Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

The Smoke Jumper

nicholas evans

... Show More
Set against the backdrop of the American West and the wilds of Africa, this novel reveals a story of friendship, passion and honour that charts three people's quest for happiness and self-discovery.

432 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21,2001
Places
montana, the united states of america, africa, bosnia and herzegovina, 

This edition

Format
432 pages, Hardcover
Published
January 1, 2001 by Doubleday book clubs
ISBN
1876590688
ASIN
B002AOY6M2
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for nicholas evans

nicholas evans

... Show More
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Nicholas Evans was born and grew up in Worcestershire, England. He studied law at Oxford University, graduating with first class honors, then worked as a journalist for three years on the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He then moved into televsion, producing films about US politics and the Middle-East for a weekly current affairs programme called Weekend World. It was during this time that he traveled a lot and got to know the United States.

In 1982 he started to produce arts documentaries - about famous writers, painters and film-makers, several of which won international awards (films about David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Patricia Highsmith). In 1983 he made a film about the great British director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, etc). Lean became a friend and mentor and persuaded Evans to switch from fact to fiction.

For the next ten years, Evans wrote and produced a number of films for television and the cinema. In 1993 he met a blacksmith in the far South-West of England who told him about horse whisperers - people who have the gift of healing traumatized horses. Evans started work on what was to be his first novel.

Published in the fall of 1995, The Horse Whisperer has now sold about fifteen million copies across the world. It has been the number one bestseller in about 20 countries and has been translated into 36 languages. It was also made into a movie, starring, produced and directed by Robert Redford.

The Loop and The Smoke Jumper, Evans's second and third novels, were again an international bestsellers, topping the bestseller lists in many countries. The Smoke Jumper was published in a paperback edition on July 30, 2003. Evans lives in London and Devon, England.

- Nicholas Evans' Website

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
37(37%)
4 stars
30(30%)
3 stars
33(33%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
LUUCIIFERRR
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
I thought at first I wasn't going to like this book. A character in Chapter One doesn't reappear until Chapter 4, but she is a key figure in the plot. There's enough tension, romance, heartache, adventure, history and edge of your seat suspense to keep you reading.
Evans is a wonderful writer with a fantastic way with words. Some sentences and passages just take my breath away. Be forewarned though that this is not a light romance novel. There are some tough scenes and thought provoking ideas posed. But it is worth it, and it's good to exercise your brain and heart at the same time.
What surprised me was that Evans is from and still lives in England, but has no problem describing Idaho and the U.S. He actually has no problem in his awareness of the world.
Great book, and I gave it 5 stars in the end.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Jusc0
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
I read this book when it was first published and I've just finished reading it again. It's a great book!

The story of two men, best friends from completely different backgrounds with opposite personalities who are Smoke Jumpers. The story begins in Montana and the introduction of a young woman. This is where the story of true friendship and honor really begin and the story enfolds you. You feel as though you know these people and the travels take you around the world to the most horrific and beautiful moments one can experience.

Love, love, love this book. Would recommend to all!

0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Shilo_R_A
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
I like this author's books which combine romance and adventure in thrilling tales. This book tells the story of a man in a dangerous profession and also tells of the romance looking for while he tries to do a hard job.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Reborn94
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
Be sure to visit my Favorites Shelf for the books I found most entertaining.

I was a little hesitant about reading this book because quite a few readers categorize it as romance. It's not romance. Yes, there is a love story—two love stories—but there's so much more going on. It feels more like a suspense novel.

I loved this book. It's well-written. It takes the reader to many different places: Montana, New York—even faraway Sarajevo and Africa. I loved Connor's passion and admired Ed's perseverance. Both men were charming; I honestly believed Julia loved both.

This book is a must-read.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
The513Cyclone
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
I absolutely loved this book! I had it on my shelf and with the recent tragic fires in the Los Angeles area I thought that it would be a small, private way to honour the firefighters and smoke jumpers.

It is so rich in detail that it is difficult for me to do it justice without outlining the various segments, but they are already there in the publisher's blurb. Instead I shall just mention some of the things I particularly liked. The main characters, Ed, Julia and Connor are well drawn and stand out from the minor ones so that I never felt any confusion I sometimes experience with lesser books. The minor characters are only there to be a supporting cast but they are necessary to create a believable world in which the smoke jumpers exist.

This team's headquarters are near Missoula, Montana and landscape plays a major part in the action. Ed and Connor are smoke jumpers and Julia is attracted to both of them, although she has come from New York with Ed as his live-in girlfriend. Julia has managed to get a job as a counsellor to troubled teens. They are helped in a wilderness oriented tough-love camping setting.

A forest fire sparked by lightning is very close to this camp and Julia goes after a young teen who has walked away in a temper. They get cut off by the fire and the smoke jumping team are alerted to try to save them. The atmosphere is tense and the reader becomes pulled in by the action hoping that the situation can be resolved.

I like being pulled into the action and caring what the outcome may be and one of Nicholas Evans' techniques seems to be that he only tells you so much and then doesn't get lost in unnecessary detail. After being emotionally caught up in the events, Evans drops that scene abruptly and the story resumes somewhere else and sometimes with other supporting characters. He weaves the story back and forth and meanwhile the love triangle is constantly dangled in front of us, so that the romantics among us are wondering how it will resolve.

I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about the book so I am going to make sure I get a copy of the Horse Whisperer to read. I had thought that I had read it, but now I know that I couldn't have forgotten such powerful writing.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
RadicalSanta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
This novel has been around a while, but I hadn't read it until I set out to research books about Missoula smoke jumpers. I enjoyed this book immensely. A Nicholas Evans novel can't be rushed. He is so gifted at writing description and dialogue that I would often go back and reread his skillful word arrangement. I loved Evan's exploration of the love and loyalty between the three friends over the years and how certain events impacted each. This is a unique story and I recommend this book for readers who savor and appreciate good writing and character development.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Sassy_PumPkin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
"The Smoke Jumper" centers on two best friends, Ed and Connor. Ed falls in love with Julia, a woman who works as a rehab counselor for troubled youth. She takes kids out hiking and asks them questions like "How does that make you feel?" One of the kids, Skye, is killed during a forest fire and during the same fire; Ed is injured and becomes handicapped. Julia marries him, even though she is secretly in love with Ed's best friend, Connor.

We learn that Ed is sterile, so he and Julia ask Connor to be a sperm donor so that they can have a child. Julia eventually gives birth to a daughter, and heads off to war-torn Uganda so that she'll feel closer to the now-absent Connor since he once took a series of photographs there."

I did not like this book and I’m not going to waste my time writing a review on this when my friend explained it perfectly in her review.

Christina’s Review:

This story started out promising. A cute romance develops between two likable characters and then a smokin hot "complication" gets introduced. From there it went all downhill. There needed to be more of everything, more passion, more tension, and more heartache. I found what I was reading to be less than gripping and I always found a reason to do something else other than read it. This story is about a blind man's wife falling in love with his best friend. How can you bore your readers with a plot like that??? Not only was I bored, but the ending was just awful! Nicholas Evans made his reader yearn for a relationship between characters that was wrong. I wanted the best friend to get the girl, but how could I wish such a betrayal on a blind man who loved and needed his wife and was so inspirational? I didn't feel good about it. I wanted something to happen to make the husband less likable, or I wanted him to leave and find a woman who could really love him back the way he deserved. Instead the husband dies and the best friend comes in and takes his place. Was this the ending I was rooting for? Is that supposed to be a happy ending? I thought it was awful. I felt like the author wanted me to be happy the husband died. How horrible.

I agree Christina!!! Couldn't of said it any better.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Darkchao45
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
... Show More
I picked this up from my parents bookshelf the other week having finished The Wager and, bafflingly, not having brought anything else with me.

I read The Horse Whisperer years ago when I was fifteen and I remember adoring it, so I was curious.

The first third was exactly what I wanted, loved it. Loved the setting, the nature, the tension, the relationships… it felt epic. But from the end of part 1 it went progressively downhill. I wish they’d never left Missoula.

There’s a ton of things I could say but cba. I liked it. But I’m not sure I’d recommend.

0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.