Nicholas Evans is a very good storyteller. It means that his stories are chronological, are not fragmented, do not jump about in time and viewpoint, are easy to follow. "The Horse Whisperer" was the first book of his that I read and this led me to "The Smoke Jumper". I may even read something else because his stories are interesting, often deal with an aspect of life that I know nothing about. With this book I had not even heard of smoke jumpers before and like to learn something new when I read fiction. And Evans has the skill to introduce a totally new aspect to the story when the reader just might get bored, so adventure is part of this book as well.
However, something bothers me about his characters. They do not seem real, although he has provided the necessary descriptions and there is some psychology involved. I can't put my finger on it but he is too fond of sentence something like "despite the grime she had never looked so beautiful" (used in this book at least three times of the same person!). He should also abolish intimate scenes that make me cringe. But if your want a good story, Nicholas Evans is your man.

An enjoyable story that includes drama, romance, suspense, and much more. The main characters are well-developed and seem like real people. Nicholas Evans does a masterful job of presenting a story that spans many years without leaving the reader feel lost in the story.

Smoke Jumpers are folks who jump into the middle of forest fires with the means and intentions of putting them out, or at least slowing down their path. Connor Ford and Ed Tully are two such smoke jumpers and are the main characters, along with Julia Bishop, the woman who marries Ed but is loved by both of them.

A long convoluted story which is sometimes interesting and sometimes leaves the reader wondering where the plot is going. In reality the reader knows where the plot is eventually heading but it takes quite awhile to get there! Over 550 pages, and I wondered towards the end when it would ever end.

Received the paperback from a fellow reader and I took it on a vacation because of its length, so I didn't have to take more than one book.

Diana had read The Horse Whisperer and bought Nicholas Evans' succeeding two books on a bookstore excursion that feels like eons ago. Remembering how much she had sung the praises of The Horse Whisperer, I gave Evans' third a go--and was not disappointed in the slightest. I'm currently working through authors on my shelf from Z backwards (having just completed a circuit in the other direction and then reversing it to make my way back to the Es). I try to be highly selective with what I read at a given point. I don't reach for the hard stuff unless I feel up to it. Having just tackled an 840 page book, I wasn't sure what I was thinking in reaching for a 560 page book, but it's not the length, after all, that I should be considering anyway but rather the breadth of the thing. Diana's a Jane Austen fan. I read Persuasion and hated it, couldn't stick with it at all, and thus my reservations about this one would be that I'd find Evans similarly impenetrable and over my head. Austen and her ilk make me feel like an idiot. Evans, however, couldn't have been more different. I know, of course, there is no basis for comparison between Victorian literature and modern fiction, but I thought perhaps there would be crossover elements uniquely tailored to Diana and her book club's tastes, and I don't like books that require me to diagram a sentence in order to enjoy them. Evans doesn't. Yes, his fiction is rich and textured, but God bless him, he's an everyman with a soul. I haven't read The Horse Whisperer, but Redford must have got it right because the heroism and stalwartness of his male characters and the hardy steel of his females are on display just as much here as in the film. This is romance in a pure sense. Mild spoilers may await, so beware.

He layers his characters with integrity and heart, even in their weakest moments, such as the periods of self-pity experienced by Ed after his fall, and especially as Julia and Connor battle the urge within to requite their forbidden love. The greatest suspense often comes from whether or not characters are going to do the right thing, and what lifts Evans' romance above the pornographic swill commonly categorized as such is that they often do, although there are prices to pay and sacrifices to make that may cost them their lives. As a Christian, I can see these people being called to account for their actions and being commended for them. THAT is romantic to me. Yes, the gratification comes, and boy is it ever delayed! But it's delayed for all the right reasons, and by the time you reach it, you're so swept up in the mixture of tragedy and suspense it's taken to get there that Evans can pretty much do whatever he wants with you. His book is obviously well-researched in the matters of smoke jumping, mountain fires, parachutes, photojournalism, and recent African history and political, but he doesn't show it off, like going into some tangential chapter to explain what all this stuff is. It's inter-woven as needed in the story but it never subverts it so that never once do we lose track of the characters we have almost immediately fallen in love with. There's a bit of Ed, Connor, and Julia in all of us at different points in our lives, and our hearts bleed and break for them. I'd venture to say there's a bit of Skye in us, too, and the way the book finds redemption for her and Julia's experience with her will no doubt bring tears to your eyes. Read this and then share it with the one you love. Make him or her read it, too, something I plan on doing with Diana. And then hit the hay and thank God you've made it safely together.

One more thing: There are two sex scenes in this book, and the first one almost ruined my perfect score, but the second one purposely redeems it. I don't like sex scenes were people are just throwing the f-word at each other, not because I'm a prude but because it is seriously unromantic. Well, it was intended to be a little off-putting, and I commend Evans for having the confidence in himself to make it right by the end.

Probably the one novel I've read more than 3 times. Love, adventure, humour, war, heartache, politics...This book ticks ALL the boxes and more.

I lovelovelovelove this book. I've read all of Nicholas Evan's books (The Horse Whisperer, The Divide and The Loop) and this is by far my favorite. Nicholas Evans writes in a way that is clean and does not interfere with the story. This particular story has it all - action, adventure, unrequited love - and the characters are very relatable. It makes me want to go to Montana very badly (and almost makes me want to become a firefighter...)!

A frustrating read, punctuated by too many plot twists where you have to suspend your disbelief. The story jumps around and regularly loses what small momentum it had built up as the reader is flung forward years or thousands of miles, or both.

The Smoke Jumper is at least 100 pages too long, cluttered by pointless insights which seem to be lifted from a teenager's diary, and the denouement is signposted in flashing neon lights throughout the book - although how Evans reaches that point was too outlandish to be engaging.

There's a good book in here somewhere, but Evans took a promising scenario and got lost in a fog of his own creation.

Three friends are connected by one summer’s events on a Montana mountain. Ed Tully and Connor Ford are smoke jumpers who both love the same woman. Julia is a social worker who is taking a group of “at risk” teens on a several day hike in the wilderness in an effort to rehabilitate them. When the draught-stricken forest is hit by lightning, the smoke jumpers have to come to the rescue.

You know where this is headed, don’t you? There will be tragedy, lots of guilt, miscommunication, silent (but very meaningful) looks. People behave stupidly and take unnecessary risks … not just with their own lives but with children’s lives. And of course, true love will win out.

Just unbelievable claptrap.

Actually I was pretty interested in the beginning and wish that Evans had found a way to explore the smoke jumpers, and the at-risk kids. But that ends on page 166 and then parts two and three get progressively more soap opera ridiculous. I rolled my eyes so much I made myself dizzy.

n  She has brought them here by court order on a youth program to help them find themselves. But one among them will be lost forever. For soon the cocoon of fire will hatch to engulf the entire mountain and exact its deadly toll. And into this inferno will come ...The Smoke Jumper.n
Smoke jumpers are used in many states such as what recently plagued California to fight almost impossible infernos. They are dropped by parachute into the mouth of Hell. These two smoke jumpers were the epiphany of unlikely friends...Connor Ford, a cowboy and photographer, and Ed Tully, a musician and son of a wealthy family, pair off on a regular basis to be dropped into the hot spot. The heart of a raging fire...every summer.

One day Ed meets Julia, a counselor for troubled teen-agers, and he falls in love. She thinks she loves him. too, that is until she meets Connor. If this sounds like a romance novel, it is, but there’s more to it than that. The author has given us another heart-pounding adventure and a slightly different take on the usual search for happiness.

A terrifying mountain fire results in them having to make terrible choices. The result of those choices sends Connor into war-torn Bosnia. He also spends time wandering through Europe, Asia and Africa, while taking award-winning photographs and searching for his peace of mind. The ending is somewhat contrived, but satisfying; this is easy summer reading, after all.

Nicholas Evans has a gift for descriptions and good dialogue that made this story a pleasure to read. The story felt especially significant after the rea-life raging fires that took place this year in California. Noone wants to view any this in reality, but it would make a fantastic movie. Oh...what happens with the 3 main characters...Julia, Connor and Ed??? You'll just have to read it to find out...or wait for the movie:)

Part 1: fantastic. Part 2: meh. Part 3: good God.

Here is one paragraph (excuse me, sentence) from the book:
In the grass and dust yard of the church stood a white cement figure of Jesus with his arms spread in welcome and the boy stopped beside it and would go no farther and Connor photographed him and then photographed the dogs and vultures that came hurtling from the open doors of the church and photographed the soldiers chasing them and yelling and shooting at them but mostly missing.

This is ONE SENTENCE. The word "and" is in it 9 times. This is just one paragraph from the book. Great day where did this man go to college and who taught him to write? He would also write things like: "Sylvie Guillard was pushing forty and was photographing wars while Connor was still in fourth grade." This led me to think she was around 55 years old but NOOO. Mr. Dangling Modifier here just doesn't know how to construct a sentence.

This book started off GREAT. The opening chapter hooked me right in and I thought it would be wonderful, a hair-raising story full of cliff hangers and it just veered here, veered there, then "WHAT the hell just happened?" It was like he didn't know where to go. The entire Part 1 could have, and should have, been the book. He should have left Connor out of the picture.

UGH. Read if you dare. I hope someone shows Mr. Evans what a comma is one day.

Loved it. Quoting a paragraph here that really moved me.
They (abused kids) didn't sob or wail or sniff, the way ordinary kids cried, kids who had parents who would hear it and immediately come and put their arms around them and comfort them and make the pain go away. Abused kids cried silently. Because if you didn't, all you got was another beating. So you learned to cry in private, in the dark, at the dead of night, when nobody could see or hear you. And you kept absolutely still, just let the tears empty out of you in a stream of silent sorrow.

It was not a good read, I only persevered because I don't like abandoning books half way through. From the very first pages I suspected how might it end, and, as I have now found out, I was spot on. That's not what I want from a book, I want to be surprised, made to think, shocked. I don't want to go through a book mentally ticking off the events that I knew would happen.
Waste of time, good job I didn't spend any money on it!