Review: Mystery, action, and a good guy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2014
What a delightful way to introduce a new character, one Jack Stone, late of Her Majesty's military service. Jack is one of the good guys who by all counts one might expect to finish last despite having his own story to narrate. But Jack isn't just a good guy; he's a guy with a brain he puts to excellent use when his spidey sense is telling him something is decidedly rotten in the state of Denmark.In order to help out an old neighborhood friend, Stone accepts a commission from a local gangster to find a woman so said thug can collect an old, outstanding debt. Stone collects his old Army buddy Danny, and the two men are off in search of someone who doesn't want to be found.  The two men collect smoothly transitioning clues and a couple of women on their way, as well as an assortment of thugs and bullies.While there is nothing brand new or even startling in NORTHERN FIRE (the title doesn't serve the story a good turn -- ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS might have been more appropriate and intriguing), but it does an excellent job of introducing a new hero to the reading public.  Veteran readers may find themselves swept back to the mid-century noir detective novels with those delightfully lurid covers.  Ah, nostalgia, thy name is Jack Stone.