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Yellowstone #2
Rain of Fire
It is 1988, and Yellowstone Park is on fire. Among the thousands of summer warriors battling to save Americas crown jewel, is single mother Clare Chance. Having just watched her best friend, a fellow Texas firefighter, die in a roof collapse, she has fled to Montana to try and put the memory behind her. Shes not the only one fighting personal demons as well as the fiery dragon threatening to consume the park. Theres Chris Deering, a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot, seeking his next adrenaline high and a good time that doesnt include his wife, and Ranger Steve Haywood, a man scarred by the loss of his wife and baby in a plane crash. They rally round Clare when tragedy strikes yet again, and she loses a young soldier to a firestorm. Three flawed, wounded people; one horrific blaze. Its tentacles are encircling the park, coming ever closer, threatening to cut them off. The landmark Old Faithful Inn and Park Headquarters at Mammoth are under siege, and now theres a helicopter down, missing, somewhere in the path of the conflagration. And Clares daughter is on it.
524 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2006
14 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Linda Jacobs
30 books8 followersLinda Jacobs started creating fiction when she was very young, but for twenty years her writing took a back burner to her career as a professional geologist. Then she attended Rice University’s novel writing program and never looked back. She has published four books in The Yellowstone Series and two romances under the name Christine Carroll. Married to fellow geologist Richard Jacobs, Linda divides her time between the West and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Born a university brat and trained at the Master's level in Geology, I was one of Exxon Corporation's first woman field geologists. Before my 2004 move to New Mexico, I lived in Houston and Dallas and worked for a number of oil and gas companies on the front line where new fields are found. This fascinating and stimulating career was a roller coaster, with discoveries and dry holes, but I wouldn't change a minute of it.
Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, fiction came to me when I was very young. Already an avid reader, I'd hit a ball against a wall and tell myself stories . . . about people who lived in New York City, a place I'd only read about in Dorothy B. Hughes's and Jacqueline Susanns work. By age thirteen, I'd taught myself to hunt and peck on Dad's old Royal Typewriter and started writing novels. In addition to New York, my characters roamed Hollywood, Yosemite and Hawaii. I even featured a Saudi Arabian princess attending college in America (after careful research of Medina and Mecca in the 1963 World Book Encyclopedia). My largest effort was over one hundred single-spaced, typewritten pages. Eventually, I decided, as many adolescents do, that my mother might be reading my material, so I had a bonfire in the backyard. This is certainly a blessing for posterity, as well as for me. Now, no one will ever know how truly awful those works must have been.
I published poetry and a short story in the Greenville High School literary magazine, known as Bits-o-Lit. In college at Furman University and doing graduate work at The Ohio State University, I studied science and my fiction took a back burner to technical writing. I did read, though, voraciously: James Mitchener, Ian Fleming, Ken Follett, Margaret Mitchell, Ayn Rand, and Nora Roberts to sample a few.
After a twenty-year layoff, in 1992, I joined Rice University's novel writing program, chaired by American Book Award winner Venkatesh Kulkarni. I studied with this consummate teacher and author for a total of six years, until he passed on. The Rice critique group still meets in Houston to this day, although I don’t get there often. I thank the following people for their steadfast support of my efforts: Marjorie Arsht, Kathryn Brown, Judith Finkel, Bob Hargrove, Elizabeth Hueben, Karen Meinardus, the late Joan Romans, Angela Shepherd, Jeff Theall, Diana Wade, and Madeleine Westbrook.
Then, following the old adage that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, I met Rita Gallagher. Renowned author of novels and non-fiction works on writing, Rita has taught over two hundred published authors. She focuses on novel structure and helped me go from writing great scenes to putting a book together. Though Rita turned eighty while I was her pupil, her mind was still sharp enough to find a sentence on page seventy that belonged on page seventeen. Unfortunately, she passed away in early 2004, and the world lost a grand lady.
Married to fellow geoscientist Richard Jacobs, I divide my time between the West and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where I inherited my grandfather's farm. I enjoy adventure travel, having scuba dived the Caribbean, taken three African safaris, and gone alpine hiking in New Zealand and the Spanish Pyrenees. And of course, I regularly visit Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.
Born a university brat and trained at the Master's level in Geology, I was one of Exxon Corporation's first woman field geologists. Before my 2004 move to New Mexico, I lived in Houston and Dallas and worked for a number of oil and gas companies on the front line where new fields are found. This fascinating and stimulating career was a roller coaster, with discoveries and dry holes, but I wouldn't change a minute of it.
Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, fiction came to me when I was very young. Already an avid reader, I'd hit a ball against a wall and tell myself stories . . . about people who lived in New York City, a place I'd only read about in Dorothy B. Hughes's and Jacqueline Susanns work. By age thirteen, I'd taught myself to hunt and peck on Dad's old Royal Typewriter and started writing novels. In addition to New York, my characters roamed Hollywood, Yosemite and Hawaii. I even featured a Saudi Arabian princess attending college in America (after careful research of Medina and Mecca in the 1963 World Book Encyclopedia). My largest effort was over one hundred single-spaced, typewritten pages. Eventually, I decided, as many adolescents do, that my mother might be reading my material, so I had a bonfire in the backyard. This is certainly a blessing for posterity, as well as for me. Now, no one will ever know how truly awful those works must have been.
I published poetry and a short story in the Greenville High School literary magazine, known as Bits-o-Lit. In college at Furman University and doing graduate work at The Ohio State University, I studied science and my fiction took a back burner to technical writing. I did read, though, voraciously: James Mitchener, Ian Fleming, Ken Follett, Margaret Mitchell, Ayn Rand, and Nora Roberts to sample a few.
After a twenty-year layoff, in 1992, I joined Rice University's novel writing program, chaired by American Book Award winner Venkatesh Kulkarni. I studied with this consummate teacher and author for a total of six years, until he passed on. The Rice critique group still meets in Houston to this day, although I don’t get there often. I thank the following people for their steadfast support of my efforts: Marjorie Arsht, Kathryn Brown, Judith Finkel, Bob Hargrove, Elizabeth Hueben, Karen Meinardus, the late Joan Romans, Angela Shepherd, Jeff Theall, Diana Wade, and Madeleine Westbrook.
Then, following the old adage that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, I met Rita Gallagher. Renowned author of novels and non-fiction works on writing, Rita has taught over two hundred published authors. She focuses on novel structure and helped me go from writing great scenes to putting a book together. Though Rita turned eighty while I was her pupil, her mind was still sharp enough to find a sentence on page seventy that belonged on page seventeen. Unfortunately, she passed away in early 2004, and the world lost a grand lady.
Married to fellow geoscientist Richard Jacobs, I divide my time between the West and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where I inherited my grandfather's farm. I enjoy adventure travel, having scuba dived the Caribbean, taken three African safaris, and gone alpine hiking in New Zealand and the Spanish Pyrenees. And of course, I regularly visit Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 10, 2017
Kyle Stone, a woman now but as a young child survived her parents deaths caused by an earthquake. As in some of the disaster movies you have a person who has been through hell grow up to become a person who closely studies that hell. There's also Wyatt, a park ranger, Alicia, a wolf advocate, Hollis, a vengeful scientist who hates Kyle and there are also other characters.
There's a mountain/volcano that is acting up. Kyle and Wyatt think it could end up erupting while Hollis refuses to believe that as does a new head-honcho who wants to turn Yellowstone into some kind of Wonderland park.
As scientists do Kyle and others want to get hard data. Hollis throws a major roadblock into that, though. So you end up with what is essentially a coup at work, people risking their lives getting information that is badly needed and Kyle having to manage to somehow keep it together as the events of her past come back to haunt her.
I think the characters are developed very well, the action is quite exciting (it would make a wonderful movie) and the science seems to be pretty good. I enjoyed the book immensely.
There's a mountain/volcano that is acting up. Kyle and Wyatt think it could end up erupting while Hollis refuses to believe that as does a new head-honcho who wants to turn Yellowstone into some kind of Wonderland park.
As scientists do Kyle and others want to get hard data. Hollis throws a major roadblock into that, though. So you end up with what is essentially a coup at work, people risking their lives getting information that is badly needed and Kyle having to manage to somehow keep it together as the events of her past come back to haunt her.
I think the characters are developed very well, the action is quite exciting (it would make a wonderful movie) and the science seems to be pretty good. I enjoyed the book immensely.
December 1, 2017
This was great. It focuses on seismologists and volcanologists keeping tabs on sudden activity in the Yellowstone region. It is definitely not a "disaster of the month" type novel. It is written by a geologist and her knowledge shows and really adds to the story. In addition, she writes excellent suspense and interpersonal relationships. I raced right through it. Highly recommend.
May 9, 2014
3.5 Stars
Former geologist Linda Jacobs uses her vast knowledge in Rain of Fire almost to the story line's detriment. There is almost too much scientific information that interrupts the story line, and that is why I took a half star from my rating. Yellowstone Park is really a large dormant volcano. The premise is simple: What if the volcano awakens? Hot Springs and lakes that people could swim in turn into very hot and deadly pools. Gas seeps killing much of the wildlife and earthquakes destroying hotels, park stations, and the nearby town. Do I have to mention avalanches? In essence Yellowstone would be destroyed with the fire of rain erupting because of the caldera rising and shifting before, during, and after the geological event. The writing shows the urgency and terror of the eruption.
A new Park Superintendent refuses to acknowledge the data and danger - she refuses to publicly warn folks because of her new idea to bring more tourists to Yellowstone. Dr. Kyle Stone sees the danger and is a survivor of the Park's 1959 quake. Her former student Wyatt and fellow scientist is also worried. He's a ranger and understands what will happen to Yellowstone. Dr. Nick Dresdan rounds out Kyle's small expedition. The noted volcanic scientist has a past with Stone. And it is a nice little romantic triangle. Office politics also provide great tension in the novel, both at the Park and where Kyle works - the Utah Institute.
Another downfall of the novel really bothered me: Kyle's character. She is terrified of earthquakes and is afraid of the dark as a result of the 1959 quake. So why is she working in that field? She's also emotionally stunted by Nick. I wanted to choke her! Every scene almost has her frantically searching for light, her fear goes off the Richter scale every time the ground moves, and she goes just too mooney when Nick is around. Hence another half star deduction.
Former geologist Linda Jacobs uses her vast knowledge in Rain of Fire almost to the story line's detriment. There is almost too much scientific information that interrupts the story line, and that is why I took a half star from my rating. Yellowstone Park is really a large dormant volcano. The premise is simple: What if the volcano awakens? Hot Springs and lakes that people could swim in turn into very hot and deadly pools. Gas seeps killing much of the wildlife and earthquakes destroying hotels, park stations, and the nearby town. Do I have to mention avalanches? In essence Yellowstone would be destroyed with the fire of rain erupting because of the caldera rising and shifting before, during, and after the geological event. The writing shows the urgency and terror of the eruption.
A new Park Superintendent refuses to acknowledge the data and danger - she refuses to publicly warn folks because of her new idea to bring more tourists to Yellowstone. Dr. Kyle Stone sees the danger and is a survivor of the Park's 1959 quake. Her former student Wyatt and fellow scientist is also worried. He's a ranger and understands what will happen to Yellowstone. Dr. Nick Dresdan rounds out Kyle's small expedition. The noted volcanic scientist has a past with Stone. And it is a nice little romantic triangle. Office politics also provide great tension in the novel, both at the Park and where Kyle works - the Utah Institute.
Another downfall of the novel really bothered me: Kyle's character. She is terrified of earthquakes and is afraid of the dark as a result of the 1959 quake. So why is she working in that field? She's also emotionally stunted by Nick. I wanted to choke her! Every scene almost has her frantically searching for light, her fear goes off the Richter scale every time the ground moves, and she goes just too mooney when Nick is around. Hence another half star deduction.
July 1, 2015
I really enjoyed reading this book. I hesitated to get it because I knew from the description that it had different characters from those in the first book (SUMMER OF FIRE), and I wasn't certain that Jacobs could make this one measure up to the first while introducing new characters, especially since I'd become attached to the characters in the first book. The three main characters in this book (along with their interactions with one another) are actually very similar to those in the first, but there are enough differences that you won't mistake one for the other. The story itself is exciting. In some ways, even more so than the first. Like with SUMMER OF FIRE, I feel that this book would benefit from maps of the region and other visual aids. There are also flashback sequences in this one that you kind of fall into, just like in the first, but I've grown accustomed to her writing style, and perhaps they were better handled, so they didn't take me out of the story as much as they did previously. Over all, this is a great book. The trilogy seems life one that could be read out of order, but there were a few little gems in this one that I wouldn't have appreciated as much of I hadn't read SUMMER OF FIRE first. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes movies such as TWISTER and DANTE'S PEAK. I also want to note that reading this series is making me want to visit Yellowstone, myself.
August 29, 2011
One reviewer compares this book to a made for TV movie and they're totally right! Having said that, I don't really mind a good over-the-top movie from the comfort of my own couch. Especially if it involves Yellowstone, earthquakes, volcanoes, rangers on horseback, kissing scenes, leading women/siesmologists, bad balding men and impossibly happy endings. So yes, the story may be wildly far fetched and cliche at times BUT there is action on nearly every page and the author does a great job of bringing Yellowstone National Park to life. This is one in a series of three books set in Yellowstone and I'm sure I'll read another one next year before I head that way. It was exactly what I needed.
April 24, 2012
Kind of was glad I got through the book. It was one of those books that I kept putting down because it wasn't interesting enough. But then in the same breath I was looking forward to see if Yellowstone blew up especially since I used to live in Gardiner.
July 25, 2012
I enjoyed the book, though not as much as Summer of Fire, which was more based on the actual horrific fires at Yellowstone. This one started with an actual event, but went on to a fictional earthquake/volcanic eruption.
October 7, 2013
I really enjoyed the story and the characters. The weaknesses would be the often immature dialogue and predictable romantic aspects. I was surprised at the amount of effort spent on character development, which I find unusual for a natural disaster drama.
Want to read
November 1, 200711/01 rec via pbs
December 22, 2010
Very Interesting.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews