City of Fire

A Novel (Lena Gamble, Book 1)

By: Robert Ellis

Narrated by: Renée Raudman

When a vibrant young woman is found in bed by her hot-shot businessman husband, carved from belly to throat with a very sharp knife, the elite Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD responds in full force. Best-case scenario for lead Detective Lena Gamble: Nikki Brant's husband killed her, case closed, and on to the next crime scene before the ravenous Hollywood media can get their lurid tabloid machinery up and running.

Unfortunately for Lena, though, she knows that best-case scenarios only happen in the movies. The murder is the first in a series of brutal crimes against beautiful women thought to be perpetrated by the same man, a killer dubbed Romeo in the press. It's the case of a lifetime, and promises to either elevate Lena to the upper echelons of a publicity-hungry department in need of heroes, or bring about a very public and painful fall from grace. Lena has been in the public eye before, on the night her rock-star brother was gunned down on a dark street in Hollywood - an unsolved murder so grisly she's never recovered. She knows the score when the press and the LAPD collide.

As the investigation plays out and a massive forest fire blankets the city with acrid smoke, a cloud of conspiracy descends on Lena's investigation, and she knows she'll have to grind this one out...because Nikki Brant's death just breathed new life into more than one closed case...because the web of conspiracy is spun more intricately than she can possibly imagine... and because Lena knows there's only one rock-solid rule to murder in L.A.: The bigger the spectacle, the deeper the horror.

©2008 Robert Ellis (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Robert Ellis is one of my new FAVORITE authors!

I checked out The Lost Witness through my library and loved it. I then did some research on this author and found that he has only written 4 books. I found City of Fire through Audible and was just as pleased with this book. I contacted the author and found that his first two books only came out as paperbacks ): . The narrator does a very good job with character changes. This thriller is for all that love twist and turns up until the last page and enjoy staying up all night to finish. You will not be able to put this one down!

mediocre

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narration would be improved by a deeper voice that is somber and has expression that is appropriate to the situation. In the beginning I would describe this narrator as perky. After a few chapters she is just monotonous.

Any additional comments?

The narrator detracts so much from the story that it becomes difficult to judge the content. I was impressed by the narration and story of 'The Dead Room'. The quality of this novel is well below that. It is very pedestrian.

Too Many Words...

Maybe Robert Ellis got paid by the word? How else to explain the tedious detail that’s like sand in a useful machine? Imagine something like,

“She looked down. There was grass. No… not grass, but green, maybe shamrocks? Or maybe just weeds on the surface wet with dew. Dew? Yes, dew that the LA sun hadn’t boiled from beneath her brown shoes. Dew that meant there was a night before. Dew that covered the world. So she looked up and at her watch and wondered about time…”

Get it? Tedious details that advance neither the plot nor narrative, nor even character complexity. I’m reminded of third grade essay assignments that demanded us to hand in 200 words, words we counted and recounted until they added up.

Pity, since the story is good, the plot intriguing, and the characterizations reasonably deep and resonant. I’ll probably get another Robert Ellis novel in hopes that this was the result of maybe a publisher’s need for length rather than a writer’s intent to engage his audience.

Oh yeah… Reneé Raudman read it OK as long as I could get over her wrestling matches with creating believable male voices. But maybe that’s how men sound to women? If so, perhaps women will like her reading more than I did.

Okay start to a detective suspense series

Think of author Robert Ellis as Michael Connelly without Connelly's writing talent for producing a tightly written novel. The setting is the same as the Harry Bosch series, Los Angeles. The crimes are similar to those Bosch solves. This novel is not a waste of time, but if you like this kind of stuff as I do why not jest listen to the master's novels. Narration is fine.

Good to the last drop!

Just like a good cup of coffee, this book held you to the very end. You were constantly trying to figure out who was the good guy and who was the bad guy -- and who was the really bad guy.

Great story and excellent narration. I am anxious to move to her next story.

It was interesting to have a man write such a striking novel about a woman -- thanks.

Stupid ending

Started good. Seems like the author ran out of rational thought towards the end. Tried to create suspense for a big ending, but it just got stupid. His later books have been good.

Mediocre

The story is just mediocre. The reader makes it worse. Some of her male voices are truly bad. I might give the author, who seems to be getting so much praise, another chance...but not if it's read by Raudman.

A gripping page-turner...

This was a gripping read... the author sends us in multiple directions, daring us to make assumptions... which then turn out to be premature .

Good conclusion, made the more satisfying by the author's style of tying up loose ends.

Highly recommended

Edge of your seat!

Keeps you on the edge of your seat with twists and turns! If you enjoy a good thriller this fits the bill.