STRANGE FIRE

This third installment of a legal thriller series finds environmental lawyer Mike Jacobs embroiled in romance, possible murder, and fracking contamination.

Things are definitely brewing in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Yukon Oil and Gas Co. is there, using controversial fracking to drill on private properties. Hefty payments allay the potential concerns of landowners, except for one woman who thinks the fracking has contaminated her family’s water. She takes her allegations to the Department of Environmental Protection, and assistant counsel Mike gets the case. There’s no question the water is chemically tainted; the issue is whether Yukon’s freshwater pit has somehow leaked contaminated fracking water. As citizens actively protest the fracking, Mike works with geologist Missy Shelton. Their unexpected romance sparks a complication with Missy’s ex, who has a hot temper and a gun rack in his pickup. In a concurrent plot, local police search for missing Chris Corsica, a contractor whose company Yukon has outsourced drilling to. But if Corsica has met with foul play, who’s the armed, military-trained man lurking in the woods and eyeing a certain household? All these motley incidents come to a head in a startling confrontation. Burcat, who wrote Amid Rage (2021), rarely takes this legal tale into a courtroom. But the author, as in earlier Mike Jacobs novels, excels at involving his characters in myriad subplots. Even before a deposition, for example, Mike faces off against attorney Darius Moore, his rival since law school, whose firm represents Yukon. The plot is sometimes stagnant, with frequent discussions on the freshwater pit and with the missing person investigation making little progress. Suspense nevertheless abounds courtesy of the tenacious presence of the stranger in the woods and Missy’s volatile ex-boyfriend. While the legal system takes a back seat, Burcat dishes out fracking details that will astonish and educate many readers, such as the part that fresh water plays in the process.

A superb cast spearheads the story of an incendiary social and environmental issue.