The Smoke Room

Hardcover publication date May 31, 2005

Ballantine Books ISBN 0-345-46290-4

320 pages

$24.95

Jason Gum, a risk-taking rookie firefighter who grew up on the wrong side of the

tracks, has found in his firehouse the family he never had as a child. Then, in one ill-

fated turn of events, it all begins to go wrong.

    A bizarre accident brings a thrill-seeking woman into Engine Company 29--and into

Jason's life. Suddenly, his future on the job is at risk. Two fellow firefighters know that

he missed a call because of some sexual heroics at the wrong time and place. Now,

deeply in their debt, he will find out what kind of men his partners really are.

    When these two firefighters come upon a fortune in missing bearer bonds--money

found in a dead man's house--Jason is forced to become an accessory to their crime.

And when evidence of their greed, foolishness, and thievery begins to emerge, Jason is

a witness to their next crime: murder.

    Suddenly the twenty-four-year-old, who only wanted to do the right thing, is trapped

behind a wall of silence. Trying to undo his mistake, Jason moves further into the dark-

ness, where a  quirky young woman might just be his emotional rescue--or yet one

more very wrong move. Unfortunately for Jason, the worst isn't behind him. Like a fire

hit by wind, the killing has raged out of control.

    Capturing the thin line that separates a hero from a criminal, and an enemy from a

friend, Earl Emerson's new novel is a gripping tale of a man's dangerous fall from

grace--and his fierce battle for redemption.

Reviews for The Smoke Room:

"A good man, a skilled and dedicated firefighter, cracks his moral compass, in the

best yet from the Seattle firefighter and Shamus Award-winning author. . .

Emerson (Pyro, 2004, etc.), always reliable, surpasses everything he's done

before with this sometimes painfully funny, occasionally poignant suspenser

that adheres to its genre roots while achieving considerably more."

      --Kirkus Reviews (April 01, 2005)

"How can a book go wrong when it opens with the immediate aftermath of a pig's

11,000-foot drop into a Seattle home? The answer is: it can't really. Emerson's

compelling latest defies easy categorization. Its mystery elements echo Seattle-based

Thomas Black detective novels; suspense comes from the felony and coverup that

lie at the center of the story; and then there's the comedy of the deliciously deadpan

Jason Gum, narrator and rookie firefighter, which spins the novel out of any conven-

tional genre. There is, though a definite coming-of-age story, as rookie Jason learns the

ins and outs of his challenging job, for starters. Jason's rocky affair with the lady of the

pig-wrecked house, Iola Pederson (who's 20 years his senior), is just the first of many

lessons he learns at this school of hard knocks . . . Emerson is funniest when he's at his

most serious--and vice versa--in this consistently and always surprising yarn."

    --Publishers Weekly (March 21, 2005)