Field Of Fire [Hardcover]

James O. Born's first three books --- WALKING MONEY, SHOCK WAVE and ESCAPE CLAUSE --- featured Bill Tasker, a believable Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent in a series informed by Born's own FDLE experiences and the two-legged fauna that haunt the dark edges of the South Florida underworld. But none of Born's prior works (as uniformly great as they are) will prepare readers for FIELD OF FIRE, wherein Born breaks his own mold and begins again, with spectacular results.

FIELD OF FIRE is a bit disconcerting at first, but in a good, even excellent, way. The source of initial unease is Alex "Rocket" Duarte, a South Florida ATF agent who doesn't drink or smoke and will carry a firearm only with the greatest reluctance. Duarte is inordinately good looking but extremely slow on the uptake with the ladies, independent but living with his parents; he is a bit unsettling at first, but ultimately believable, given that to some degree we all know people like this. Duarte is like a character encountered in some wonderful collaboration between T. Jefferson Parker and Elmore Leonard.

The story is set against the insane backdrop of Broward County, in the streets, alleys and shops that are blocks removed from the sand and sun and frat-boy conviviality that deceptively rules the beachfront property. Duarte, gradually reacclimating himself to South Florida after a military tour of Bosnia, is hunting Alberto Salez, a gunrunner who is inordinately lucky and, unbeknownst to Duarte, as coldly vicious and homicidal as one can imagine. Duarte is also unaware that Mike Garretti, an explosives expert with an odd, unexpected tie to Duarte, is after Salez as well.

When one of Garretti's explosive efforts to eliminate Salez goes horribly wrong, the U.S. Attorney's office gets involved in the persona of Caren Larson, who has been dispatched by her Washington boss to see if there is any connection between the South Florida bombing and similar incidents in Virginia and Seattle. Larson is immediately attracted to Duarte; her gentle persistence, matched against his snail-like uptake, makes for some interesting reading as the two of them gradually uncover a scheme that leads somewhat uncomfortably back to one of them.

While the plot is more than enough to keep the pages turning, it is Born's ability to create off-the-wall yet believable characters that makes the book worth reading. Perhaps the main one of these is Duarte's father, a plumber who dispatches quiet, terse wisdom across the dinner table and who ultimately provides the key that Duarte and Larson need to blow their case open.

It is Duarte, however, who is the star of FIELD OF FIRE, and his instinct on when to follow and when to ignore the rules makes for intriguing reading. Similarly, Garretti, while no angel, is not all bad here either, and the rough and uneasy similarity between Garretti and Duarte creates some interesting, if unusual, chemistry. The result is a novel that, with Born's already impressive backlist, exponentially will increase his presence on the A-list of thriller fans everywhere.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

ATF agent Alex "Rocket" Duarte has returned from Bosnia and is working diligently to get a promotion to a supervisory position. At present he and his partner are searching at the migrant camp in western Palm Beach County for Alberto Salez so they can arrest for him violating firearms statutes. The wily man escapes and later that night Salez's car explodes by someone who used it to tripwire it.

Caren Larson, a lawyer for the Department of Justice is assigned to work with Duarte because there have been two other G-4 bombings, one in Seattle and one in Virginia. Assistant Attorney General Bob Morales believes that the men who were targeted in the bombings were trying to organize labor and someone wanted them to stop. Duarte's instincts tell him there is a cover-up going on and when another person gets murdered in California, by the same hit man involved in the other bombings; he believes Caren is holding back on him, something that could cost all the people working on the case their lives.

FIELD OF FIRE is a fantastic police procedural with a protagonist who once he gets the scent of a crime is like a bloodhound who needs to continue until he gets his prey. Women will adore the hero who is innocent when it comes to females but has superlative investigative skills that allow him to think outside the box. Surprisingly, the hitman has a conscience in spite of how he makes a living as he goes out of his way not to kill Duarte. He needs his own novel.

Harriet Klausner

I first read Born with his WALKING MONEY, enjoying it alot. Born is a real life law enforcement agent in Florida and he writes with the knowledge he has. Good cop stuff with his hero Bill Tasker.
This book we get a new protagonist, ATF agent, Alex "Rocket" Duarte. He is very likeable too, and since I live in Palm Beach County, Florida, the site of most of the book's action, that is fun. This character I liked, but the book itself sometimes was a little slow paced. I call it a beach read. Better than ok, but a little lacking. To be sure I will read James O.Born again. His stuff is good but not Elmore Leonard, yet, yet.

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