Another great novel in the Patrick bower's series. Patrick, Ralph, & Lien-hua are investigating an arsonist this time with the help of the San Diego PD. Is the arsonist covering other crimes or just setting fires for the thrill of it? As the investigation mounts, different players, shady government DOD contracts, rich businessmen, & secrets all come bubbling to the surface. Balancing the fires & a suicide while spending time with his stepdaughter Tessa is complicating matters for Patrick as he doesn't know who to trust and is there a bigger picture behind the crimes. Trust the evidence wherever it takes you or A good investigator doesn't look for evidence to prove his theories, but to disprove them? ( )

Quit p. 204 ( )

Quit p. 204 ( )

953 ( )

If the half-star was available, this would have been a 4.5 rating. But I won't go backward.

The Rook was a good read. Maybe a little longer than it needed to be, but it did keep me coming back. The end of the story, though ... INTENSE! James truly knew how to spike the adrenaline. I found myself wanting to skip words, because I needed to find out IMMEDIATELY what was going to happen next. Terrific ending ... except that the last paragraph was not a surprise. ( )