Summer of Fire: Book One of the Yellowstone Series

Yellowstone #1

by Linda Jacobs

It is 1988, and Yellowstone Park is on fire.

Among the thousands of summer warriors battling to save America’s crown jewel, is single mother Clare Chance. Having just watched her best friend, a fellow Texas firefighter, die in a roof collapse, she has fled to Montana to try and put the memory behind her. She’s not the only one fighting personal demons as well as the fiery dragon threatening to consume the park.

There’s Chris Deering, a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot, seeking his next adrenaline high and a good time that doesn’t include his wife, and Ranger Steve Haywood, a man scarred by the loss of his wife and baby in a plane crash.

Three flawed, wounded people; one horrific blaze. Its tentacles are encircling the park, coming ever closer, threatening to cut them off. The landmark Old Faithful Inn and Park Headquarters at Mammoth are under siege, and now there’s a helicopter down, missing, somewhere in the path of the conflagration.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Historical, Adventure, Ebooks, Suspense

436 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Linda Jacobs started creating fiction when she was very young, but for twenty years her writing took a back burner to her career as a professional geologist. Then she attended Rice University’s novel writing program and never looked back. She has published four books in The Yellowstone Series and two romances under the name Christine Carroll. Married to fellow geologist Richard Jacobs, Linda divides her time between the West and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Born a university brat and trained at the Master's level in Geology, I was one of Exxon Corporation's first woman field geologists. Before my 2004 move to New Mexico, I lived in Houston and Dallas and worked for a number of oil and gas companies on the front line where new fields are found. This fascinating and stimulating career was a roller coaster, with discoveries and dry holes, but I wouldn't change a minute of it.

Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, fiction came to me when I was very young. Already an avid reader, I'd hit a ball against a wall and tell myself stories . . . about people who lived in New York City, a place I'd only read about in Dorothy B. Hughes's and Jacqueline Susanns work. By age thirteen, I'd taught myself to hunt and peck on Dad's old Royal Typewriter and started writing novels. In addition to New York, my characters roamed Hollywood, Yosemite and Hawaii. I even featured a Saudi Arabian princess attending college in America (after careful research of Medina and Mecca in the 1963 World Book Encyclopedia). My largest effort was over one hundred single-spaced, typewritten pages. Eventually, I decided, as many adolescents do, that my mother might be reading my material, so I had a bonfire in the backyard. This is certainly a blessing for posterity, as well as for me. Now, no one will ever know how truly awful those works must have been.

I published poetry and a short story in the Greenville High School literary magazine, known as Bits-o-Lit. In college at Furman University and doing graduate work at The Ohio State University, I studied science and my fiction took a back burner to technical writing. I did read, though, voraciously: James Mitchener, Ian Fleming, Ken Follett, Margaret Mitchell, Ayn Rand, and Nora Roberts to sample a few.

After a twenty-year layoff, in 1992, I joined Rice University's novel writing program, chaired by American Book Award winner Venkatesh Kulkarni. I studied with this consummate teacher and author for a total of six years, until he passed on. The Rice critique group still meets in Houston to this day, although I don’t get there often. I thank the following people for their steadfast support of my efforts: Marjorie Arsht, Kathryn Brown, Judith Finkel, Bob Hargrove, Elizabeth Hueben, Karen Meinardus, the late Joan Romans, Angela Shepherd, Jeff Theall, Diana Wade, and Madeleine Westbrook.

Then, following the old adage that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, I met Rita Gallagher. Renowned author of novels and non-fiction works on writing, Rita has taught over two hundred published authors. She focuses on novel structure and helped me go from writing great scenes to putting a book together. Though Rita turned eighty while I was her pupil, her mind was still sharp enough to find a sentence on page seventy that belonged on page seventeen. Unfortunately, she passed away in early 2004, and the world lost a grand lady.

Married to fellow geoscientist Richard Jacobs, I divide my time between the West and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where I inherited my grandfather's farm. I enjoy adventure travel, having scuba dived the Caribbean, taken three African safaris, and gone alpine hiking in New Zealand and the Spanish Pyrenees. And of course, I regularly visit Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.

Reviews

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 47%. In all honesty I probably could've stuck it out to the end, but it would have just been a 2-star read.

The only good character is the MC Chance, a female firefighter who gets away from one tragedy by jumping headlong into another. Every male character is a cardboard cutout: a drunk; a cheater; perfection on a pedestal. The book is more about Chance's interactions with these men than it is about Yellowstone on fire - which is what I actually wanted to read about.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea behind this book, telling the story of the devestating 1988 Yellowstone fires, is interesting, but the execution wasn't. The book seemed more focused on the main character's, Clare Chance, love life than developing a truly intriguing fire story. The writer doesn't seem to trust the reader's memory either, since events, moods and just about everything is repeated or restated. It happened so frequently it was distracting. It reminds me of those television shows the sum up what happened before the commercial break, ok I got it, now let's move on!

This is a first book in a series. It was a free Friday eBook for the nook, which was probably intended to get you hooked into the series. I was so disappointed with this one I certainly won't seek out the next. I suppose I was disappointed because I wanted to like it, but the writing just made me scream. If half stars were an option this would be rated at one and a half.

[Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Strong 3.75 Star Read

1988 was indeed a Summer of Fire. I remember watching the news and seeing the Western states ablaze, especially in and around Yellowstone National Park. Over 2 Million acres burned in around the park, as accurately documented in Linda Jacobs’ fictional novel. Fifty-two fires threatened the national park. All were set by lightning or humans. The Park Service’ policy let it burn was seriously questioned and nationally debated. But the actions of the brave men and women who valiantly fought the hell blaze monsters were never in doubt. Linda Jacobs successfully tells the tale of these firefighters in SUMMER OF FIRE. It is part Action, Adventure, Suspense, Romance, and Historical Fiction. It is hard to label this novel. Even Bob Barbee, Yellowstone Superintendent (1983-1988) read it, calling it ”uncannily accurate…Linda Jacobs has produced a gripping novel about one of the most electrifying events in the annals of American wildfires - the great Yellowstone fires of 1988. Through her fictional characters, Jacobs has captured the essence of the emotional coaster, high drama, and the outstanding performance of America's finest wild land fire fighters. She has done her homework well and the setting is completely accurate. This is a compelling work and I had difficulty putting it down."

And I completely agree with his assessment. Firefighter Clare Chance flees from her worst nightmare – her closest friend and mentor, Frank, died by her side in a horrific apartment fire in Houston. Her 17 year-old daughter ignores her. Her ex-husband has moved on with his new wife. Perhaps battling the wildfires will burn away her guilt and the camaraderie of the fire brotherhood will fill the emptiness in her life. She will need every skill that she knows to fight the devil blazes, minister wounds, and train the troops to dig burn lines.

Biologist and Park Ranger, Dr. Steve Harwood, fervently believes in the let burn policy and studies the burn effects of the policy. He needs the data from these new fires to further document his strengthen his findings. His boss can’t trust him, though. He is afraid to fly after the accident that claimed the lives of wife and baby daughter. He is also a drunk who blames everyone but himself for everything wrong. Ex Vietnam pilot Deering seeks the adrenaline rush of piloting helicopters rescuing fire stormers, dropping fire retard and water upon the moving orange line below him, a good time that doesn’t include his wife. When he is forced to ditch his chopper carrying Harwood in a lake, Clare and her comrade Javier scramble to rescue both men, and sparks fly. Will the fires cleanse their personal demons or will they succumb to them as they battle the fast growing inferno?

[#artdamnit Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Summer of Fire by Linda Jacobs was set in Yellowstone National Park during the major 1988 wildfires epidemic. The story followed Clare Chance, a female firefighter as she helps deal with these fires while dealing with the craziness of her own life.

In short, not that impressed with the book. Clare winds up in a weird love triangle, she got loads of undeserved special treatment and was just downright annoying the entire book. I finished the book, but in all honesty, it wasn’t worth it. Good thing I got it for free.

[roberta serra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVED all the references to the park, but couldn't care less about the 2 dimensional characters :-(

[Marnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fires of Yellowstone during the 80s was real. The main characters' the firewoman, the biologist, and the helicopter pilot put the story together. Each are there fighting fires and each were also fighting their own inner demons. Their lives intertwine and come together with even a love story added. Interesting read. I was a kid when Yellowstone was on fire losing acres and acres of trees and even damaging some big pieces of history of the "wild wild west". Started from lightening strikes to trees, a drought, and high winds. Never been there, but maybe someday.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caught my interest when I saw it in a bookstore during our trip to Yellowstone. I liked the descriptions of Yellowstone and the history of the catastrophic 1988 wildfire. I was not as crazy about the three main characters and their stories. I did finish it however.

[Dlmrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Sally Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I write fiction, I always start with place. Not consciously, actually, but I know my stories are going to take place in the South, usually in a small town in the South, because that’s where my creative sensibilities live. Sometimes other places interest me, and I imagine setting a story there, but my creative sensibilities say, “Nope. You know where we live.”

Such was the case this past summer when I visited Yellowstone National Park. The mountains, geysers, canyons, rivers, and lodge pole pines form a truly magnificent, other-worldly place, and I wanted to capture the spirit of that place in a story. But, you know what happened. Fortunately, somebody else’s creative sensibilities not only live in Yellowstone, they know how to capture the spirit perfectly.

On a tour of the awe-inspiring Old Faithful Inn, our guide mentioned that a few novels had been set in the park and some of them were available in the inn’s gift shop. Following the tour, I made a bee-line for the gift shop and discovered Linda Jacobs’ Summer of Fire. Set in 1988, when wild fires consumed more than half of Yellowstone, the novel tells the stories of a fire fighter, a helicopter pilot, and a park ranger brought together by the need to control the fires and their own needs to control parts of themselves.

Clare Chance, the firefighter, is a single mother from Houston who has just watched her co-worker and best friend die fighting an apartment-building fire. She comes to Yellowstone trying to lose the memories and fears from that tragedy, believing forest fires, while just as fierce, are less personal.

The helicopter pilot, Chris Deering, is a Vietnam veteran whose wife wants him to give up flying, but he can’t give up the adrenalin rush of the job. And Steve Haywood is a park ranger using alcohol to submerge his sorrow over losing his wife and child in a plane crash that he survived.

The characters’ involvement begins when Ranger Haywood is in Deering’s helicopter, trying to lower a canvas bucket into Yellowstone Lake to scoop water to drop on the fire as it burns closer to the lake and the village around it. Unexpected winds and an uncooperative bucket make raising the helicopter above the burning trees impossible, or so Steve thinks. Refusing to be in another crash, Steve jumps from the helicopter into the lake, just before Deering is forced to ditch the helicopter into the water and barely escapes as the machine sinks.

After another helicopter throws a horse collar to Deering and hauls him to shore, Clare spots Steve lying half in the water and half on the beach. She keeps him floating in the water to avoid the fire before the two make their way to the small Lake Hospital where Deering is being treated.

As weeks pass and the fires rage and retreat, relationships among the three also rage and retreat. At first Clare is attracted to Deering until she learns he’s married. Steve has his charms, but his excessive drinking makes him hard to get close to, except for the park manager who tells him he’ll have to choose between Yellowstone and the bottle. The death of a young firefighter nearly destroys Clare’s resolve to redeem herself, and her worries deepen when her teenage daughter joins her at the park.

And no matter what else is happening, the fires roar on.

In some ways, Summer of Fire reminds me of a war novel. The intensity of the times makes people do things they might otherwise not do. Also, the novel addresses issues of fire, particularly the “let burn” policy. Undoubtedly, Summer of Fire could not have happened anywhere except Yellowstone because the park is a significant part of the story.

On her website, Linda Jacobs says, “Once I saw Yellowstone, the lakes, the canyons, the geysers, my fate was sealed. There were stories here.” Indeed, there are stories at Yellowstone, and we readers are fortunate that Jacobs tells them so well.

[Erth · Rating 4 out of 5]

now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about Yellowstone park in 1988 with the severe fires that wreaked havoc over the park and destroyed many homes and took lives as well. Clare fends of post traumatic stress after losing a fellow fire fighter in Houston and heads to Yellowstone to fight the fires. She meets two men and falls for both of them but in different ways. Both men are dealing with grief. Deering, a pilot, has lost a couple helicopters in treacherous fire conditions, and one of those times was with Steve Haywood. There is no love lost between the two, so when they both capture Clare's attention there is some animosity between them. Later on in the book, when the fires are just not stopping, Clare's daughter arrives and they fight and she runs off during a bad time when they are evacuating the area. She goes off with Deering to flee and help some trapped hikers. However the winds from the fires are too much and they crash. No one knows where they are at, and finally they retrace Deerings steps and Clare, Steve, and the head man for one of the fire fighting helicopter companies leads them to the crash site. They spot Deering and Devon, and struggle to get out before the fire engulfs them. They make it to safety, and now Clare must make a decision. She must decide to continue the relationship that was started between her and Steve and stay near yellowstone, or go home with her daughter to Houston. Meeting Steve has sparked Clare's interest in beginning a new relationship, and her daughter decides to go to college, and in the end they have reconciled there relationship.

Interwoven throughout the story are facts about the fires that ripped through yellowstone in 1988 with how many fire fighters, helicopters, acres burned, etc.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a "Free Friday" selection on my NOOK quite a while ago and forgot about it until recently. I've been reading a lot of thrillers, and Goodreads suggested it to me, reminding me that I already had it. I'm so glad I finally read it! The main characters are wonderful, compelling, and very real. The story takes you into the hearts and minds of people fighting fires in Yellowstone in the 1980s and really increased the healthy respect I already had for firefighters. My only real complaint is the heavy use of flashbacks. I understand the need for them, but the transitions between real time and those flashbacks weren't as clear cut as they could have been, so I found myself having to go back and puzzle out where the flashbacks started each time. I also think maps would have complimented the statistics about the fires in a way that would have really highlighted what the characters were dealing with. Over all, though, this was an excellent book. Very hard to put down. I look forward to reading more by Linda Jacobs.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The paths of three people overlap in Yellowstone the summer of 1988 fighting the worst wildfires in park history: a Houston firefighter, a Park Ranger biologist, a helicopter pilot. Each is fighting demons and facing tough life decisions. Their stories do grab your interest, but what keeps your attention riveted is the wildfire and the battles fought to save life and property. That should not surprise given how mesmerizing fire is.

The weakness of the book is the assumption of the author that you are intimately familiar with Yellowstone and the region; there are no maps. Because I was reading it on my tablet I solved this problem using Google, keeping a map bookmarked for easy reference.

I needed a book set in summer for the Pop Sugar 2016 Reading Challenge in part because of the Yellowstone setting, after just reading Steinbeck's brief visit to that national park as part of his 'Travels With Charley'.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book without reading the prologue. I'm glad I read it before I got too far into the book. I didn't remember the Yellowstone fires of 1988. The book made more sense when I knew it was fiction based on real events. I like stories like this. You learn something but you are reading a story not a textbook. I liked the love triangle it added human interest. The news release listing of the fires repeating a few times through out the book was a bit odd and repetitive. I skimmed it each time. I thought it was appropriate at the end. My timing of reading the book during a heat wave added a little to the intensity because the characters in the book were hot due to being close ot the fires and I could image the feeling of being hot because it was over 100 out as I was reading.

[Mgray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some authors love to use the senses when providing descriptions. In the Summer of Fire, Linda Jacobs used the sense of smell and hearing throughout the book. The sense of smell was frequently used. Who knew that a burning fire could have so many smells? There were so many different sounds described as the fire burned through the book.

This was a free Friday book I read on my Nook. The book started slow and I found it difficult to care about the characters at first. As the characters were developed and their weaknesses exposed and overcome I found myself enjoying the book and found it harder to put down during the last chapters.

The beauty of Yellowstone Park is described as it is destoyed during the fires of 1988.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Free Friday nook book This is an entertaining enough tale of the summer of 1988 when firefighters struggled to contain fires that were ravaging Yellowstone. In this novel, there are three main characters--Clare Chance, firefighter from Houston along with her daughter later in the story,Steve Haywood, the forest ranger,and last of all, Deering, the heliocopter pilot. The most exciting part, I think, is where Steve, Clare, and a bunch of rookie firefighters are trapped by the fire and have to lie down on the ground under a thin fireproof covering while the fire blazes on top of them. If there hadn't been the obligatory who's going to get the girl--whom we read twice early in the book has small breasts, I would have given it four stars.

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book! Being familar with West Yellowstone and the Park, I really enjoyed the historical references included in the telling of the story.
As a side note: For those of you who are not familar with the old Pacific Railway Dining Hall and the massive fireplace that the author describes, let me try and give you a visual context. We have an awesome square dance held in the dining hall evey Labour Day Weekend. The featured Callers (and Cuers)not only set up their speakers and their tables (to hold their music) inside the cavernous fireplace, but they call standing inside the firepalce as well. No longer in use as a fireplace, it makes a natural stage!

[Marla Mutch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a slow start, which is weird since it takes place in such a dramatic setting, in such a dramatic time. The characters eventually fleshed out and started getting more compelling as the book got to the middle, but that is along time. It picks up and starts becoming more interesting as it goes a long. The main character is a woman fire fighter up to work the forest fire, and her two romantic interests, a forest ranger with a sad past and bad knees, and a married, liar, chopper pilot. There is also a sullen teen who finally sees the error of her ways. This is the kind of book you finish on a vacation because you can't run to the bookstore and you already have it.

[Jeanie Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1988 firefighters from across America gathered at Yellowstone National Park. to fight the worst forest fire in years. Claire needs to get away from Houston and the memory of losing her partner in a fire. Chopper pilot Chris Deering is trying to escape from his past in flying fire and in drinking. Through the intense story of battling this historic blaze the two develop a relationship that may be the salvation of both. No guaranttees from the author. The day to day struggles and fears fuel this story just as the undergrowth and dead trees that tourist based policy left throughout the area of Yellowstone fuel the monster fire.

[Holly Gravel · Rating 4 out of 5]

B+ Read it during and after our trip there. It was fun to recognize the names of places we'd been, or I was familiar with. Three intersecting stories - female firefighter Clare is with her partner when he dies and goes to Yellowstone to fight the fires of a 1988 to get away. She has a difficult teen dtgr Devon who visits at the end and is involved in fire drama. Scott Deering is a former Vietnam helo pilot whose wife Georgia is not thrilled he continues to fly. He loses his helo and one more at the end. Biologist/ranger Steve Haywood lost a wife and child in an airplane crash; he and Clare hook up at the happy end.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got my hands on this book as a freebie for my Nook. I've had it for some time and finally got around to reading it. What initially had me interested in the story was the setting of the 1988 Yellowstone fires. I was there as a tourist during some of that time so it was interesting to see it from those that worked to fight the fires. Even though based on a historical event in the not that distant past, this is a story of fiction. The author does a good job making the characters believable. A nice book for Labor Day weekend while camping

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free Friday offering from Barnes and Noble. All about the 1988 fires in Yellowstone Park. The journalistic view of weather naturally ignited fires are a natural process and should be allowed or whether firefighters' lives should be risked to put them out. In the midst of all this, there is a story of the Clare Chance who is a mother and a divorced woman and a firefighter (a WOMAN firefighter!) As if being a single woman and a single mother are not difficult enough!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about the firefighting in Yellowstone with the summer of 1988 fires. I was in Yellowstone in 87, 88 and 89, so got to see the park before, during and after the fires. Very interesting to read about that period of time that I remember watching... Wish it had had a little less "romance," but I very much enjoyed the book. The romance part would keep me from recommending it to a lot of folks, though... bummer.

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great, not bad. Interesting history of the Yellowstone National Park fires in the late 1980's. History of the region inter dispersed with the personal conflicts of Clare Chance, a Houston firefighter on loan to fight the wild fires. Clare must deal with her feelings of guilt over the death of a fellow firefighter, her daughters rebellion against her job and her divorce and her feelings for two different men she has met, a park ranger and a helicopter pilot.

[Rebecca]

I found this book from my Nook's Free Friday selection. Also, I was at Yellowstone the fall after the fire in 1988.

The best part of the book for me was the back story about how the 1988 Yellowstone fires were fought by firefighters, volunteers, rangers and the military. It told the story of how all the different groups came together to try to keep all the areas safe and about the necessary evacuations. One of the main characters was from Houston, so that was also interesting for me.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while for me to get into the story. There was a lot of detail about fire equipment and fire data for Yellowstone. The further I went, the deeper I fell. I feared for these people as they braved the flames of the monstrous Yellowstone fires!

The author perhaps should have put away the thesaurus. There were many times a simpler word would have worked better and let the story flow.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well written story about the fires in Yellowstone Park in the 1980s. The author also throws in a romance on the side- it makes for entertaining and at times- edge of your seat, heart pounding action. I would recommend this, especially those who like books that combine writer's creative liberties and historical events.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, interesting story and I loved the backdrop of the story being the fires in Yellowstone adding historic detail as well as paying respect to those who fought the fires.

Not sure I'll read any of the others though. But for a book I downloaded for free as a Free Friday Nook Book, I have no complaints.

[~Leslie~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting romance story using the fires in Yellowstone as the backdrop. The heroine is a firefighter who goes to Yellowstone after a tragedy. The writing is sometimes difficult to follow. It tends to jump around. But the characters are interesting and layered. It bogs down a little in the middle but it does pick up again.

[Richard Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I did find the continual rehashing of the previous tragedy in Clare Chance's firefighting life a bit tedious though. At any rate, this was a free offering on the Nook and it captivated me enough to spring for the other two books in this series. I hope that they are as good as Summer of Fire.