone will enjoy this book. looking forward to reading more of Earls books. Thanks

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this one 15th forgot to upload a review. Excellent suspense to the end, if you like thrillers this is one to read....

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this another 1/2 star if possible. It had some rough edges but was an overall good read. I would try this author again if he had a topic that jumped out at me.

[Carmel McCartin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but found it a little hard to follow the plot, at times. I did get to the end, and found that I had more questions than were answered

[Theresa Carlisle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun because it was a thriller, but it was hard to keep track of the different characters and there were several typos in the book.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to follow the plot in places (hence a 3 star rather than a 4 star rating) but overall a good read, if a bit slow to start