Phoenix... a book review

Title: Phoenix

Publisher: Griffyn Ink

Pub Date: October 2, 2012

ISBN: 9781937996093

Author: A.J. Scudiere

Fiction - Adult: Mystery, Detective, Suspense

“Great fast-paced mystery with enough twists and turns in the plot

to keep the most avid reader hooked!”

~ Ellen C., blogger and avid reader, GA

Book description from goodreads.com:

Jason Mondy’s world is unraveling.

His seemingly secure job as a fire fighter is suddenly thrown into chaos. The bright spot in his week is that he rescued two children from a house fire, but he returns home that night to find all his furniture is missing. His girlfriend has left him without warning and his nightmares keep him from sleeping. Even just a simple trip home to find some rest leads his adoptive mother to sit him down and tell him that maybe his troubles aren’t quite as innocuous as they seem. Then his she divulges a secret she’s kept for over twenty-six years . . .

Jason has a brother he doesn’t remember existed.

He doesn’t remember his life before he was adopted at age seven. He only knows that he was rescued from the fire that took his birth mother’s life. But the story is deeper than that, and the foundation on which he built his world is now cracking. The brother he doesn't remember it out there somewhere, left behind.

Armed with only this stunning new piece of information, Jason embarks on a quest to find the truths buried deep in his past. As he searches, one by one the pieces of his life fall like dominoes. And the more he uncovers, the more everything he thought he knew about himself and his past begins to turn to ash.

His truth isn’t true at all . .

                                                             *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

While researching his brother's death from the fire he was rescued from, Jason opens up a hornet's nest.  Why can't he find a death certificate?  What really happened in the fire that took his birth mother's life?  Why is someone trying to keep it all a secret?

As we meet Jason and the other fire fighters from Smithfield Fire Station #2, we are drawn into their life and careers.  Add in a sub-standard firefighter with an attitude and a city restructuring its emergency aid and you already have a great story.  Include the real-life search for missing siblings in the foster care system, and you had a hit! 

A.J. Scudiere's depiction of the life of fire fighters and their station house is authentic--- down to the military-style of taking orders without question.  The characters are well-written; each with their own emotional highs and lows that comes from living day-to-day in a high stress career.

I know this book won't be published until October 2012, but you need to bookmark it now!

I received a complimentary copy of the ebook from Gryffin Ink and NetGalley.net for my honest review.

Blessings,

     Ellen